Asbestos
Previous and ongoing research have come up with frightening revelations about asbestos regarding how it can affect our health. According to health professionals, asbestos has been linked to chronic lung ailments such as asbestosis, as well as other cancer related diseases.
Therefore, homeowners are doing all they can to make sure they get rid of this thing from their houses. Unfortunately, you cannot just wish asbestos away from your home. If you want the professionals to do it, you need to get ready to spend heavily.
But what is the essence of securing any expert services when you can actually do it yourself? Wondering how? Here is how you can identify asbestos with the help of asbestos testing kits.
Where they are
Locating asbestos in your house is not always an easy task on your first task. You can start by checking your attic areas. If you come across any fluffy, gray-looking material, you can quickly tell that that has nothing to do with fiberglass insulation. Having said that, that may not necessarily contain any asbestos.
Also, glance through the cement shingles on the exterior of your house, they may comprise an old type of asbestos that is very harmful. From your basement to your attic, you are bound to find asbestos in just about any place.
How the asbestos testing kit is used
Many homeowners don’t like the idea of testing for asbestos because of how expensive it is. While that is the case, you can actually cut down on the costs by doing the test yourself with asbestos testing kits. The results will be as reliable as if it were handled by the experts themselves.
The first thing you need to do is purchase the testing kit; they usually don’t cost as much. After that, you test them against the suspected asbestos samples. The next step is to send your observations to a laboratory where the test results can be analyzed. After the analysis, the results will be sent back to you.
As for the cost of the testing, it can either of these scenarios: you pay a small token for the testing kits itself while you have to pay a huge sum for the lab tests. Or you may have to pay everything at once when you are buying the asbestos testing kits.
Getting suspected samples
You cannot test for asbestos without getting samples. You need the samples to conduct your tests. However, if you are getting the samples, you must apply a high-level of caution so your health is not affected in the process. You are most likely going to focus on solid, dust, or friable materials as your samples. As you do that, it is recommended that you wear gloves, disposable coveralls, boot covers, safety glasses, as well as respirators that are designed with HEPA filter.
You equally need to clear the surrounding air of any asbestos by spraying it with a teaspoon of detergent along with cold water inside a spray-size bottle. Asbestos is unhealthy, do whatever you can to get rid of it.
