What is the best way to clean the old asbestos house tiles?
Posted on July 12th, 2009 by admin
Asbestos
the house im in has old asbestos tiles that are painted white apparently and there is mold and dirt from my dogs all on them in different areas.how should i clean this safely?????
Dolphin Hosting
the house im in has old asbestos tiles that are painted white apparently and there is mold and dirt from my dogs all on them in different areas.how should i clean this safely?????
Dolphin Hosting
Filed under: Other - Home & Garden
Asbestos becomes dangerous when it is “frangible,” another word for crumbly and dusty. The particles then become airborne and can lodge in lungs, where they cause damage.
If your shingles are painted and in good shape, I would think you could scrub then GENTLY with soap and water. Don’t get rough with them and don’t use stiff brushes that could wear through the paint and start grinding at the asbestos shingle itself. You wouldn’t be in immediate danger because moisture would keep the asbestos from flying around, but the last thing you want to do is damage the shingles and shake lose particles of asbestos.
If your shingles are not in good shape, if they are cracked, breaking and crumbling, I would skip the whole idea of cleaning them and start thinking about removal and replacement. You can remove them safely yourself, but you’ll need to look into proper disposal options in your area. Here’s a good description of removal:
This is exactly what I did with a very large old house I owned that was shingled with asbestos. The only thing I did differently was wear an industrial quality respirator with filters approved by NIOSH for protection against asbetos.
Be careful about your cleaning. If in doubt, play it safe. Good luck.
Web Hosting
The tiles should be replaced which you already know.Other than replacing your tile i would use a power cleaner such as mean green at wal mart or doller general
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has articles on asbestos and mesothelioma, I would read that before I messed arround with any type of asbestos. I have seen a renovation program on “holmes on homes”, they had a renovation where they needed to remove asbestos, well you should have seen the trouble they went to. They obviously hired a professional company to do the work and I dont blame them. They had full coverage clothes and contained the room completely and after the removal they tested the air for asbestos fibres.
I would hate to be in your situation. I would pay the money and get some hard core proffesional to do it, but then again im paranoid about stuff like that.