Sacramento asbestos removal
Before a building comes down, or before a remodel opens up walls, ceilings and floors, the asbestos-containing materials found in the survey have to be removed first. That can include cement-asbestos (transite) siding and pipe, roofing, plaster, drywall joint compound, flooring and mechanical insulation. The abatement is scheduled around the air-district notice period, and the paperwork the building department needs is part of the job.
A demolition takes apart every material in a building at once, so everything the survey found has to be dealt with first. On a house that can mean cement-asbestos (transite) siding or shingles on the outside, roofing felts and mastics, stucco, plaster, drywall joint compound and texture, every flooring layer, and the mechanical insulation in the crawlspace or attic. Underground, old cement water or sewer pipe may come out with the foundation. A gut remodel is the same exercise on a smaller footprint: whatever walls, ceilings and floors are being opened. Asbestos patching compound for walls was banned by the Consumer Product Safety Commission in 1977, so joint compound in older interiors is a routine sample.
Transite panels and pipe are wetted, unfastened and lowered intact, not broken off with the rest of the structure. Interior work follows the same containment, negative air and wet-removal methods used on smaller jobs.
This depends on the county, and it decides the schedule. Inside Sacramento County, Sac Metro Air District reviews an application for demolitions of any size and approves or returns it within two business days, followed by a 10-day notification period before work starts on demolition or abatement. The City of Sacramento's wrecking permit needs departmental sign-offs, and for commercial buildings it is not issued until the asbestos form carries the air district's date. Penalties under the district's rule can reach $75,000 per day.
Placer and El Dorado counties do not run the federal asbestos demolition program themselves. A regulated demolition in Roseville or El Dorado Hills is notified to U.S. EPA Region 9, with a copy to the California Air Resources Board, 10 working days ahead. The Placer district's fact sheet says this applies even when no asbestos was found. In Yolo County, West Sacramento falls under Yolo-Solano AQMD, whose own rule covers commercial teardowns.
Single-family homes are usually outside these programs, but not in every case. Sac Metro Air regulates a house that is demolished to make way for commercial development, a situation that comes up on larger lots in places like Fair Oaks. And clearing a building does not finish the asbestos question on some foothill parcels: in parts of Folsom mapped as moderately likely to contain naturally occurring asbestos, grading the cleared site needs a dust mitigation plan or a geologic evaluation under a separate state rule.
These requirements apply to any company doing the work, and they can be checked independently. Asbestos-related work involving 100 square feet or more of material with more than 0.1% asbestos requires registration with Cal/OSHA's Asbestos Contractors' Registration Unit. The Contractors State License Board issues the C-22 Asbestos Abatement classification only to contractors registered with Cal/OSHA or with an application in process. Planning or overseeing removal of 100 square feet or more calls for a Cal/OSHA Certified Asbestos Consultant or Site Surveillance Technician. Ask for registration and license numbers, then look them up on the Department of Industrial Relations and CSLB websites before signing.
How long does it take? It depends on the building and the notice period. Demolitions and abatement projects in Sacramento County carry a 10-day notification period before work starts, and the removal itself can run from a day to a few weeks.
These often turn up in the same building or the same project:
Samples analyzed by an accredited lab before a remodel, sale or demolition, so you know what you are dealing with.
Read more →Old 9x9 and 12x12 vinyl tile, sheet flooring and the black mastic underneath, taken up before new flooring goes down.
Read more →Asbestos pipe lagging, boiler wrap and duct joint tape removed from basements, crawlspaces and attics.
Read more →Written estimate
Don’t sand, scrape or sweep it. A quick description is enough to start.
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