ᐅ Asbestos: Handling, Dust Sampling, Material Testing

Good evening,

About three years ago, I removed the carpet with foam backing and the kitchen floor, which was a type of vinyl, in my apartment built in 1982/83. A floating hardwood floor was then installed on top, and the baseboards were taped off.

At the time, I did not consider that the carpet, adhesive, or vinyl might contain asbestos. Now, three years later, I realize that I handled the removal rather carelessly, pulling everything up and scraping it out.

I would like to find out if I released asbestos back then or if asbestos is still coming up from under the new floor into the indoor air.

I still have one piece of carpet remnant with adhesive. However, several different carpets had been installed.

From my research online, I learned that dust sampling (stamping) or material testing can be done. However, I would prefer not to remove the newly installed flooring again. My main concern is whether there is an immediate health risk in the current situation. Therefore, I would appreciate your opinion on how you would proceed to clarify the situation.

Thank you very much.

If you are concerned: have it measured.

You can measure many things. Dust, materials, air? How would you approach this? The costs for air measurements are quite high.

Asbestos is only released when it is disturbed or worked on, or am I mistaken?

And it can’t be as bad as it’s always made out to be... at least in Italy, where an entire asbestos-contaminated bridge is demolished by blasting, and the dust, which spreads meters (yards) into the air, is simply suppressed with water.

I was briefly stunned.

It is definitely bad, but no one gets sick from a short-term exposure. Okay, unless you briefly come into contact with uranium, but that is something completely different, right?