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Studies have revealed the fact that daily deaths in the UK are many and 13 of those deaths are because of asbestos exposure. The main cause of such death is because of a condition known as asbestosis and the symptoms include severe coughing, shortness of breath, damage to the lungs, and finally death.
Hence, it is suggested to learn to identify the presence of asbestos in your home.
The best way of understanding how to check the presence of asbestos at home is by learning ways to identify the common hints. It is revealed that almost all houses and buildings that were built before 2000 have asbestos mixed with the construction materials. The reason is, asbestos is the best fire-resistant, durable, and available at low cost. As their dangerous effects on human health were discovered, the builders stopped using asbestos for construction from then on.
Some of the asbestos disposal surrey services are quite famous for offering the best solutions for you if you feel like your house has asbestos mixed with the construction materials. The experts will work on ways to make you less exposed to the material by following some effective procedures.
Find the best one for your service from your locality and one such most suggested name is Advance Asbestos Removal in Surrey.
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Signs of the Presence of Asbestos in a Building
Many signs indicate the presence of asbestos in any building. Following these signs can be of great help when finding houses or buildings with asbestos in them. The main factor to understand is that the usage of asbestos was legalised in the UK till 1985 for the construction of buildings. They were even used while designing some appliances.
Asbestos is the best heat-resistant, durable, and also long-lasting material, and hence was used for many things as insulators. The main usage of asbestos was in boilers, roofing materials, hairdryers, housing pipelines, and so on.
All buildings such as schools, companies, industrial facilities, etc., and everything else that was built before 1985 have asbestos in them. As a result, the workers who were exposed to the material fell seriously sick and even died after a few months of completing the work.
You can find the presence of asbestos in your building when,
- You know that the building or house that you are in is built before the 1980s.
- The flooring is of vinyl flooring
- The building contains vermiculite insulation
- The roofing has the presence of corrugated roofing material
- The walls are made with sheets made of cement
- The presence of cement sheets in the fireplace areas
- The usage of fire-resistant window putty in your home
Studies on asbestos usage have even revealed that asbestos was utilised in the construction of brake pads, gaskets, and clutches of some vehicles including cars. hence, the experts suggest that you should always take the help of a professional when it comes to replacing the clutches, brake pads, or gaskets in your cars.
Identifying the Presence of Asbestos
The right way of understanding the presence of asbestos in the house or other such buildings is by hiring the help of a professional. Many companies work exclusively on helping house owners to check whether their properties have the presence of asbestos in the buildings.
Many procedures are followed while testing any building for the presence of asbestos in them.
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The experts will make sure that they will,
- Shut off both the cooling and heating systems to not allow the extra circulation of asbestos exposure to the air.
- Cover the beneath area completely with the right floor mats while testing any particular area.
- Wetting the materials that may or may not contain asbestos with detergent and water mixture so that there are not many releases of fibres to the environment.
- Making sure that not much disturbance is caused to any place while extracting the required material for testing
- Placing the extracted material into a safe container for taking them to the testing labs
- Thoroughly covering the inspected area so that there is not much exposure of asbestos to the environment
- Using the wet cloth to thoroughly clean the area
Once the sample is collected from any area of your house, it is then sent to the concerned department for further testing. The reports will explain whether the house has an asbestos mix in the construction material or not. The experts, while collecting asbestos will make sure that they wear the necessary overalls to cover their body from the possible exposure to asbestos in the process.
No companies suggest conducting the asbestos test on your house by yourself. Accidental exposure to this dangerous material can result in completely damaging the local health of your lungs. Hence, always hire the help of a professional.
The overall dimension of your house and the suspected usage of materials altogether will contribute to the time required for testing the presence of asbestos in your house. Hence, you should be patient while the testing is done.
