Identifying Asbestos?

Yes! Do NOT mess with asbestos!! When it comes to dealing with it, you pretty much HAVE to go with licensed professionals (and don’t get me wrong. Some of those “professionals” make you wonder how much they REALLY know, but, that’s life).

First of all, NEVER shake or agitate sources of asbestos. I worked in a place where the mere pulling of the high tech computer cables through the asbestos lined ceilings of the aged building caused the telecom workers to WALK OFF THE JOB until it was abated! It’s that agitation that causes the asbestos to go through the air and cause the lung problems for yourself or others – for YEARS! You and your staff would be in danger for YEARS unless it’s handled properly. Unless you get a professional in to deal with it, every “Tom, Dick and Harry” that coughs will sue you saying that you mishandled it. If you have the professionals handle it (and get the appropriate papers from them) you can defer the lawsuits somewhat.

My advice – DON’T EVEN go looking for it. Get the professionals.

@MrM: Thanks for the information. What I am looking for is some way to identify the material that I am faced with without calling a pro first. If it isn’t asbestos then I can move forward. If it is then I can stop working and put everything back into place. This space I am working in is vacant but I do not want to disturb potential asbestos.

It would be like looking on the net to find out what a cancerous mole looks like in order to avoid paying a doctor.

Remember! Your OWN health can be jeopardized.

Good point. However, there has to be some definitive way to identify asbestos by looking at it and not sending it to a lab. After all, it’s a man made material. I can take a course for $600 to become an asbestos inspector. Might be the best course of action…

Personally, I’d get someone in.

I don’t think there is a way to identify it by sight. It is inside many different products made in the past. Flooring, siding, ceiling panels, even metal paint can contain it! The inspections are ridiculously expensive, and removal (or abatement) even more so. I wish I had some better news for you.

Yeah, I have to concur that identification is out of the reach of us laymen. Here’s what’s involved:

“The analysis of Bulk Building Materials for asbestos content is primarily conducted by PLM, and to a lesser degree by XRD, SEM and TEM.

As stated above, Polarized Light Microscopy (PLM) is the technique most often employed for the analysis of bulk building materials. The light microscopy technique utilizes the unique features of polarized light to observe mineral specific optical properties. In this manner, PLM can differentiate asbestos from non-asbestos fibers and further classify the various species that compose the asbestos mineral family. Moreover, the technique records the identity of the non-asbestos fibrous component of each bulk building material sample.”
(source)

Thanks for the great answers. Isn’t the health risk linked to those who worked with asbestors or lived near plants that used asbestos? How much problem can it be health wise if I do removal once and I wear protective clothes? I know. I know….better safe than sorry.

And you’ll dispose of it where? How? You can’t just put it out in the trash.

I smell lawsuit!