Removal May Pose More Risk Than Material Itself

It may not be “Nightmare on Elm Street,” but it is emerging as a worry on Main Street.

Fear of asbestos, a hazard of blue-collar work sites decades ago, has begun creeping into mature homes in tree-shaded neighborhoods.

Once-trusted household building materials, as common as insulation and patching compound, may harbor asbestos, a known source of invisible, potentially carcinogenic fibers.

It’s a fear that can be visited upon anyone living in a house or apartment built in the 1970s or earlier, although there’s no scientific certainty that a home’s asbestos has ever been fatal to its occupants.

Asbestos is not harmful unless inhaled. Non-friable, or non-crumbling, asbestos is not a direct health threat.

Still, a growing public awareness that repeatedly inhaling heavy doses of asbestos dust has proven deadly to unprotected industrial workers can make living around the substance troublesome for the psyche.

Asbestos is common in older homes, and it is possible, when an older house undergoes remodeling or suffers damage, that microscopic asbestos fibers can be freed to float through the air unless precautions are taken to avoid it.

Waves of asbestos-contaminated dust were released into a Sacramento County neighborhood in June when five houses were demolished to make way for a new development.

The project manager was fired for failing to adequately test suspicious materials, as required by regional air-quality regulations governing demolition projects.

But what about living every day in a home with those “suspicious” materials? And when should a resident become suspicious?

A California law that took effect in July, 1990, requires sellers to disclose any knowledge that their property contains hazards, including asbestos. These days, more home buyers want to know.

Some potential buyers are insisting that any asbestos be sealed over or professionally removed, say realtors and those in the asbestos-abatement business.

Removal can cost several thousand dollars, sometimes split between seller and buyer. But many authorities, including the American Medical Assn., caution that removal, which can stir up the fibers, may be riskier than leaving undamaged asbestos alone.

In today’s health-conscience climate, a buyer may be frightened off by the presence of asbestos regardless of actual health dangers.

“A buyer may not want to buy a home after disclosure (of asbestos),” said a Sacramento County realtor who asked not to be named. “We’re not going to sit here and make personal guarantees. We say, ‘No problem, we’ll find you another home.’ ”

“Some people even use it as a bargaining tool to get the price of the house down,” said Tom Conlon, a geologist who directs an asbestos analysis laboratory in suburban Carmichael. “The main thing I stress to them is that asbestos is only dangerous when it’s getting into the air.”

Nobody can document precisely how harmful asbestos might be in the “cottage cheese” acoustical ceiling of, say, your infant’s bedroom. There is virtually no danger, many authorities insist, if the material is intact.

There’s also the obvious if non-scientific evidence: Millions of us, healthy and middle-aged, grew up under asbestos ceilings and above asbestos floor tiles. Our parents were raised around heating pipes wrapped in asbestos insulation.

People routinely take bigger risks in everyday voluntary activities, such as driving, flying, swimming or even playing high school football, Time magazine noted last year. Other home hazards, such as lead-based paint or radon gas, could pose far greater overall dangers than asbestos, some researchers suggest.

But the deadly lung disease asbestosis and some fatal cancers have been tied to breathing asbestos fibers over time, typically among those who worked around the dust before protective laws. Symptoms usually don’t surface for decades.

An estimated 9,500 Americans, mostly electricians, carpenters, machinists and other workers exposed in the 1950s, died last year of lung and membrane cancers due to asbestos, said Dr. William Nicholson, an asbestos expert at Mount Sinai School of Medicine in New York.

Smoking, common in the blue-collar workplaces of the 1950s, compounded risks associated with the high asbestos exposure.

The state Department of Health Services says 28 Californians died of asbestosis in 1989.

As to cancer deaths from exposure in schools and offices, Fortune magazine in May reported up to 30 deaths yearly across the United States, using figures from the National Asbestos Council, National Cancer Institute and the Environmental Protection Agency.

By contrast, smoking is blamed for 120,000 U.S. cancer deaths each year, Fortune said.

Given the relative risks, the most common advice is to allow undamaged asbestos materials to remain undisturbed. For peace of mind, an owner can spray-paint “cottage cheese” ceilings to encapsulate fibers. Vinyl-asbestos floor tiles can be covered with new flooring.

But professionals should be summoned to remove and legally dispose of damaged asbestos materials or to identify those that could become friable in a remodeling project.

The South Coast Air Quality Management District requires building owners and project operators to submit asbestos-control plans when renovating or demolishing structures in Los Angeles, Orange, Riverside and urban San Bernardino counties.

But it exempts homeowners who do their own remodeling work from the requirement, said district spokeswoman Paula Levy.

Around the country, countless numbers of do-it-yourselfers and their families may have been exposed to asbestos dust in fixing up homes over the years. Again, nobody can measure the harm or risk, says Jim Richter, a federally certified asbestos specialist.

Homeowners who want to have “cottage cheese” ceilings tested for asbestos content should first dampen a patch in a corner using water in a spray bottle, said Louis Milani, president of Pacific American, an asbestos-removal business in suburban Fair Oaks.

(Wetting down asbestos prevents inhalation of fibers visible only through an electron microscope.)

Milani suggests using a knife to cut off a ceiling section the size of a sugar cube, then putting the sample in a self-sealing plastic bag.

An asbestos lab, listed in the Yellow Pages, will test it to determine the presence of the mineral for about $25.

Not only is asbestos commonly found in older household materials, it’s abundantly present in the world outside.

