What Home Renovations Stir Up When Asbestos Hides

Renovations feel clean and modern until the air turns into the problem. We sit down with Shelley Hines, CEO of DCG Environmental, to talk about asbestos risk during remodeling and why the most dangerous moment is often the most ordinary one: cutting drywall, sanding texture, or ripping up old vinyl flooring.

We get practical about what makes asbestos hazardous, including the meaning of “friable” material and why dust is the real enemy. Shelley walks us through the most common places asbestos can hide in residential and commercial properties, from joint compound and wall texture to flooring backing and mastics used as adhesives. We also dig into why asbestos was used so widely in the first place: fire resistance, durability, and insulation value around pipes and HVAC systems.

Then we move from curiosity to action. We cover health risks like asbestosis, mesothelioma, and lung cancer, plus the frustrating reality that symptoms can take 10 to 20 years to show up. We explain Texas asbestos testing requirements for commercial buildings, why residential rules differ, and what professional containment and clearance air testing look like when a job is underway. If you suspect you disturbed asbestos, you’ll leave knowing the first steps to take, including why you should not sweep and why only HEPA filtration is designed for asbestos fibers.

If this helped you think differently about your next renovation or repair, subscribe, share the episode with a friend planning a remodel, and leave a review so more people can find reliable environmental testing guidance.

To learn more about DCG Environmental visit:
https://www.DCGEnvironmental.com
DCG Environmental 
Serving Property Owners in Dallas, Houston, and Austin 
972-876-0008 

Transcript

Show Welcome And Mission

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the Environmental Testing Show. Because what you can't see can affect your health. Hosted by Shelly Hobbes, CEO of DCG Environmental, each episode explores the hidden environmental hazards that impact homes and commercial spaces. From old and expected to other unfairs. Serving property owners throughout Dallas, Houston, and Austin. DCG Environmental believes finding the problem is the first step to making everyone safe.

SPEAKER_02 0:41

Renovations can uncover more than outdated materials. Disturbing asbestos can turn a simple project into a serious health risk.

When Asbestos Becomes Airborne

SPEAKER_02 0:50

Welcome everyone. Shelly, thank you so much for joining us. Good morning and thanks for having me. Yeah, good morning. So we're looking forward to your expertise. How does asbestos become dangerous during renovations?

SPEAKER_01 1:10

Asbestos

Where Asbestos Hides In Buildings

SPEAKER_01 1:11

is dangerous when you can breathe it. So anytime you sand, grind, cut, uh, you get dust in the air from the renovations, that's when it's dangerous. It's considered when a material is called friable. That means you can crush it in your hand and that makes it dusty, and that's when it's dangerous. It's a great building material. It's uh fireproof, weatherproof. I I always say it's why all these old buildings are still standing, because it is a great bonding material and it um keeps things bound together and um in in form, if you will. And so it's a great building material. It's just dangerous when we can breathe it.

SPEAKER_02 1:51

And then what type of activities during you know the process when you're working on this are more likely to disturb asbestos containing materials?

SPEAKER_01 2:00

Uh we find it a lot in um walls, so in joint compound and texture. Uh, anytime you're cutting a wall, a drywall, fixing or repairing a wall, um, that creates dust, and that is when it can release fibers and become dangerous. We find it a lot in flooring. Um lot of old homes have that sheet flooring, that vinyl sheet flooring. And when you pull the back of it off, if it looks like matted cardboard stuck to the ground, that's probably the most dangerous stuff that we find in homes. That's usually about 65% chrysetile. That's a type of asbestos. And that's that's probably the most dangerous thing that we find in uh residential spaces. Um, and that's the most thing that most people will tear up themselves. And that when you're pulling that off the floor, all that dust and debris it gets floating in the air. But um anytime you're doing walls or floors, that's usually the things that we find it in the most. It's also found in mastic, so anything that sticks. Um a lot of times mirror mastic in commercial buildings, like the big mirrors are stuck to the wall, and we call them um pucks, mastic pucks. They look like little hockey pucks behind the mirror. Those often contain about 5% crossatile. Those are less dangerous because they're hard to make fribal, they're hard to get dusty in the air because they are all stuck together. But it does contain asbestos, so it has to be handled appropriately.

SPEAKER_02 3:24

And you spoke about the benefits of asbestos. Can you expand on that? Why is it like relatively safe when it's undisturbed? Just because you can't breathe it or touch it, like it it binds things together.

SPEAKER_01 3:39

So, like, better than just having glue, you have all these little asbestos fibers. Um, it's a natural mineral that's found in the ground. And it's um it makes it uh it's hard to explain. I don't know, I've never been asked that question. That's a good question. Um, it's heat conducive too, or so it it's uh we find it a lot around wrapped pipes that um have either hot air or hot water running through them because it can um hold the heat. So it's a great insulator. Um again in old properties, we'll find it a lot on um HVAC, H your air conditioning mastic around your ductwork. A lot of that has it because it the heat doesn't bother it. It's fireproof, so it heat doesn't make it disintegrate in any kind of way.

Health Risks And Long Latency

SPEAKER_02 4:23

Wow, and then the symptoms or health risks that arise from inhaling asbestos fibers, like what what happens or what could be the first sign that you've, I guess for lack of a better word, been infected?

SPEAKER_01 4:37

It takes a long time to find out you've been infected, and that's why we didn't know it was such a bad material for so long. Um, it takes 10 to 20 years to show up. And it's usually lung related. So it um gets stuck in your lung lining and then it creates scarring around that, and it just keeps scarring and scarring as your lung tries to repair it. Um, you can get mesothelioma, asbestosis, lung cancer, but like again, those don't show up for 10 to 20 years. So a lot of times people think they have like a coughing issue or it's kind of hard to breathe a little bit. Uh, if you're in the industry, we have to have physicals every year. We get x-rays of our chest to make sure we're not being infected. Um, so we're on top of it annually for sure, um, getting those physicals every year just to make sure that we haven't been affected because we're in the industry.

