HeyBub wrote:
Buck Turgidson wrote:
I want to tear off my basement wood panelling, insulate with
polystyrene, and then drywall (even though my code office says that
paneling is ok over foam). However, the paneling is furred onto
cinderblocks, and covering the block is tar paper.

Does tar paper, from a 1961 house, usually contain asbestos? Is an
abatement contractor required? How friable is the stuff? I guess I
need to remove it because I need to "Liquid Nail" the foam panels
onto the block.
I've cut a 1" piece to have sent to a lab for testing.

Thanks for any advice.

You should have asked before you sent off the stuff.

Suppose the test comes back positive. You are now liable for remediation AND
for informing subsequent buyers that the house was once contaminated but is
now probably okay. That is, if your local government doesn't condem your
property, raze it to the ground, and remove the top ten inches of soil.

In the aftermath of 9/11, tens of thousands of pounds of asbestos rained
down on New Yorkers. Not a single person got sick (except for a few
thousand, but that has statistical clustering written all over it).


A few years ago I read about a young woman who
was a scientist working for the EPA and her
research showed that only one type of asbestos
was a health hazard. She was told to shut up
because if people found out that they had been
forced to spend billions of dollars in unnecessary
clean up, the lives of the EPA bureaucrats would
be in danger.

[8~{} Uncle Monster