Asbestos Testing Cost – Why Spend the Money?
Your total asbestos removal cost will include an asbestos testing cost. Before asbestos is removed, you must first ascertain whether or not asbestos-containing products are present. This means you must test for asbestos, which will require an asbestos testing cost or price. Whether you realize it or not, it’s possible that you could be living in a home that contains hazardous asbestos products. Asbestos is a fibrous mineral that is found in many building materials and when breathed can cause lung cancer, asbestosis, mesothelioma, and other cancerous diseases. For this reason, it is very important to know if asbestos products are in your home, and if so, be removed or encapsulated immediately if they have been disturbed or damaged. To determine the presence of asbestos requires asbestos testing. You can either hire a professional to perform the asbestos testing or do the testing yourself with an asbestos test kit. The actual asbestos testing cost is usually not very much, but it pays to get quotes from more than one contractor because the asbestos testing cost from various contractors may vary widely.
The Asbestos Testing Cost Comes Before any Removal Work is Done
If you are unsure as to whether or not you have any of these hazardous materials in your home you should contact an experienced asbestos abatement contractor and have them inspect your residence. There will be an asbestos testing cost associated with this inspection, but an asbestos testing cost is a small price to pay for peace of mind. If these hazardous materials are found in your home you will need to take care of any problem immediately.
If the materials are still in good condition you may be able to leave them alone or seal them instead of removing them. However, if they are in poor condition they may need to be completely removed. The asbestos removal cost in this case will depend on several factors. In addition to the testing and removal fees you will have an asbestos disposal cost that will run about 10 or 12 cents per pound on average. Depending on what materials are to be removed you may also have an asbestos pipe insulation removal cost, asbestos ceiling removal cost, asbestos tile removal cost, or an asbestos siding removal cost. This is in addition to the testing cost. The total asbestos abatement costs, from the asbestos testing cost to the actual removal costs, can vary greatly among contractors.
How Much is an average Asbestos Testing Cost?
An average asbestos testing cost can involve several things and can range from $50 to $1,000 or more depending on the services performed and who does the sampling. If you take your own sample and deliver or mail it to a lab the asbestos testing cost may be relatively inexpensive. However, if an inspector comes to your home the asbestos testing cost will go up.
An inspector knows which types of materials may contain asbestos and will first do a visual inspection. If a product is suspected of containing asbestos a sample will be taken and then later examined at the lab. Air monitoring on site is another test that can be performed at an additional charge.
If you decide to keep your asbestos testing cost to a minimum by taking your own samples, there are some basic guidelines that should be followed. You cannot determine whether or not a material contains asbestos simply by looking at it, so it is important to wear a protective breathing mask as well as other gear when taking samples. Treat all suspected materials as having asbestos whether you think they do or not.
Turn off any heating or air conditioning systems before taking samples. This will minimize the spread of any fibers that are released into the air during sampling. Using a mixture of a cup of water and a few drops of liquid detergent in a spray bottle, wet the materials before taking a sample.
Take care to disturb the materials as little as possible as you cut or scrape a piece from the entire depth of the material and place it into a clean container or Ziploc bag. Be sure to seal the container well and then wipe off the container and sampled area with a damp paper towel. Label the container with your name, phone number, and ID number. If you are sampling more than one area the ID number can help you differentiate between different samples. The ID number will be “sample #1,” “sample #2,” and so on.
If you are testing a large popcorn ceiling you will usually want to take three samples from different areas of the ceiling. With small ceilings, under 1,000 square feet, one sample should be sufficient.
If you are sampling floor tiles you will need separate samples of the floor and the adhesive under the flooring. Both the floor tiles and the adhesive may contain asbestos and will be examined separately by the lab. When mailing the materials to a lab you will place the sealed container into a suitable mailing envelope or box. Doing it yourself will lower the cost of testing for asbestos, but for safety reasons you may want to hire a professional contractor and pay the extra asbestos testing cost.
Asbestos Testing