Asbestos Encasement

The dangers of asbestos have been
known for a very long time and even
the companies that made billions off of
asbestos products have long since
given up defending the virtues of
asbestos. Unfortunately, there were way too many years between
identifying the dangers of asbestos
and getting asbestos pulled off the
market but finally new asbestos
products have been almost universally
banned.

The biggest problem with asbestos
today is dealing with the past. People
still suffer from mesothelioma and
other respiratory problems caused by
asbestos. Perhaps an even bigger
problem is how to deal with the asbestos that is still out there in older
buildings, concrete and insulation. For
more than half of the 20th century
asbestos was used just about
anywhere that required insulation. It
was just about everywhere out there - and still is.

Of course the public outcry against
asbestos called for the immediate
removal of all asbestos anywhere
people were exposed to the hazard.
However, this is often easier said than
done. In all too many cases the biggest expense involved in
renovating an older building is dealing
with asbestos. Often the expense of
totally removing asbestos has
prevented renovation of older
buildings. Demolishing or renovating old buildings used to be easy but not
anymore.

For many years asbestos removal was
at a stand still. Those companies that
could afford to remove asbestos
insulation in their buildings had
already done so; often at great
expense. Those companies with smaller financial resources usually just
left their old buildings alone and
delayed dealing with the asbestos.
Finally in the 1990s governments
started to approve alternate ways of
dealing with asbestos in buildings.

Currently there are 3 approved ways
of dealing with asbestos in older
buildings. Removal is still the preferred
way, but is very expensive and not
entirely without dangers. Simply
getting the asbestos out exposes it to people. The trick and expense in
asbestos removal is keeping it out of
the air and away from people. An
additional problem with asbestos
removal is you have to install new
insulation and fireproofing, usually fiberglass, to replace the asbestos you
are removing.

A second way of dealing with
asbestos is called encapsulation. This
involves actually building a structure
around the asbestos so that it is totally
contained. In some cases this is a
viable option but usually it is almost as expensive as removal. Many buildings
cannot handle the extra weight of the
encapsulation structure.

The third way of dealing with asbestos
is called encasement. With this
procedure a special 2-part coating is
sprayed over the asbestos totally
preventing exposure to the fibers. The
first coat is a primer that binds with the asbestos fibers, holds them in place
and also prepares the surface for the
second coat. The second coat is the
sealer that does just that, totally
sealing off the asbestos.

Independent testing of encasement
has shown that the final surface is
completely safe. There are no airborne
fibers or other volatile substances
coming off the surface. It is totally
harmless. In the field, encasement has proven to be more than 50 percent
less expensive compared to removal
and can be done in half the time and
with much less labor expense. The big
drawback with encasement is the
asbestos is still there but as long as the building isn't changed or demolished
the encasement coating renders the
asbestos totally harmless.

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