Do You Know What Asbestos Smells Like?

… No, You Don’t… Nobody Does

Faithful readers of this web log, or “blog” as the kids say, are aware of several things other people may not know:

• A web log is called a “blog”
• This blog exists
• “I” before “E,” except after “C,” or when sounded as “A” (as in NEIGHBOR and WEIGH)
• Asbestos is ugly
• Asbestos is still legal in the United States
• You can’t mine or manufacture with asbestos in the U.S., but you can import products that contain asbestos
• And Man, do they ever!
• You can view this blog on your computer or other electronic device
• But not your toaster, even if it’s electronic
• Asbestos is dangerous
• Well, not all the time… if it’s left undisturbed in its manufactured state, such as in your wall boards, ceiling tiles, pipe insulation, or a host of other building materials, asbestos is not dangerous
• But if those products DO get disturbed, such as by a small (or big) house fire, a burst pipe, or a bad DIY project, whoa Nelly
• We say “whoa Nelly” because asbestos, being basically an ugly rock, breaks up when it’s disturbed into little airborne shards o’death
• We say “shards o’death” because if you breathe in enough of these little shards, they can impale themselves in your lungs and give you types of cancer that you can’t recover from
• We say “can’t recover from” because mesothelioma, one of the main cancers which asbestos has been proven to cause, is incurable.
• Whoa, Nelly.
• The staff at Asbestos Abatement, Inc., aside from being supreme experts in solving airborne asbestos problems, is distractingly attractive by all objective measures
• Though we have no idea what you think, we think that asbestos abatement costs less than you think
• It certainly is worth the cost, considering it could save your life
• Makeup – especially makeup that includes talcum powder – often contains asbestos
• When asbestos shows up in your home in powder form, it’s already “disturbed”
• Throw it away!
• Lots of other imported products also contain sneakily-included asbestos, such as your teenage daughter’s faux jewelry.
• Seriously!
• Whoa, Nelly.
• The word “asbestos” contains only one “a,” and includes an “o” near the end
• You can’t see microscopic stuff without a microscope… which is where the term “microscopic” comes from
• Airborne asbestos particles are microscopic.

Finally, near the end here, we get to the main point of this particular web log, or “blog,” article.  And that is, airborne asbestos is super dangerous because it can sneak up on you.  You can’t see it coming.  (See that one point, above, about airborne asbestos being microscopic.)

But… you also can’t SMELL it coming!  Airborne asbestos has no odor of any kind.  So if you think you smell asbestos in your air, you’re smelling something else.

No, you can’t smell asbestos, like you can a gas leak or other dangerous stuff in your air.  You also can’t feel it, taste it, or hear it.  If you think you’re feeling, tasting, or hearing asbestos in your air, you’re feeling, tasting, or hearing something else.

The only thing you can do is suspect that you might have shards of cancer-causing asbestos in your air, possibly because your teenage daughter tried to hide her faux jewelry expense by tossing the stuff into the fireplace, or because you experienced a house fire, a plumbing mishap, or a bad DIY project.

If you suspect you have asbestos in your air, your best bet is to have the place professionally tested.  We don’t do the testing ourselves – it’s a conflict of interest – and that’s one more thing faithful readers of this web log, or “blog,” are aware of.  But we can refer you to a great testing company, and if they sniff out a problem (so to speak), we’ll do what it takes to make your air asbestos free.  It’s what we do!