Asbestos removal cost

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Has anyone had asbestos removed from a snowman type old boiler? Asking for a family member who is looking at investment home in RI end it has two old boilers that were cut out and just left there due to the asbestos and the sizeLooking for a ballpark figure moneywise to remove it because it is going to affect the offer price
 
I shopped around when I was having the asbestos siding removed from my home ,prices were all over the place but a company in Revere gave me a great price for the whole house. I know it is different from a boiler but the cost was $6000, 3 grand cheaper than the next lowest.
 
yes, and it was remarkably cheap. let me find the details and post.

ok, here is what i had done. A GIANT snowman, they removed the asbestos AND hauled away the cast iron. Then they abated a few ducts that had asbestos tape at the seams. And they also abated one linoleum floor in a smallish bathroom. total was just over 3000. this was a couple years ago, so prices may vary

S&S abatement in Wakefield.

Really do a careful survey to find ALL of the asbestos ahead of time. you want to get them to do every bit on the first pass. coming back for something new you discovered would be expensive, as they have to do the whole nine yards again (air samples, final inspection, etc) for every visit.

You can take small samples of unknown stuff to Proscience Analytical Services in woburn ma. its $55 per sample analyzed. If you have suspicious linoleum, make sure you get a sample of the Mastic (glue underneath) also.


here she is, the queen of all snowmen
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Be sure to shop around. My sister had some stuff done a couple of years ago and she got taken to the cleaners, for huge money. I didn't find out about this until a few weeks ago
 
I had a boiler that due to the age was assumed to have asbestos in my house when I bought it. When it came time to replace the boiler a few years later we disconnected it and moved it outside into the driveway. Boiler was in one piece and no disassembly for the most part. No danger from asbestos as long as you don't take the boiler apart. Then I called around to a few places making sure to say the boiler potentially had asbetos. I had a guy come out who worked for a local boiler service company and for $200 he carted it away. I asked him what he was going to do with it and he said take it back to his work and toss behind the building with the rest of the other ones and let his company worry about it. Obviously he was working side jobs and taking advantage of his place of employment.
 
oh yeah, after it is done they will send you a clearance letter and reports of the air samples after the abatement. SAVE THOSE, as some lawyer may ask for them when you go to sell the house someday.
THIS!
I'm not up to speed on RI asbestos regs but in MA they're required to have final air and visual clearances conducted by a third party consultant/hygienist after abatement. If the contractor doesn't include that in his SOW, I'd suggest looking elsewhere.
 
I asked him what he was going to do with it and he said take it back to his work and toss behind the building with the rest of the other ones and let his company worry about it. Obviously he was working side jobs and taking advantage of his place of employment.
Yikes. I wonder if he's still in business...
 
THIS!
I'm not up to speed on RI asbestos regs but in MA they're required to have final air and visual clearances conducted by a third party consultant/hygienist after abatement. If the contractor doesn't include that in his SOW, I'd suggest looking elsewhere.
yes mine was in MA.

You need the air samples because you do not want all that stuff to go into the air, and contaminate the entire house by some clown removing the asbestos dry. There needs to be a containment room set up with plastic sheet, negative air pressure provided by a HEPA filter fan, and all the work done WET (they have special industrial wet/dry hepa vacuum cleaners)

Apparently there is ONE asbestos dump site left operating in the whole country, like in Wisconsin or some other obscure place. they fill up a big truck, and haul it out there when it is full--one of the reasons it is not cheap to do.
 
I had a boiler that due to the age was assumed to have asbestos in my house when I bought it. When it came time to replace the boiler a few years later we disconnected it and moved it outside into the driveway. Boiler was in one piece and no disassembly for the most part. No danger from asbestos as long as you don't take the boiler apart. Then I called around to a few places making sure to say the boiler potentially had asbetos. I had a guy come out who worked for a local boiler service company and for $200 he carted it away. I asked him what he was going to do with it and he said take it back to his work and toss behind the building with the rest of the other ones and let his company worry about it. Obviously he was working side jobs and taking advantage of his place of employment.

Just to be clear. No asbestos on any pipes and no duct work. Boiler was an early 60s vintage. I was told it potentially could have asbestos insulation inside of it. No visible asbestos on the outside and we never ripped it apart to look inside.
 
Really do a careful survey to find ALL of the asbestos ahead of time. you want to get them to do every bit on the first pass. coming back for something new you discovered would be expensive, as they have to do the whole nine yards again (air samples, final inspection, etc) for every visit.

