Occasionally but not everyday, as I show homes listed for sale, I come across Asbestos on pipes in the 
basement of home built prior to the 1970's and as old as the late 1920's. I have seen ceiling tiles in basements and family rooms that contain it too. Older linoleum and sometime kitchen counter-tops are made with Asbestos. It gets even harder to spot in some other building materials such as joint compound, roof singles , and floor tiles. The Risk to ones health is real and exposure can happen to anyone. If you know you have asbestos in your home, read this blog post and take advantage of this opportunity to rid it from your home.
Asbestos, a mineral known for its resistance to fire and heat and its durablity, was widely used in residential and commercial construction for most of the 20th century. Besides insulation and roofing asbestos was also used in siding, ceiling and flooring materials in residential and commercial properties.
I remember that my mother had potholders and a hot pad made from asbestos. As kids we entertained ourselves on a cold, sunny day by bending the hot pad and watching the tiny, tiny fibers spray in the sunlight. Back then who knew the danger?
A recent law, the American Recovery & Reinvestment Act signed by President Obama on 2-17-09 gives homeowners tax incentives to reduce their exposure to asbestos by making green modifications to older homes that contain asbestos. Homeowners can use environmentally sustainable forms of insulation such as cotton fiber, lycene foam or cellulose to replace the asbestos insulation.
Other Green measures that qualify for tax credits under this act include
- Sealing cracks and ducts to reduce heat loss
- Adding insulation to walls & ceiling
- Installing new energy efficient windows & doors
Fortunately neither my sisters, brother or I suffered long term side effects of playing with asbestos as kids. At least not yet. As we now know long term exposure to asbestos either in your home or work place can lead to a rare cancer called Mesothelioma. The symptoms of this disease do not show up until 20, 30 or even 40+ years later. People who worked in shipyards, power plants, chemical plants and as auto mechanics as well as many military veterans may have been exposed to excessive amounts of asbestos through their jobs.
More than 300 products used by the military from 1930 through the mid 1970's contained asbestos. Every navy ship & shipyard used asbestos containing materials. Updating the US Navy fleet with "Greener' ships is a more expensive and long term project. Even today there are still a number of Navy ships that contain asbestos embedded in older construction materials.
This issue worries me more than playing with asbestos as a child as my husband, a US Navy veteran, who spent the better half of his 27 years aboard those older ships.
Hubby still loves the water and proudly wear the US Navy cap
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Good blog that I'd not read. There is so much asbestos out in the old housing market I don't know how it can ever be eliminated.
Barbara I lost a love one 9 years ago to mesothelioma, asbestos is deadly and most do not realize it.
Hi Mary, I wrote you a very long comment and hit something and it all went away. I had mentioned that a very dear friend passed away from this and the symptoms and tragedy of it was the very same as lung cancer. Sadly in our lives, there are probably any number of things out there in everyday use that is taking a toll on our lives. Medicine and research has lengthened our lives and the pre-existing harmful things out there are most probably shortening it by the same or even greater amount. The progress of man while for most things seems rather amazing, the things that are affecting our lives very slowly like asbestos are all to prevalent. I would guess there are products we use right now that have not yet been determined to be having a harmful affect that will over the course of the next decade be discovered they are seriously hurting our well being.
William that is so true, such as cell phones are thoughtto be a potential hazard, yet to be fully understood by medicine. However for those items that are known hazards, asbestos is certainly on the top of this list.
Mary--Thanks for the reblog of my article. The additional exposure to the real estate community will help to spread the message. Until you commented on my article I did not know anyone personally who suffered from Mesothelioma. Now I know that Bill Johnson has, too. Thanks.
Mary, thanks for posting, it is a horrible and swift death, now preventable if we can spread the word so homeowners will ask for asbestos abatement when buying a home.