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#1
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How dangerous is 3% asbestos in vinyl flooring?
I am replacing my old vinyl flooring and I'm getting done as a favor
from my friend who works in construction. I gave him the keys but didnt know when he would start. Then i heard someone tell me there could be asbestos in the vinyl so i cut a sample and took it to a lab. Meanwhile, i tried to contact my construction friend but he was out of town. Then I got the lab results back and found that the vinyl flooring tested positive for asbestos, 3%. So i drive to the property immediately and found my friend already starting to tear out chunks of the vinyl floor! I told him what i had found (3% asbestos in the vinyl) and he seemed to not be too concerned and said that's a small amount. I told him to wear a respirator mask for his own safety and gave him a water bottle to wet down the floor so it wouldnt create asbestos dust. I'm not sure if he'll follow my direction! Question: What if my friend doesnt take any precautions as all and not use the water bottle to wet down the floors while chipping away at the vinyl (he cant peel it, it is too old and brittle). Will the asbestos dust float around my house and get stuck in the walls? Will I have to wash/paint all the walls? Wash the floors? Is 3% Vinyl on the lower end of asbestos poisoning? |
#2
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The asbestos is trapped in the vinyl so if he doesn't break it up too much
taking it out there isn't much danger. I know there has been a lot of hysteria about asbestos but most of the people who were affected worked in a brake pad plant, a shipyard or a mine. It ain't plutonium. Certainly your advice about the dust mask, or better a respirator and dust suppression is a good idea but that is a good idea anytime you have a dirty environment. |
#3
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Greg wrote:
The asbestos is trapped in the vinyl so if he doesn't break it up too much taking it out there isn't much danger. I know there has been a lot of hysteria about asbestos but most of the people who were affected worked in a brake pad plant, a shipyard or a mine. It ain't plutonium. Certainly your advice about the dust mask, or better a respirator and dust suppression is a good idea but that is a good idea anytime you have a dirty environment. Even plutonium ain't plutonium. Bob |
#4
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"Greg" wrote in message ... The asbestos is trapped in the vinyl so if he doesn't break it up too much taking it out there isn't much danger. I know there has been a lot of hysteria about asbestos but most of the people who were affected worked in a brake pad plant, a shipyard or a mine. It ain't plutonium. Certainly your advice about the dust mask, or better a respirator and dust suppression is a good idea but that is a good idea anytime you have a dirty environment. lets end a myth right now about 'dust masks' those cheap paper 'dust masks' are designed to keep the person wearing it from spreading germs when they EXHALE. to protect other people. surgeons wear them so they dont spread germs to the patient they are working on. you dont see the patient wearing one. they do offer some 'splatter' protection, but their effect as an air filter for what the wearer is breathing is minimal. there are some better fitting paper ones, but they are still pretty useless cept to keep mosquitos and sawdust out. if you are concerned about whats in the air and actually want to do something, you need a respirator with cartridges rated for what will be in the air, that will absorb it and not just shoot it back out when you exhale. randy |
#5
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if you are concerned about whats in the air and actually want to do
something, you need a respirator with cartridges rated for what will be in the air, that will absorb it and not just shoot it back out when you exhale. randy Good point Randy. Respirators are becoming common enough that the BORGs have them along with an assortment of different filters. It is really cheap insurance since the filters are fairly cheap and a good mask will last a long time. |
#6
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#7
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#9
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xrongor wrote:
lets end a myth right now about 'dust masks' those cheap paper 'dust masks' are designed to keep the person wearing it from spreading germs when they EXHALE. to protect other people. surgeons wear them so they dont spread germs to the patient they are working on. you dont see the patient wearing one. they do offer some 'splatter' protection, but their effect as an air filter for what the wearer is breathing is minimal. there are some better fitting paper ones, but they are still pretty useless cept to keep mosquitos and sawdust out. Well, those are just dust masks, so you don't get your airways full of dust and cough and choke. You're right that they're no good for preventing asbestos. But they do the basic job they're good for. if you are concerned about whats in the air and actually want to do something, you need a respirator with cartridges rated for what will be in the air, that will absorb it and not just shoot it back out when you exhale. Correct. But dust masks are just that -- DUST masks. |
#11
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#12
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DanG wrote:
I agree that much of the asbestos scare is hype, but I think you had better check some of your facts. I know here, that the insulators' union has the largest retirement fund. Not many of them collect. Aunt Irene has asbestosis from shaking out and washing hubbie's clothes after coming home from the shipyard. He had no asbestosis, he worked with it wet. Admittedly, there are ancedotal stories such as your Aunt Irene. That retired members of the union seldom collect may have more to do with the union discouraging members reaching retirement age. I cannot find any peer-reviewed study showing a causal relationship between asbestosis or mesothelieoma and asbestos in a commercial product or environment. |
