Asbestos and home renovation

Following the decision to undertake renovations in his Triplex located in Montreal, the owner received information from the contractor that asbestos could be found in the walls, ceilings and in his old vinyl floor. . The triplex was built in 1930.

As with every mandate of this type, it is very likely that the internal structure contains asbestos. The objective is therefore to take samples of materials, analyze them and make a risk assessment in order to protect workers and occupants during demolition work . Of course, the price difference between normal demolition and demolition in asbestos condition is relatively large.

We then moved to do the characterization of the materials and found that the Triplex was made up of two large sections; An old plaster cement section at the front of the building on both floors and a newer section at the back of the building. Obviously in the minds of people and even regulations, asbestos is found in old constructions and therefore it is the old part that was most likely to contain asbestos.

New Section old section Old ground floor section

About forty samples had been taken. The strategy consisted of making groups of samples called ZPSO (Zone Presenting Similarities of Structure) to separate the different materials with the ultimate objective of not generalizing the presence of asbestos, if any.

Contrary to what one might think, the old part of the Triplex, in cement plaster, did not contain asbestos, and the new part in gypsum (probably built a few years later than 1930 and before 1980) did contain asbestos.

The risk assessment that we had carried out on the materials and which was based on their friability, their asbestos content and their quantity, led to work at moderate risk.

The owner was happy because if the old part contained asbestos, the work would have been considered high risk. The latter requires more collective and individual protection equipment. Of course the price would have been higher.

All our asbestos analyzes are carried out by laboratories recognized by the IRSST. They are made either by polarizing light microscopy according to the IRSST-244 method for friable materials or by transmission electron microscopy NYS ELAP 198.4 for non-friable materials.

For more information on asbestos testing

Contact us by email at info@air-conseilenvironnement.com or through our online form. For any emergency, leave us a detailed message at 514-294-4387.