Asbestos Encasement
March 10th, 2010
Image : http://www.flickr.com
The dangers of asbestos have been known for a long time and even the companies that withdrew billions of asbestos products have long since given up defending the virtues of asbestos. Unfortunately there have been so many years between identifying the dangers of asbestos and asbestos getting pulled off the market but finally new asbestos products have been almost universally banned.
The biggest problem with asbestos today are dealing with the past. People continue to suffermesothelioma and other respiratory problems caused by asbestos. Perhaps an even bigger problem is how to deal with asbestos which is still out there in old buildings, concrete and insulation. For more than half of the 20th century, asbestos was used a bit 'anywhere that required l' isolation. It 'was a bit' out there everywhere - and still is.
Of course the public outcry against asbestos has requested the immediate removal of all asbestos anywhere people wereexposed to danger. However, this is often easier said than done. In too many cases, increase costs for the renovation of a building older than dealing with asbestos. Often the cost of asbestos removal completely prevented restoration of old buildings. Demolishing or renovating old buildings used to be easy, but not anymore.
For many years the asbestos removal was a stand still. Companies that could afford to remove asbestos insulation in their buildingshad already done, often at great cost. Companies with fewer financial resources usually just left their old buildings alone and delayed dealing with asbestos. Finally, in 1990 governments began to adopt alternative ways of dealing with asbestos in buildings.
Currently there are 3 approved ways to deal with asbestos in older buildings. Removal is still the preferred way, but is very expensive and not entirely without dangers. Simply getting the asbestos outexposes people. The trick and the cost of asbestos removal is required outside the air and away from people. A further problem with the removal of asbestos is necessary to install the new insulation and fire protection, usually fiberglass, to replace the asbestos you are removing.
A second way to deal with asbestos is called encapsulation. This involves actually building a structure around the asbestos so that it is totally independent. In some cases this is a good solution, butusually is almost as expensive as removal. Many buildings can not handle the extra weight of the structure of encapsulation.
The third way to deal with asbestos called encasement. With this procedure a special 2 part coating is sprayed into completely prevent exposure to asbestos fibers. The first layer is a primer that binds with the asbestos fibers, holds them in place and also prepares the area for resale. The second layer is a sealant that does just that,completely isolating asbestos.
Independent testing of encasement has shown that the surface finish is completely safe. There are fibers in air or other volatile substances from the surface. It is totally harmless. In the field, encasement was shown to be greater than 50 per cent less costly than the removal and can be done in half the time and labor costs much less. The big drawback with encasement and asbestos is still there, but as long as the building is notchanged or demolished the encasement coating renders totally harmless asbestos.







