DIY Asbestos Removal

Asbestos is a highly carcinogenic agent which can cause a wide range of health problems, from asbestosis and COPD to lung cancer and mesothelioma. There is no safe level of exposure to asbestos, as all national and worldwide health agencies agree. Thus, we cannot stress enough the importance of hiring a team of professionals to properly attend to the hazardous materials in your home, as they underwent adequate training in this respect and have the required experience to deal with such a challenging and dangerous job.

While the cost of asbestos removal services may be quite high, varying between $1,500 and $30,000, depending on the extent of the project, since it requires utmost attention, plenty of time, as well as expensive protective equipment, we believe it is worth hiring a licensed company instead of attempting to remove asbestos yourself for the sake of your and your family’s health. Additionally, a poorly carried-out asbestos removal job can easily lead to environmental contamination, as fibers are microscopic and spread around very fast.

Nonetheless, removing asbestos by yourself from your own house is not illegal in the U.S. Accordingly, homeowners are legally allowed to perform asbestos removal as long as they comply with the following requirements:

Although we do not condone DIY asbestos removal, the job can be carried out by unauthorized individuals under relatively safe conditions only if the problem area is not very large and if adequate precautions are taken. Naturally, the exact process of removing asbestos from your home depends primarily on the material which needs to be disposed of. If you plan to perform asbestos removal in your home, it is crucial to follow the steps below to avoid endangering the health of the people around you.

Preparing the Area

Firstly, you have to let your family and neighbors know about the asbestos removal so that they will know to stay away from the house until the job is completed and the area in question is entirely cleaned up. There should be no one around during the procedure, including pets, as they can also be affected by asbestos exposure.

If you are going to remove asbestos materials from the outside of the building, please do the following beforehand:

For inside DIY asbestos removal, the precautions below should be taken:

Performing the Removal

Once the work area has been properly set up, you may begin removing the problematic asbestos materials. However, you should priorly protect yourself by wearing appropriate equipment. It is recommended to wear a respirator or at least a dust mask with two straps during the removal, as well as disposable coveralls with a hood, gloves, and safety glasses. While how you remove the asbestos product in question will depend on what it is, please bear in mind the following, regardless of what material you are going to get rid of:

Cleaning Up the Area

After you removed the asbestos material, you should wet down the waste and double wrap it in plastic sheets (200 um thick), securing the package with tape. The asbestos waste must be legally disposed of in a specially designated place. To find out where you can get rid of asbestos waste in your area, you should check with your city council before proceeding with the removal. As for cleaning up the room in question, we advise you to:

Removing asbestos on your own is a challenging job that is likely to result in significant contamination, hence the high cost of professional services. We strongly encourage you to contact a licensed asbestos removal company if it turns out hazardous materials are present in your house. If you lived in a house with asbestos and have a cancer diagnosis, please contact us by filling out the form on this page, or feel free to give us a call at 760.208.4196