On Wed, 01 Feb 2012 17:17:47 -0500, mcp6453 wrote:

Why is it even legal to sell a home with asbestos that needs to be removed? (I
understand that not all asbestos has to be removed if it is sealed and not
disturbed.)

Removal is what causes it to spread. If it's contained and sealed, it's
best left alone. It's only the dry dust small particles in the air that
get breathed that are dangerous. Big chunks that are solid or wet are
totally safe. Hell, you could probably eat them (not suggested though).

Can you think of another way? Should the tear down every home that has
the stuff? Someday we're gonna run out of building materials, why make
that day sooner for something that is much overrated as a scare tactic
so these expensive removal companies can steal your money? Then think
about this. When a building is demolished with a wrecking ball and
bulldozer, there is more asbestos getting in the air than any other
time.

When I worked as a plumber, I removed lots of it. I'd tape the spots I
intended to cut it with duct tape. Make a slice on the top of the pipe
that it was on, and soak it with wet rags or a garden hose depending on
location. After it was well soaked, I'd cut it and peel it off with
rubber gloves and shove it into trash bags. Then wipe the pipes off
with wet rags and repair the pipes. I replaced the insulation with
modern foam. The cut ends of the asbestos I'd seal with some autobody
undercoating. Then the foam would get duct tape and overlap the
asbestos. That's sealed....

I never wore space suits, or put up plastic walls or any of that
nonsense. AS long as it was wet, it was harmless. In finished floors,
I put plastic. Most of this work was in basements. Then I'd just hose
down the whole floor into a drain.

I knew a guy in the flooring business who used to sand down vinyl
asbestos tile, with a coarse floor sander to level the floor before
installing new flooring. Now that WAS dangerous. He lived to be well
into his 80's, and died from diabetes, not asbestos related.

You need to use caution, but it's not like a deadly poison waiting to
attack you at any moment.

we live in a society where there are a lot of extremists who are out to
scare people with lots of things, and much of the time it's all based on
advertising. They know there is a sucker born every minute.

I'm a farmer, I do not use any chemicals, except minimal amounts of
"Roundup" in very weedy areas, which are not used for crops or
livestock. I use maybe 2 or 3 cans of fly spray per year. That's all.
What worries me, much more than asbestos, or lead paint, or radon, or
any of that stuff, are the neighbors that spray huge tanks of chemicals,
which DOES get in my air and onto my land. A few years ago they were
using aerial spraying, and myself and several other neighbors filed a
lawsuit because the **** was going everywhere. I lost hundreds of
dollars worth of hay that year because I was just getting ready to bale
my hay, and instead had to wait several weeks for rains to dissipate
that over spray on my fields. By that time, I lost a whole cutting.

The court put a stop to the spraying, and a year later the farmer died,
and the cause of death was due to farming chemicals. If you want
something to fear that is WORTH fearing, fear these chemicals. They are
many thousand times worse than all these nonsense things such as
asbestos, radon, and lead paint. I'll add to this one last thing. Yea,
kids that chew on windowsills ARE in danger of lead poisoning from older
lead based paints. But there is a simple solution. FEED the damn kid
and they wont chew on paint! Learn to be a parent, and smack the kid
who does chew on paint. Dont blame the paint, blame the parents who are
not doing their job as parents.