Asbestos siding in Virginia Beach, VA is more common than you might think. We have a lot of older homes in the area, and if you live in one that was built any time between 1920 and the late 1970s, it’s incredibly likely that you’ve got asbestos in some form, somewhere in your house.
Envirotex is a licensed, asbestos inspection and abatement contractor. We offer:
Worse, the rules for asbestos are different than they are for lead paint. Sellers are required by law to inform you if the home they’re selling you contains lead paint anywhere on or in it. They’re under no such obligation to inform you about the presence of asbestos.
Given that, and the fact that it was so commonly used in construction before the dangers surrounding it were fully understood, and the risks begin to come starkly into focus.
Early on, asbestos was considered to be something of a wonder material. It’s not hard to understand why. It’s incredibly durable, fire resistant, easy to paint or replace, and it makes a fantastic insulator. If not for the fact that it’s also deadly, it would almost certainly still be in widespread use today.
Fortunately, we know a lot more about the potential hazards than we did in decades past. Even so, older homes may have one or more of the following, made from asbestos:
Here’s the danger: As asbestos ages, it becomes increasingly brittle, which makes it fragile. If it’s cracked or broken, it will crumble, releasing tiny airborne particles that can be easily inhaled.
You’ve probably seen the late-night infomercials talking about class action lawsuits and the dangers of asbestos. The awful picture they paint of what can happen to people who breathe in asbestos particles is absolutely accurate. Mesothelioma is a dreadful form of cancer and almost always fatal. There is no cure and no hope of finding one in the immediate future, so asbestos exposure isn’t something to be taken lightly.
Where asbestos siding in Virginia Beach, VA is concerned, the risk is that as it gets older, even simple things like debris from a lawnmower passing near could cause the siding to crack and crumble. At that point, you and your family are at risk. Ideally, action should be taken before that ever happens.
Where remediation is concerned, the simplest solution is to entomb the asbestos siding on your Virginia Beach, VA home in a foam sheath, and side over it. Unfortunately, there are hard limits to how many times you can re-side your home before you have to rip all of the old siding down and start fresh, so that may or may not be possible in your particular situation.
If it isn’t, or if you simply want the offending material gone, we can help with that. Our process is straightforward and though. Broadly speaking, here’s what we do:
Given how easily the old asbestos siding on your Virginia Beach, VA can crumble and release airborne particles, our first step is to isolate the material so that when we remove it, none of those airborne particles escape the area we’re working in. The last thing we want is for them to escape to threaten your family, so we take a tremendous amount of care to ensure that we control the area we’re working in so that every particle can be trapped and removed.
Once the area is isolated and secure, we’ll proceed with remediation. As we mentioned earlier, where siding is concerned, that takes one of two forms: Either entombing in a foam sheath or outright removal.
As part of our initial assessment, we’ll make a professional recommendation—along with giving you a free, no-obligation estimate before any work begins—but even if our recommendation is to entomb the offending material, if you’d like it gone from your house and out of your life for good, we’re happy to do that.
Our skilled technicians have the tools and experience to remove it safely and with a minimum of breakage so we’ll limit the number of airborne particles released, and as mentioned, we start by isolating the area we’re working in, so we’ll capture any that are released during this part of the process.
Once the asbestos siding has been removed from your home, we’ll make sure it’s disposed of at a facility properly licensed and accredited to handle it. If any testing is required, we’ll take care of that and share the results with you when we get them back.
Finally, once all of the material has been removed and safely disposed of, we’ll thoroughly decontaminate the area to ensure that no trace of it remains, removing all risk to you and your family.
Although asbestos is one of the major hazards we deal with, it’s certainly not the only one. Most people don’t realize how many dangers there are lurking in or around their homes, but as the area’s most respected remediation company, we can help with any of them.
Earlier, we made a brief mention of lead paint and the fact that sellers are legally required to disclose its presence. Unfortunately, a seller can only disclose the information if they’re aware of it, and in many cases, they’re not.
Not to worry though, if you even suspect the presence of lead paint anywhere in or on your home or any of your outbuildings, just give us a call and we can come out to test for it. If we find any, our removal process is broadly similar to the one we described above for asbestos, and before you know it, it will be gone from your life for good, giving you greater peace of mind and one less thing to worry about.
Another issue we’re commonly called on to deal with is mold. It’s easy for a mold colony to get established in your home. All it needs to thrive is a damp, dark place, and unfortunately, there are many areas of most homes that fit that bill.
While it’s true that a committed do it yourselfer can handle smaller mold colonies, some mold species are quite dangerous and pose a serious health risk, especially if you or someone in your family already has an upper respiratory condition like COPD or asthma. In any case, if it’s something you’d just rather leave to the experts, we totally understand and are happy to assist.
Our process is broadly similar to the one outlined above, but there are a few tweaks and changes because mold is a little trickier to deal with.
Unlike asbestos or lead paint, which were put there on purpose by someone at some point in time, mold is a living organism that wants to survive and is attracted to areas of your home where conditions are optimal for it to do so. Until and unless those underlying conditions are addressed, even if we kill and remove the current mold colony, a new one is just going to form not long after we leave, so tracking it down to its source is of critical importance.
This is another big issue we deal with on a regular basis. All a mold colony needs to firmly establish itself is a dark, damp space, and unfortunately, most homes have lots of those. While it’s true that To that end, we make use of cutting-edge technology that allows us to peer behind your drywall without disrupting it. That’s important because mold often gets its start behind your walls in the immediate vicinity of a slow-leaking pipe. Once we understand what’s behind the conditions that are allowing the colony to take root, we can make specific recommendations about how to fix that in order to ensure that the issue won’t return at some later date.
It just doesn’t pay to take any chances where the health of your family is concerned. If you even suspect the presence of some type of hazard in your home or anywhere on your property, don’t hesitate to give us a call. We’ll be more than happy to come out to run some tests and give you a full report on our findings, along with our professional recommendation where the next steps are concerned. We’ve got you covered.
About Envriotex Environmental Services
Established in Northern Virginia in 2000, Envirotex Environmental Services was founded on military service. While serving his country, the company's owner Mr. Freeman gained vast knowledge and experience in the environmental services field. His expertise in air monitoring and hazardous materials testing prepared him for his post-military career.
Get Your FREE
Estimate Now!
Envirotex Proudly Accepts
Listen to Our Clients