#13
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According to JerryMouse :
I cannot find any peer-reviewed study showing a causal relationship between asbestosis or mesothelieoma and asbestos in a commercial product or environment. What exactly what you mean by that? Medicine almost never _proves_ a direct causal relationship between anything and anything else. It's easy know that the person died because of asbestosis, but not be able to attribute it to a _specific_ exposure or product, even one the person was in long-term intimate contact with. [The fibers in the guys lungs don't have serial numbers on them...] So they have to make sense out of statistical correlations. It's likely true that the incidence of asbestosis when you're only in contact with "finished product" is essentially non-existant. But, people who work with the bare stuff (eg: insulation installers) do have a considerably higher incidence of cancers. I would suggest that asbestos in vinyl flooring is definately not a danger as long as you're not actively and continuously disturbing the stuff. Wash or wax the floor occasionally, and don't worry about it. If you do decide to replace the flooring, leave it where it is, and put the new flooring on top. -- Chris Lewis, Una confibula non set est It's not just anyone who gets a Starship Cruiser class named after them. |
#14
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On Sun, 22 Aug 2004 20:10:04 -0500, "JerryMouse"
wrote: I cannot find any peer-reviewed study showing a causal relationship between asbestosis or mesothelieoma and asbestos in a commercial product or environment. Where did you look? Occup Environ Med. 2004 Sep;61(9):757-63. Occupational and environmental exposures and lung cancer in an industrialised area in Italy. Fano V, Michelozzi P, Ancona C, Capon A, Forastiere F, Perucci CA. Epidemiology of pleural mesothelioma in Italy. Filiberti R, Montanaro F. National Cancer Research Institute, Environmental Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Mesothelioma Registry of Liguria, Genoa, Italy. The incidence of malignant mesothelioma (MM) in Italy is increasing and is assumed to be a consequence of high levels of asbestos exposure. Establishment of the National Mesothelioma Registry (ReNaM) and the co-operation of five regional centers has allowed the estimation of the incidence of malignant mesothelioma in major parts of Italy and the definition of exposure to asbestos. Geo |
#15
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Did they control for smoking? I've glanced at a few of the mining
studies in USA and it would seem SMOKERS are the ones coming down with lung disease after exposure to toxins. They've already insulted their body's ability to clear the lungs and respiratory tract, and loaded themselves with immune system damage. "GEO" wrote in message ... On Sun, 22 Aug 2004 20:10:04 -0500, "JerryMouse" wrote: I cannot find any peer-reviewed study showing a causal relationship between asbestosis or mesothelieoma and asbestos in a commercial product or environment. Where did you look? Occup Environ Med. 2004 Sep;61(9):757-63. Occupational and environmental exposures and lung cancer in an industrialised area in Italy. Fano V, Michelozzi P, Ancona C, Capon A, Forastiere F, Perucci CA. Epidemiology of pleural mesothelioma in Italy. Filiberti R, Montanaro F. National Cancer Research Institute, Environmental Epidemiology and Biostatistics, Mesothelioma Registry of Liguria, Genoa, Italy. The incidence of malignant mesothelioma (MM) in Italy is increasing and is assumed to be a consequence of high levels of asbestos exposure. Establishment of the National Mesothelioma Registry (ReNaM) and the co-operation of five regional centers has allowed the estimation of the incidence of malignant mesothelioma in major parts of Italy and the definition of exposure to asbestos. Geo |
#16
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Did they control for smoking?
Since these "studies" are usually driven by the plantiff's lawyer, they usually try to ignore anything that puts the liability anywhere but in the deep pockets of the defendant. Simply because the study comes from some "public interest group" sounding name doesn't mean it is not lawyer funded. |
#17
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The best way to remove this type flooring is with an electric iron
(the type that you use to iron your clothes) to heat the tiles which will liquify the old rubber based glue -- then lift them with a spatula. This avoids breakage and aerosolizing the asbestos fibers. Will ruin your iron, though. |
#18
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#19
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#20
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That just shows that the industry has lawyers too. The truth is in the middle
somewhere. If you had a job grinding up asbestos all day you probably had a bad effect from it. If you fixed copiers, toner caused you problems. If you work in a concrete plant the cement hurt you. Everything causes cancer if you get too much of it in your system Face it, the world is a dangerous place, it kills us all eventually. |
#21
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#22
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Thanks for all your answers. As I said, the contractor already began
removal of the vinyl floor when i arrived there. It was so old that it could not be taken out in chunks, it was chipped away in small 2"x2" pieces. Afterward, he vacuumed the debris! What an idiot!! All that does is spread the asbestos fibers even more because the fibers go right thru the bag! Now i have to damp mop the entire place in order to remove and possible asbestos. Remember it is only 3% asbestos from a vinyl floor so it cant be that harmful. (Power Cat) wrote in message om... The best way to remove this type flooring is with an electric iron (the type that you use to iron your clothes) to heat the tiles which will liquify the old rubber based glue -- then lift them with a spatula. This avoids breakage and aerosolizing the asbestos fibers. Will ruin your iron, though. |
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