Can I see asbestos?
Can I See Asbestos In The Air?
… It’s One Of The Most Common Questions About Ugly Asbestos
People still ask, all the time, questions which sometimes take us by surprise here at Asbestos Abatement, Inc. Questions like “How can a professional football team get penalized multiple times each game for something as easy to avoid as “Delay of Game?”
Maybe even more often (and just as surprisingly), people ask us “Can I see asbestos in the air?”
One of the main reasons we get this question is because the word “asbestos” is in the name of our firm, so many people might assume we know the answer. (We do.)
Folks might also ask this because they know that asbestos is ugly – it’s been proven to cause asbestosis and mesothelioma lung cancer, neither of which can be cured, and both of which are fatal. So, if you could see asbestos coming, so to speak, that would be great.
As it turns out, asbestos is all around us, all the time. It’s not legal to produce asbestos in the U.S., but it’s perfectly legal to import the ugly stuff… so tons and tons of it come into our country all the time, in everything from pipe insulation and flooring materials to cosmetics and faux jewelry. No kidding.
And when it’s undisturbed, asbestos isn’t dangerous. It’s when the products that contain asbestos are disturbed, by calamities such as a house flood that wrecks your floors and pipes, that asbestos breaks into microscopic shards that float around in the air and can impale themselves in your lungs.
That IS dangerous. Deadly, even.
So the answer to that question – can I see asbestos in the air – is found in that word “microscopic,” which any scientist will tell you is derived from the Latin words micro and scopic, meaning “No, you can’t see asbestos in the air.”
But we jest. Ordinary folks who aren’t crackerjack experts in asbestos often have no way of knowing that asbestos is microscopic, and that you can’t see it in the air. You also can’t smell it, hear it, taste it, or feel it… you literally can’t “see it coming.”
The only way to know whether you have a dangerous asbestos problem at your property is to have the place properly and professionally tested.
So if you experience a disaster which might have released microscopic asbestos into the air at your place – a house fire (even a small one), a flood (such as from a broken pipe), or a Do It Yourself project gone horribly wrong… your best bet is to call an asbestos tester right away.
Before the clock runs out.
Five! Four! Three! Two….
Getting rid of your asbestos problem is not as costly as you might think. It’s certainly money well spent, when you consider the disastrous possibilities inherent in NOT addressing a possible problem. We can refer you to an expert testing company, and if there’s a problem, we’ll solve it completely, and we’ll keep at it until your place is 100% asbestos-free. It’s bad when the clock runs out on the football field… but it would be much worse if the clock ran out on YOU or your family.
