Pre-purchase and asbestos inspection

Following the decision to purchase a house built in the 1960's, the client who made an offer to purchase to the owner, had hired a building inspector for the pre-purchase inspection.

In the inspection report, it was recommended to check the insulation surrounding some of the house's ventilation system (HVAC) ducts to see if it contained asbestos or not. It is from this recommendation that the client contacted us.

As with every such warrant, it is very likely to be found in the insulation ducts surrounding the ventilation ducts in homes built before 1999. The probability is even higher for houses built in the 1960s and 1970s.

We had recommended to the client to not only characterize the insulating sheathing but also the walls and ceilings, especially since some of the ceilings have a stucco finish.

As the house was still in the process of being sold, only 3 samples were taken (one from the ventilation duct and 2 from the ceiling)

As a general rule, brokers and home inspectors recommend checking certain materials known to be highly likely to contain asbestos such as vermiculite and insulation. However, it is rare that the recommendation concerns the walls and ceilings of a house. And this is relatively understandable because of the financial aspect: If, for example, a client receives information that the house he is about to buy contains asbestos throughout the internal structure, he will probably not buy it or he will have no choice but to negotiate a lower price. And he knows that if he wants to have a healthy, asbestos-free home, he will have to demolish the entire interior and perhaps even the exterior siding, which can represent an expense of hundreds of thousands of dollars.

On the other hand, if a buyer does not check for asbestos and later wants to resell the property, he will most likely be confronted with the same problem.

The material samples were analyzed by a laboratory accredited by the IRSST and the results of the analyses revealed the presence of asbestos in the three samples, i.e. the insulation and the stucco ceilings. The asbestos content in the duct insulation was 35% which is considered high. The stucco ceilings had asbestos contents of 1 to 5%.

For more information about 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.