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Asbestosis

diamondgeezer.blogspot.com

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Re: Asbestosis

#121

Post by Atomic_Torrfisk »

lazyasciiart wrote: post #79
Atomic_Torrfisk wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It absolutely does need balance. Many, if not most older pre 1980 houses in (Norway where I live) have some form of Asbestos in some form, e.g. Eternit, window putty, jointing putty, AIB around fireplaces, or textured paint. Usually these materials are fine if left in place, and it is tricky to avoid these materials when looking for housing since older homes make up a large fraction of our housing stock, especially i…

> Usually these materials are fine if left in place Maybe in Norway you need to tell people to chill over it. But the current attitude to asbestos in DIY spaces in the US/UK is far away from that, and a lot closer to “yea go on just tear it out yourself, you’ll be fine if you put on an n95 and spray some water first”.

> current attitude to asbestos in DIY spaces in the US/UK

Nope, same attitude here.

Re: Asbestosis

#122

Post by hnlmorg »

pac0 wrote: post #6

> My Dad lost his Dad at the age of 34, which is no age at all in the grand scheme of things. By contrast I still have my Dad at the age of 60, which has meant an extra quarter century of guidance, support, advice, love and always being there. How lucky am I? I lost my father when I was 30. I thought I’d been lucky because I’d had him through my “adult” life. Now I’m 40 and have a 2-year-old son, and over these past…

I emphasise with your grief. I lost my dad when I was 30 too. He died when my wife was pregnant with our first child.

It still cuts me up to think about how my kids have never known my dad, and their grandad.

Re: Asbestosis

#124

Post by sroussey »

ryukoposting wrote: post #77

I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, but my parents and my whole extended family are from an area in eastern Michigan, about 2 hours north of Detroit. Especially back then, the local economy was heavily dependent on Dow Chemical, who has a massive facility in the area. My grandfather worked there. He was one of the first people to ever handle Saran wrap. He also recalls hilarious stories, like a time when someone pranke…

In college, some times a kid would go pass out in his car rather than drive, and people would Saran Wrap the car so they couldn’t open the doors to get out.

Re: Asbestosis

#125

Post by cycomanic »

I remember when I was living in Melbourne I read a story about the Wunderlich factory which operated in the suburb of sunshine. Supposedly they left their wast just sitting in the yard (which was very centrally located so people would commonly cut through it). The local kids loved playing in the dusty stuff and on windy days it was apparently like a snowstorm. The factory operated up until the 80s, it is hard to believe.

Re: Asbestosis

#126

Post by ls612 »

pac0 wrote: post #6

> My Dad lost his Dad at the age of 34, which is no age at all in the grand scheme of things. By contrast I still have my Dad at the age of 60, which has meant an extra quarter century of guidance, support, advice, love and always being there. How lucky am I? I lost my father when I was 30. I thought I’d been lucky because I’d had him through my “adult” life. Now I’m 40 and have a 2-year-old son, and over these past…

My dad’s dad died when he was 13, and this dropped his family from upper middle class to basically in poverty except for owning a fully paid off house. It radically colored his outlook on life and left him risk averse and frugal, even to the expense of his quality of life. What’s the point of saving up an 8 figure nest egg and working into your 70s if you spend less than 100k/year?

I’m lucky to have him still at the age of 30 but it’s clear how traumatic losing a parent young is.

Re: Asbestosis

#127

Post by bruckie »

jabl wrote: post #99
Ray20 wrote: post #85

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Isn't asbestos used pretty much everywhere in the world (except rich countries)? So yes, it's dangerous. But it's very cheap, and poverty is far more dangerous than asbestos. It's simply a fact: residents of most countries simply can't afford a 200k dollars asbestos-free house, like Americans or Europeans can. If Americans had less affordable homes like the rest of the world have, they would still be building them ou…

Not using asbestos is not the reason why homes in the Western world are expensive. https://aiobs.org/how-healthy-and-costly-are-the-most-used-i... shows insulation cost for a (typical?) 1500sqft (~140m^2 for the rest of the world) home. The most common, and also the cheapest, type of insulation being fiberglass bats at $560. So if this home would cost $200k, that's 3% of the total price. So even if asbestos would be…

$560 out of $200k is 0.3%. $4500 out of $200k is 2.3%. Either way, yeah it's a small fraction.

Re: Asbestosis

#128

Post by grogenaut »

sroussey wrote: post #124
ryukoposting wrote: post #77

I grew up in the Chicago suburbs, but my parents and my whole extended family are from an area in eastern Michigan, about 2 hours north of Detroit. Especially back then, the local economy was heavily dependent on Dow Chemical, who has a massive facility in the area. My grandfather worked there. He was one of the first people to ever handle Saran wrap. He also recalls hilarious stories, like a time when someone pranke…

In college, some times a kid would go pass out in his car rather than drive, and people would Saran Wrap the car so they couldn’t open the doors to get out.

just open the window and cut it with your keys?

Re: Asbestosis

#129

Post by Atomic_Torrfisk »

ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #60
Atomic_Torrfisk wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It absolutely does need balance. Many, if not most older pre 1980 houses in (Norway where I live) have some form of Asbestos in some form, e.g. Eternit, window putty, jointing putty, AIB around fireplaces, or textured paint. Usually these materials are fine if left in place, and it is tricky to avoid these materials when looking for housing since older homes make up a large fraction of our housing stock, especially i…

The problem with not taking a "zero tolerance" approach is that the problem isn't going to go away. As you say, the asbestos including materials are often best left untouched rather than being removed by a DIYer which may well release the fibres into the air. However, that's just kicking the can down the road as at some point the house will need renovating or rebuilding and that's when the asbestos fibres will be rel…

> problem isn't going to go away.

Yes, that is why when you test positive for asbestos you add a little "a" sticker to the material to notify anyone in the future.

I think you are missing the point. Many people like myself want to take care of it, and would hire a proper crew to take care of it, but we are not wealthy enough to just call in a crew without some financial planning. This is not just an annoying expense, quite a bit more than that.

Re: Asbestosis

#130

Post by Atomic_Torrfisk »

ndsipa_pomu wrote: post #60
Atomic_Torrfisk wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

It absolutely does need balance. Many, if not most older pre 1980 houses in (Norway where I live) have some form of Asbestos in some form, e.g. Eternit, window putty, jointing putty, AIB around fireplaces, or textured paint. Usually these materials are fine if left in place, and it is tricky to avoid these materials when looking for housing since older homes make up a large fraction of our housing stock, especially i…

The problem with not taking a "zero tolerance" approach is that the problem isn't going to go away. As you say, the asbestos including materials are often best left untouched rather than being removed by a DIYer which may well release the fibres into the air. However, that's just kicking the can down the road as at some point the house will need renovating or rebuilding and that's when the asbestos fibres will be rel…

> retroactively penalise the builders that used so much asbestos

It is not the builders fault, they did not know, but the manufacturers of ACM did for decades! and they were penalized. Most were forced to set up trusts to cover certain expenses in the US, but I am not sure what their scope is.

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