Texas Rules Containment And Air Testing

SPEAKER_02 5:27

And do you and your team do you work on just residential spaces or do you do commercial and residential?

SPEAKER_01 5:34

We do it all residential, commercial, industrial. Yeah, we have a lot of great clients, and we do airports, schools, homes, commercial buildings, um, some industrial plants. It's it's everywhere. It was a great building material, it's just dangerous when you breathe it.

SPEAKER_02 5:51

Yeah, and I was curious too, like for homeowners, um, when they come to you, like what led them to even ask you if you can, you know, see if it's in their home and it's uh it could be harmful to them.

SPEAKER_01 6:06

Um a lot of times it's Google, you know, they or someone told them, hey, uh you just renovated that. Did you have it tested? Um we work with a lot of water mitigation companies. So somebody has a water leak, maybe hot water heater busted or something flooded somewhere. In Texas, it's a state law for commercial buildings to be tested, no matter when that building was built. Uh, if you're gonna demo, remodel, or repair a commercial building, you have to have an asbestos test. So if you built it yesterday and you change it today, you have to have an asbestos test. Commercial. Residential in Texas is not regulated, and all states are different, they all have different rules and laws. Um, so do you you know we have to be real careful on what state we're operating in and what those regs and rules are because they can change. But homes usually are if they're gonna do some kind of renovation or if they have a water mitigation company come in, there's a a time span where we know it was more prevalent. And so some companies will test no matter what age of the house, some companies will test if it's a certain age or older. Um, but homes are not regulated. However, they the um remediation guys or the construction guys are regulated by OSHA to protect their workers from hazardous material, so they have to know if it's there or not before they start cutting into walls or repairing floors or doing any kind of construction. They'll usually build what's called a containment, and for lack of better terms, it's a big plastic bubble, right? They'll seal off the work area, they'll seal off the HVAC ducts, then they'll start taking things out so that all the disturbed materials stay inside that big bubble and it doesn't affect anybody on the outside. And then we also do um testing, air testing. So we'll either do a clearance testing when they're completely done, we'll come in and make sure everything's clean and run air tests, make sure there's no asbestos before they take down that big plastic bubble. And in a commercial setting, we have to be on site the entire time. So we're there monitoring the guys inside the containment, making sure they're not being overexposed outside the containment, make sure nothing's escaping. Um, and then we have a final clearance on a on a commercial building as well that we have to run.

SPEAKER_02 8:13

Wow, yeah, so you're very involved. Um regulated. Yes.

What To Do If You Disturb It

SPEAKER_02 8:18

Uh, what steps should somebody take? What are the first steps if they suspect that maybe I accidentally disturbed it and now we're in trouble?

SPEAKER_01 8:28

Um, leave it alone is the best thing to do and then call a professional. Uh, most people like you don't ever want to use a broom, don't sweep it. If you've ever swept dust at all, you'll know when you sweep, all it does is poof it up all over the place. Um, don't use your if it's a residence, don't use your home vacuum. Um only HEPA filters capture asbestos fibers. So a regular a regular um vacuum cleaner won't capture it, and then you contaminate that regular vacuum so you could re-expose yourself over and over. Um the best thing to do is to either cover it, you know, maybe lay a towel down on top of it, leave just leave it alone, really get somebody involved and don't disturb it. That's the best process.

SPEAKER_02 9:11

And are renovations where you're called in the most? Do you think those are the most frequent requests for help?

SPEAKER_01 9:19

Whether it's commercial or not not renovations, usually it's a problem. It's either um water, water issues. They've had a water leak or something, a pipe broke. Um, a lot of residential is that uh commercial, we get that as well. Um, you know, it's not very cold in Texas, except for every once every four or five years, and we get a freeze and then everything breaks because we're not prepared for it. Um then we get a lot of work because pipes have broken and now they've got to go cut into walls to fix them. Commercial buildings, a lot of times we do a lot of work because somebody's going to buy it. And so it's great to have a commercial building tested prior to purchase because you can use it as a negotiation tool. If there is asbestos there, you can leave it in place. You do not have to remove it. It's a perfectly great building material. But if you're going to renovate in any kind of way, damage it in any kind of way, then it's always best to have it tested. Painting over it, that's not disturbing it. That's called encapsulation. So you can paint your walls, you can hang a picture on a wall, that's not going to get you exposed. Um, you know, a whole bunch. I can't tell you that it would never get you exposed. Pulling a nail out, pulling a screw out would be more exposure than putting a nail or a screw in, if that makes sense. When you're going in, everything pushes into the wall. When you're pulling it out, that's when you could get some dust. Um, but the likelihood of that exposure is pretty minimum.

unknown 10:44

Cool.

Encapsulation Tips And Closing

SPEAKER_02 10:45

Well, Shelly, thank you so much for breaking that down so clearly. Um, we really appreciate your expertise. It's very helpful.

SPEAKER_01 10:52

No problem. I love talking. I can talk about this all day.

SPEAKER_02 10:56

Oh, that that's awesome. Well, I'm looking forward to chatting with you on the next podcast.

SPEAKER_01 11:00

Awesome. See you soon.

SPEAKER_00 11:05

Thanks for listening to the Environmental Testing Show. If you're concerned about mold, asbestos, or other environmental hazards, peace of mind starts with proper testing. Call 972-876-0008 or visit dcenvironmental.com to schedule a convenient appointment. Because when it comes to your environment, guessing it's the safety plan.