Once valued for its durability and heat resistance, asbestos is a naturally occurring substance that can be inhaled simply by strolling through the great outdoors. The state rock of California, for example, is serpentine, a prime source of asbestos.

With the discovery of its hazardous qualities, federal regulators in the 1970s began banning use of various construction materials containing asbestos. A mix of federal, state and regional requirements, some still evolving, are directed at easing health risks from asbestos already in place.

In accord with notification laws covering employers, the Legislature’s Joint Rules Committee in April told employees where asbestos can be found in the state Capitol--including the ceiling of the governor’s news-conference room.

Still, a homeowner may live in ignorance of the asbestos in his house. Some believe there may be little harm with living in such ignorance.

Fortune, Science and Time magazines have carried articles suggesting the asbestos scare may be needlessly costly and overblown.

“Low-level exposure is not a threat to human health. The scare is unprecedented, and the amount spent on asbestos removal is ridiculous,” Brooke Mossman, a cell biologist at the University of Vermont College of Medicine, wrote last year in Science, a journal of the American Assn. for the Advancement of Science.

Clearing a home of all asbestos can cost from $4,000, for a modest-sized house, up to $10,000, said Pacific American’s Milani. But even he says it’s cheaper and easier to paint over an asbestos ceiling, if it’s in good shape.

Some kinds of asbestos are more dangerous than others, but the less-harmful type most often is found in U.S. buildings, some specialists contend. Others argue that all asbestos is contaminated with some potentially deadly fibers.

Whatever the actual risks, the new state disclosure law will benefit cautious buyers by requiring sellers to reveal potential hazards, when they know of them. But buyers and sellers are on their own from there.

“If there’s an indication of asbestos, they (buyers) want to know what, why, when, who, how,” said Linda Myers, broker-manager for GBC Realtors in south Sacramento, location of many older homes.

“Prior to purchasing the property, they’re going to look to the seller to do something about it. Depending upon their level of anxiety, they will want one treatment or another.”

Some in the asbestos abatement and real estate businesses fear that homeowners who conscientiously warn prospective buyers of the presence of asbestos could face costly abatement hassles. But the AMA suggests that the best approach to coping with asbestos is to learn to live with it safely.

Asbestos, a virtually indestructible substance, is going to be around forever, the AMA’s Council on Scientific Affairs noted in August. “In other words, it is better that society use its’ limited financial resources in learning how to live safely” with it, “than in attempting to remove it totally from the environment.”

Danger Spots to Check for Possible Asbestos Threat

Most products made today do not contain asbestos. Those few products made which still contain asbestos that could be inhaled are required to be labeled as such. However, until the 1970s, many types of building products and insulation materials used in homes contained asbestos. Common products that might have contained asbestos in the past, and conditions which may release fibers, include:

* Steam pipes, boilers and furnace ducts insulated with an asbestos blanket or asbestos paper tape. These materials may release asbestos fibers if damaged, repaired or removed improperly.

* Resilient floor tiles (vinyl asbestos, asphalt, and rubber), the backing on vinyl sheet flooring and adhesives used for installing floor tile. Sanding tiles can release fibers. So may scraping or sanding the backing of sheet flooring during removal.

* Cement sheet, millboard and paper used as insulation around furnaces and wood-burning stoves. Repairing or removing appliances may release asbestos fibers. So may cutting, tearing, sanding, drilling or sawing insulation.

* Door gaskets in furnaces, wood stoves and coal stoves. Worn seals can release asbestos fibers during use.

* Soundproofing or decorative material sprayed on walls and ceilings. Loose, crumbly or water-damaged material may release fibers. So will sanding, drilling or scraping the material.

* Patching and joint compounds for walls and ceilings and textured paints. Sanding, scraping, or drilling these surfaces may release asbestos.

* Asbestos cement roofing, shingles and siding. These products are not likely to release asbestos fibers unless sawed, drilled or cut.

* Artificial ashes and embers sold for use in gas-fired fireplaces. Also, other older household products such as fireproof gloves, stove-top pads, ironing board covers and certain hair dryers.

* Automobile brake pads and linings, clutch facings and gaskets.

Source: American Lung Assn., U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Do’s, Don’ts for Owners Worried About Asbestos

--Do keep activities to a minimum in any areas having damaged material that may contain asbestos.

--Do take every precaution to avoid damaging asbestos material.

--Do have removal and major repair done by people trained and qualified in handling asbestos. It is highly recommended that sampling and minor repair also be done by asbestos professionals.

--Don’t dust, sweep, or vacuum debris that may contain asbestos.

--Don’t saw, sand, scrape or drill holes in asbestos materials.

--Don’t use abrasive pads or brushes on power strippers to strip wax from asbestos flooring. Never use a power stripper on a dry floor.

--Don’t sand or try to level asbestos flooring or its backing. When asbestos flooring needs replacing, install new floor-covering over it, if possible.

--Don’t track material that could contain asbestos through the house. If you cannot avoid walking through the area, have it cleaned with a wet mop. If the material is from a damaged area, or if a large area must be cleaned, call an asbestos professional.

Source: American Lung Assn., U.S. Consumer Product Safety Commission and the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Where to Call to Get More Information on Asbestos

Information on asbestos abatement and a list of certified and registered contractors who can handle the work is available from the Contractors State Licensing Board by calling any of the board’s regional offices.

An American Lung Assn. pamphlet, “Asbestos in Your Home,” on recognizing and dealing with household asbestos dangers is available free of charge from the Consumer Product Safety Commission in Washington, D.C. 20207.