01.01 – Potential sources of asbestos in the home.
If you’re living in a pre-1991 home that contains materials like drywall, texture coated ceilings, or vinyl flooring, there is a good chance that you are living with asbestos. In fact, there were up to 3000 different products made with asbestos in North America alone. Up until the early 1990’s, many asbestos-containing building products were still being used, and it wasn’t until 1991 that they were outright banned from use.
Asbestos was used in so many different products because it had many beneficial properties. Asbestos fibers are strong, durable, chemical resistant, and fire resistant (just to name a few). However, on the contrary, it has now been proven that exposure to asbestos greatly increases your chances of getting a lung related disease, cancer, and even death. Since asbestos related diseases have such a long latency period (10-40 years) it has been a hard fought battle to prove the correlation. Hence, why it took so long to finally abolish the use of asbestos in building materials.
So, how do you know if you have asbestos in your home?
There is only one sure way to find out, and that is to have the building materials in your home tested by a qualified person. Having your home tested is simple process, where a qualified building inspector collects materials samples from your home and then has a third-party laboratory analyse them for asbestos. It typically costs less than $1000 to have an entire home tested, and only takes a few days to receive the results.
If you would like to have your home tested, please call us at (604) 392-6476 or email us at office@precs.ca, and we would be happy to assist you.
Our office is located in Chilliwack, BC, however we also serve Agassiz, Abbotsford, Hope, Mission, Kent, and the surrounding areas. We are on the City of Chilliwack‘s preferred list of contractors and are widely regarded as the industry leader when it comes to asbestos testing and removal.
For more information on our asbestos testing services, click here.
For more information on asbestos and the risks that home owners, contractors, and workers face in the construction industry, please visit WorkSafeBC – Asbestos.
Article: How do I know if I have asbestos in my home?
Written by: Curtis Hill, Environmental Building Inspector