American Air Testing will come to your site and walk through and identify probable asbestos-containing building materials. Testing for the presence of asbestos requires that a small sample of the material be collected. You can make the decision to leave the material alone and assume it is asbestos, if that fits your situation. If you are planning a remodel or removal of a bearing wall, then physical removal of the materials for testing is highly recommended. Often we find that asbestos is not present in materials that are identified by the EPA, etc. Sometimes new materials like sheet rock, mud, and tape have been installed. Sometimes popcorn ceiling texture doesn’t have asbestos.
If you remove less that 100 square feet, your asbestos contractor may place that material in regular construction debris. If more than 100 square feet need to be removed, it’s required that material be taken to a toxic dump site. You can save a lot of money by only removing the materials that actually contain more than 1% of asbestos fibers.
So, if you need to know if asbestos is present in the glue behind the bathroom tile, then small samples of the tile and glue need to be removed. Sometimes a photo of the material is all that is necessary. Example: a real estate sale.
If you have reason to believe, or your tenants’ believe, asbestos fibers have been released into the air, we can take an air sample specific to asbestos fibers. This will determine if asbestos fibers are in the breathable air of the site of concern. Yes, this is adequate for litigation because of our asbestos licenses, our lab’s certifications, and the analysis method we select. If your tenant thinks asbestos fibers are in the dust in the rental unit, we can also test this dust.
If you have performed an asbestos abatement and need clearance, we do that, too. You need to have your abatement contractor leave containment, negative air, and scrubbers all on. These items are removed once the lab tells us the air is clear for asbestos. Leaving the equipment running is for your safety.
We also perform asbestos testing worker safety.