Reno Diary #16: I Find Asbestos
61 Days to Moving Day
This post may contain affiliate links. If you purchase through these links, I may earn a small commission at no additional cost to you. I only recommend what I truly use and love.
The floor installer Juan was doing me a super-solid by meeting me at the house on Labor Day to give me an estimate for replacing the existing floors with hardwood.
He arrived at 9 am.
The first order of business was to see what the hell was under the carpet.
I had a flooring utility knife that my dad had given me to use when I took up the carpet the day I bought my Pittsburgh home.
I liked the symbolism.
Juan and I went to a corner of the living room, where I pulled the utility knife out of my handbag and gleefully ripped through the carpet and padding.
Juan grinned. Then he looked at the floor under the carpet and frowned.
“That’s asbestos,” he said.
“What?” I said.
“There’s asbestos in the flooring mastic,” Juan said. “You’ll need to get it removed before we can replace the floors.”
I thought I was going to pass out.
After a 90-page inspection report, and my own hyper-critical assessment of the house, I thought I had all the bases covered.
Nope. Epic fail.
Juan saw my distress. He said, “Let’s finish our walk-through.”
“I’ll give you an estimate and we can schedule installation once the abatement is done.”
I don’t remember walking Juan through the rest of the house, answering his questions, or driving back to the condo.
What I remember is the overwhelming panic and fury I felt.
Why the hell wasn’t this disclosed by the owners?
What was finding asbestos going to do to my renovation, schedule, budget, and ability to move into the house in 61 days?
I sat in my green leather chair with a cup of coffee and the cat on my lap, staring into space.
I’m not sure how much time went by. But, at a certain point, I started to think again.
Juan told me that as long as I left the carpet in place and didn't disturb the asbestos-containing mastic underneath, I could safely have contractors come into the house to give me estimates.
Which meant that everything scheduled for the reno this week could happen as planned.
If I could get the abatement done at the end of the week, or over the weekend, I could keep the reno moving forward without missing a step.
I went in my office, opened my laptop, googled “asbestos removal Portland OR”, got a list of local asbestos abatement contractors, looked at their online ratings, and built a list of companies to call in the morning.
I also researched the asbestos removal process.
Samples of the “suspect material” would be sent to a lab for testing.
The lab would confirm whether asbestos was present.
The abatement project would have to be reported to the Oregon Department of Environmental Quality (DEQ).
Once DEQ received the notification, there would be a five-day waiting period before the abatement could begin.
After the abatement, the house would have to be cleared before the renovation could resume.
This was helpful—up to a point.
Could I get a company out to take samples tomorrow?
Could the testing be completed tomorrow?
How long would it take to file the notice?
Why did I have to wait five fucking days to get the asbestos out of my house?
How long would the actual abatement take? How long before I got the green light that I could safely resume the reno?
I now knew the process, but not how long it would take to make my home safe for tradespeople to work in.
And I wouldn’t know that until tomorrow.
Like Little Green Home?
Subscribe to get new posts that help you build a home you love—that loves you back.
Up Next
Six trades appointments, including an asbestos abatement company.
Comments