Hello World! Welcome Friends! One day, you’ve noticed that moss and rainwater stains start to form on your old asbestos cement roof. Of course, your initial reaction is to clean it up. And since it’s too high to reach, you’ve decided to use a water blaster. This is the part where we would’ve told you to drop the hose and stop.
If your home was built with asbestos, one of the last things you want to do is to water blast it. By doing this, you’re exposing yourself, your family, and the neighborhood to a ton of health risk.
That’s because asbestos is a harmful material you shouldn’t mess with.
What Will Happen if I Water Blast my Asbestos Roof?
If you water blast any asbestos-filled area of your home, large clumps of asbestos can be broken off the wall and release dust particles. These fibres may contaminate nearby areas of the house. Huge visible clumps of asbestos will be all over the place.
Aside from that, you can also inhale breathable particles of asbestos which can result in greater health risks like lung diseases and infections.
Below are only some of the lung diseases that you can get from inhaling asbestos:
- Asbestosis – it’s the scarring of your lungs caused by asbestos inhalation. This scarring can restrict you from breathing so once this happens, shortness of breath will be part of your everyday life.
- Lung cancer – the asbestos dust that you’ve inhaled will stick to your lung tissues and can cause genetic and cellular damage to your lungs. These damaged tissues can potentially develop into cancerous cells.
- Mesothelioma – it’s a type of cancer. But it happens only on the linings in the heart, chest, lungs, and abdomen. Chest pains and shortness of breath are not inevitable once you get this disease. Most people who are diagnosed with mesothelioma are given a life expectancy of 12 months.
By Law, you Can’t Water Blast Asbestos
Aside from its health risks, one of the reasons why you shouldn’t water blast your asbestos house is because it’s illegal. Simple as that.
The EPA considers asbestos damage a pollution incident. That’s what makes it an illegal activity.
If you’re not aware of any asbestos presence in your house and you start water blasting or damaging the asbestos. Your local council will be alerted. They will issue a notice that orders you to have it investigated by asbestos inspection companies. Then a licensed removal company will take the job of removing the asbestos.
If you fail to comply with the order of the local council, you can be fined.
How to Prevent this from Happening
Before buying or renting a house, make sure that the property is asbestos-free. If there is, you should know the location of the asbestos materials. You should ask the landlady or the original owner of the house for a copy of an asbestos register prepared by an experienced audit team.
This way you’ll know which part of the house not to touch. If ever you’ll need to renovate a certain area of the property where there is asbestos, it’s better if you just put it on hold.
Never water blast, grill, sand, cut, or do any damage to the asbestos-filled portion of the house just by yourself. The best thing to do is to call the experts and let them do an investigation. After the inspection, they will advise you on what are your next steps regarding the asbestos contamination.
The service may entail a significant budget, but that’s nothing compared to the expenses that you need to shell out if you accidentally inhale asbestos dust.
Trust us, you’d rather spend your money on a quality asbestos inspection than hospital treatments.
Click the links below for any posts you have missed:
Closets are so Vital for Your Bedroom
Protect Your House From Rodents
7 Ways to Keep your House Cool
Guide to Metal Roofing Installations
Things to Avoid When Hiring Movers
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Toodles,
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