The "A" Word

Over the past couple weeks we have been dealing with the word any home owner dreads... Asbestos.

When we purchased the house, our home inspector warned us that the cement board siding was likely of the age that it contained asbestos. Since the asbestos was safely encapsulated in cement board it was not enough to scare us away from buying the house but we have spent the last six years scheming up ways to get rid of the siding without having to pay to have it tested for asbestos or, even worse, paying to have it properly abated.

Then about a month ago we mentioned our predicament over beers with the contractor building the house three doors down and he informed us that any home owner can properly dispose of asbestos at the City landfill by simply obtaining a permit.

What??? A permit??? We were certain we were going to have to sneak the asbestos into the landfill!

I guess in hindsight it makes sense that the City has a system in place for home owners to safely dispose of asbestos without going broke hiring an abatement company or resorting to improperly dumping it in the landfill or illegally dumping it somewhere else.

So we called 3-1-1 and were put in contact with the Industrial Waste department that issued us a permit to dispose of the asbestos. The permit cost us $23.

We still had to follow the proper protocols to safely remove and transfer the asbestos... wear suits and respirators, double bag the waste in 6 mil poly, etc...

It was a lot of work but now it is all behind us. Another nightmare checked off the list.

Amy