The Most Dangerous Risks You Cannot See: Asbestos Basics For Property Owners

Asbestos is one of those hazards that can sit quietly in a building for decades, then become dangerous the moment someone cuts, grinds, or breaks the wrong material. We walk through what asbestos actually is, why it was used so widely, and why the health impacts can take 10 to 20 years to show up, making prevention and smart planning the only real “early warning system.”

We get specific about the types you’ll hear named in reports, including chrysotile (white asbestos) and amosite (brown asbestos), plus less common varieties that still matter in certain settings. Then we connect those names to real-world locations property owners deal with: joint compound, texture, flooring adhesives, insulation, and even a surprising modern risk area like the black or brown mastic pucks used to mount mirrors. We also talk about why renovations can fool you, since new finishes can mimic old styles, and why you cannot confirm asbestos by sight alone.

If you manage a commercial property, work in construction, or own an older home, the safety guidance here is practical and direct. We explain how professional asbestos abatement uses containment to prevent fiber spread, and how air monitoring and clearance checks help protect workers and occupants. Most importantly, we cover what to do after accidental damage and what not to do, including never sweeping or vacuuming suspected asbestos dust. Subscribe, share this with someone planning a remodel, and leave a review with your biggest asbestos question.

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

Welcome And Show Purpose

SPEAKER_00 0:04

Welcome to the Environmental Testing Show. That's what you can't see and affect your health. Hosted by Shelly Hyde, CEO of DCG Environmental. Each episode explores the environmental assets to impact all the commercial space. From old and asbestos to other upstate. Serving property owners throughout Dallas, Houston, and Austin. DCG Environmental believes finding the problem is the first step to making everyone safe.

SPEAKER_01 0:41

Asbestos isn't just one thing. It's a family of minerals with different risks, behaviors, and regulations. Today, Shelly breaks down what every property owner should know. Welcome everyone. I'm Julie Schwenzer, co-host and producer here with Shelly Hines, the CEO of DCG Environmental. Shelly, thank you so much for joining us. We love learning from you.

SPEAKER_02 1:03

Hi, Julie, and happy to be here.

What Asbestos Is And Types

SPEAKER_01 1:05

So, what is asbestos exactly and what are the different types?

SPEAKER_02 1:10

Asbestos is a naturally forming mineral that's mined. Um it is it has about six different types that we find commonly. Um, and they're broken up into two different groups. So there's the hard part is if you can say them, that's half the battle. Chrysotile, that's a white asbestos, and that's the one that we find most common. We usually find that in um gyrol joint compound texture, um and mastic that hold down flooring like a black mestic, um, sometimes in flooring itself, sheet flooring or flooring tiles. And then there's crescidiolite, and that one is a blue asbestos. Um, amicite is brown. That one we find that used to be used as um insulation in walls. So if you ever break into a wall and you get a bunch of little pellets pouring out, that is usually asbestos and it's amysite. Tremolite, um, that one's less commonly found. That's usually um used industrially. And uh it can be found in like insulation, cement, some kind of some consumer products, anthopylite. I always have to think about how to say these. That's rarely used in anything. Yeah, they're the scientific names, which is not my forte. Um, they're rarely used commercially. They're straight, brutal fibers. They may sometimes be in some like construction materials and insulation. An actinolite, that one also is not widely used. Um, it's fibrous, they're very elongated, and they can be uh green to grayish. And the most common one that we see is crestatile and amecite. Um, amicite was really used a lot um in military installations, and so we find it there a lot sometimes in um really cool place that we've ever found it was a bomb-proof light. So if a bomb went off, this light had a gasket around it, and that gasket had asbestos in it because it's uh it keeps away heat. So that was a cool place to find that. Yeah, it's not common. Most of the time we find crescentile the most.

Where Asbestos Shows Up Today

SPEAKER_01 3:19

And is that in older structures or older buildings? Is there a big difference in what you find in things that were developed a long time ago versus more recently?

SPEAKER_02 3:29

Yeah, the most recent stuff we find is usually crescentile, it's a great binding material. Um nowadays, I mean, asbestos was ruled to um not be produced anymore. And then it was ruled that you can't use it at all. And then in the 90s, some of those rules got reversed because it's a really great binding material. So we do still find it in some material today. The majority of the place we find it now is um we call it occups or it's mirror mastic pucks. So if you ever break a mirror that is stuck to the wall, it usually has a black or a brown um mastic puck behind it, and that mastic puck has asbestos in it sometimes. Not always, but that's where we'll find it in any kind of new things now.

