Found Asbestos During a Renovation? What to Do Next in Little Rock
The carpet came up and there is 9×9 tile under it. The ceiling was half scraped before someone said the word asbestos. The plumber stopped at the wrap on the pipes. The siding crew found gray cement shingles under the vinyl. It is a common moment in older Little Rock houses, and the next hour decides whether it is a small delay or a whole-house cleanup. Here is what to do, in order. If you are standing in it now, call (501) 817-7825.
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Right now: stop, close the room, do not clean up
Stop the work. Everyone out of the room. Close the door, and if there is a heating or cooling vent in the room, close it or cover it. Do not sweep, do not vacuum with a household vacuum, do not carry debris through the house, and do not run fans. Take off the clothes you were wearing in the dust and bag them. If the material was only exposed and not broken up, the tile was lifted whole, the wrap is intact on the pipe, the shingles came off whole, there is very little in the air and this is a pause, not an emergency. If it was scraped, sanded, ground or smashed dry, treat the room as contaminated until it is tested.
Next: find out what it is
A lab sample of the material tells you whether it contains asbestos: $50 to $75, two to three days, rush turnaround when a crew is standing idle. If the material was broken up, an air test tells you whether the room and the rooms around it are safe to be in now. Both are done in one visit. See asbestos testing and asbestos air testing. A negative result on the material means you carry on with the renovation. A positive result means the next step depends on how much was disturbed.
If it is positive and the material is still intact
The good outcome. The tile that came up whole, the wrap still on the pipe, the shingles stacked in the yard. The material gets removed properly, in a sealed area, before the trades come back, and the renovation carries on with a few days lost. A kitchen floor, a room of ceiling or a basement of pipe is usually one day of removal. See residential asbestos abatement and the cost page for what each material runs.
If it is positive and it was broken up
The expensive outcome, and why the first rule is not to disturb material before testing it. Dust from a dry-scraped ceiling or a ground floor is through the room and often the rooms around it. The cleanup is a contamination job: the affected rooms are sealed, every surface is wet-wiped and vacuumed with filtered equipment, soft furnishings that cannot be cleaned are bagged, the remaining material is removed, and air tests confirm each room is clean before it is handed back. It costs many times what the removal alone would have, and the house may be out of use for a week. It is still fixable. Keep out of the rooms and call.
What to tell the contractor
Most Little Rock contractors will not touch suspect material once they have seen it, which is the right response. Tell them the material is being tested, ask them to hold the schedule for the result, and if it is positive, that the asbestos will be removed by a separate crew before they return. Give them the lab report and the disposal manifest for their file. A contractor who offers to just bag it and haul it with the rest of the debris is offering you the contamination job above, plus a fine at the landfill. For the rest of the house, get the other suspect materials tested before the next wall comes down: see survey before renovation.
Found asbestos questions
We scraped the popcorn ceiling before testing it. How bad is it?
Depends on how much and how dry. Close the room, keep people out, do not clean up, and have the material and the air tested. If it is positive, the room and possibly the rooms around it get a proper cleanup and an air clearance. It is fixable; the mistake is cleaning it up yourself first.
The tile under the carpet is intact. Can I just leave it?
If it is firmly stuck and unbroken, yes: a new floor can go over it, sealing it in place. Test it so you know what you have and can disclose it. Loose or broken tile has to come up properly.
How long will the renovation be delayed?
Two to three days for the lab result, one day of removal for a typical room or floor, plus a day for the air test if the job is large enough to need one. A contamination cleanup is longer.
Does insurance cover this?
Usually not for material that was always in the house. Some policies cover a cleanup after a sudden event like a burst pipe or a storm that broke up material. Check your policy and ask before you count on it.
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Standing in it now?
Close the room, keep people out, and call (501) 817-7825. Material and air tested in one visit, then a written plan.