SPEAKER_01 4:11

Oh, okay. Yeah, and I know Shelley, you touched on this in the last episode, but if you could expand on it again, just to break it down in simple terms for homeowners and commercial property owners, can you explain why asbestos, why it's so important to know about it and you know how to know where it where it is in your building structure?

Health Risks And Safe Abatement

SPEAKER_02 4:31

Yeah, um, it's really important to know where it is because obviously it's a health hazard. Um, it can cause mesothelioma, lung cancer. Um, but these things don't show up for like 10 to 20 years. So you don't even know you've been affected until a long time from now. So it's it's not an immediate, like you don't know you've been affected right away. So it's important to know where those are, especially if you're in the industry. If you're in the construction industry, you're around this product every single day. Um, you want to know where it's at so that you're taking the correct precautions to protect yourself and any of the building occupants or homeowners along with it. They'll usually build um, it's called a containment. And for lack of better terms, it's a big plastic bubble. And so they'll put up OLI and they'll do all the work inside that containment so that any fiber release stays inside there. And so nobody outside of the containment is affected. And then they have to really clean that really well. Um, and then part of our services is um air monitoring and project management. So we will we're on site while the abatement contractors removing it, but we're also monitoring the air inside the containment, outside the containment. And the guys working inside the containment wear what we call personals, and those are little pumps that capture air that is like riding their breathing zone. They usually wear it up on their chest where it's near where they're breathing. But they have a half-face respirator on. They're in Tyvek suits and you know, covered up really well. But we still want to monitor what could possibly enter their air space of breathing. So all that's monitored throughout the whole project. When they're done, we'll do a visual check to make sure everything's clean, and then we'll do an air check to make sure there's no fibers in the air before they're allowed to take that containment down. So super important to know where it is. It is a great building material. It's fireproof, weatherproof. I I always say it's why all the old buildings are still standing. But um, and just dangerous when you're going to disturb it. So okay if you have it, just don't cut into it, don't grind, don't abrate, don't, you know, damage it in any kind of way. If you do damage it, leave it alone. Call a professional remediator, call a consultant that knows how to handle it. Um, block off the space so that people can't walk through it, uh, track it. You know, if it's let's say somebody damages drywall, maybe a forklift hits the wall and it all breaks apart, and you know there's asbestos there, leave it alone and call somebody to come clean up. They'll build the containment, they'll wet it down, they'll clean it up the right way without making it a bigger deal. Um, I always like to tell people don't use a vacuum and definitely, definitely, definitely don't use a broom. People, you know, I don't know if you've ever noticed in your own house where you're sweeping, it's like everything poofs up into the air. So um definitely no brooms, no vacuums. Uh call the professionals to clean it up if you ever have an accident or something gets broken along the way. Damaged along the way.

SPEAKER_01 7:24

Yeah, thank you so much for that advice. And has there been a case more recently that you know you walked into it and you were really surprised at the amount of asbestos that was there and that it was like a high risk situation?

Why Testing Beats Visual Guesswork

SPEAKER_02 7:39

No, not really surprised. I mean, uh after you've been doing it for 10 years, you're kind of you you kind of know what to expect or know what materials we normally find it in. Um, I can't say for sure it's there until it goes underneath the microscope. I can remember um a homeowner had a, I think it was a plumber came in and told her that she really had to get tested for asbestos, that that was 100% asbestos, he knew it right away. And actually it came back negative. Um there's some telltale signs sometimes of like materials that we see. There's a certain texture that we call crow's foot that I would tell you maybe 90, 95% of the time that we see crow's footed normally comes back positive, but not always. And that texture is coming back into um design. Like, oh, now everybody wants Crow's foot again. So it's kind of funny how how um things cycle and how um you know, materials that we used to see, all the bright colored tiles, the bright floorings, all the patterns are they're coming back. So now it's getting harder to tell because something that looks old is actually new and it's not what we think it is, unless the building is old. But sometimes they redo old buildings and put new materials in them that look like the old materials. So there's no no right or wrong until you test it and put it underneath the microscope, whatever. We don't know for sure. You can't just visually see it.

SPEAKER_01 8:59

Okay. Well, thank you so much for breaking that down clearly. We always appreciate your expertise, and we'll see you next time. Sounds good. Have a great day. You too.

Closing Advice And How To Book

SPEAKER_00 9:12

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, yes, it's the safety plan.