You can take small samples of unknown stuff to Proscience Analytical Services in woburn ma. its $55 per sample analyzed. If you have suspicious linoleum, make sure you get a sample of the Mastic (glue underneath) also.
True.
But when it comes to conducting an asbestos survey of a home/building, you really need to/should hire a licensed asbestos inspector. Not try to do it yourself.
 
Apparently there is ONE asbestos dump site left operating in the whole country, like in Wisconsin or some other obscure place. they fill up a big truck, and haul it out there when it is full--one of the reasons it is not cheap to do.
There's a few but the biggest one is the Minerva landfill in Waynesburg, OH. But there are landfills like Turnkey in Rochester, NH, Waste Management in Norridgewock, Maine and Casella in Coventry, VT.
 
Anyone ever had floor tiles removed? When I bought my house the basement has had what looked like hockey decking throughout the basement
When I removed the stuff low and behold there's 9x9 dark gray floor tiles, I knew they were asbestos but I had a test done anyway. Most of them come right up in whole pieces as the basement must have flooded at some point but I really need to get these gone so I can refinish it. It's approximately 1k Sq ft..
 
You can do it yourself a little at a time. Small bags all taped up and put in trash. Do it over time. This was what a contractortold me and I got rid of a few barrels full of 9" floor tiles. The key is sealing it really well. Not illegal from what I was told by others. YMMV.
 
Not illegal from what I was told by others.

Not sure, there may be a difference in how the law treats 'friable' vs 'non-friable' asbestos. Friable asbestos being the problematic type (e.g. pipe insulation or the insulation for the boiler shown above). Tiles usually are non-friable.

Landfills, that I'm aware of, need to know ahead of time for friable asbestos disposal. They take precautions such as digging a hole in the rubish and burying deep. Sometime wetting the waste. And, personell nearby will wear respirators. A bit overkill perhaps but it's what they do. Non-friable, not really a big deal as long as it doesn't get crushed, chipped, shredded, etc.
 
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Not sure, there may be a difference in how the law treats 'friable' vs 'non-friable' asbestos. Friable asbestos being the problematic type (e.g. pipe insulation or the insulation for the boiler shown above). Tiles usually are non-friable.

Landfills, that I'm aware of, need to know ahead of time for friable asbestos disposal. They take precautions such as digging a hole in the rubish and burying deep. Sometime wetting the waste. And, personell nearby will wear respirators. A bit overkill perhaps but it's what they do. Non-friable, not really a big deal as long as it doesn't get crushed, chipped, shredded, etc.
When i was working as a pipefitter and had to remove asbestos insulation, we would soak it down wrap it in a heavy trash bag and take it off. Any of you who had kids in the BU law Tower were in a building that was loaded with asbestos. They were supposed to have it abated and when i popped a ceiling tile I was covered in it, whoever did it just cut it off the pipes and let it drop.
 
I had a buderous boiler that looked like it might have asbestos rope insulation at the doors and between cast iron sections

I called up their customer service, gave them the model and serial number. They looked it up, and said there was no asbestos in it. That was great! Taking it apart with a sledge hammer went much more easily after that
 
Anyone ever had floor tiles removed? When I bought my house the basement has had what looked like hockey decking throughout the basement
When I removed the stuff low and behold there's 9x9 dark gray floor tiles, I knew they were asbestos but I had a test done anyway. Most of them come right up in whole pieces as the basement must have flooded at some point but I really need to get these gone so I can refinish it. It's approximately 1k Sq ft..

Get a respirator that will block asbestos. I got one on Amazon for around $40. Get some of the disposable protective suits about $20 a pop. Rent a steamer from Home Depot. Get a good sized metal scraper. I used one designed to scrape off roof shingles. Gear up. Use the steamer to loosen up the tiles. Use the scraper to peel up the tiles. You want to get them up in a single piece with minimal breakage. I put all the tiles into heavy duty contractor garbage bags. When I was done seal up the bags. I know a guy who is a builder and he was nice enough to take the bags of tiles for disposal.
 
When I lived in socal, there were licensed hvac/abatement guys going around with the same scam.
Lots of houses in OC were built during booms when they used asbestos on air ducts.
These guys would call around/send mailers for free air duct cleaning.
They would get to your house and put on a literal show about how your house was a toxic waste dump and you needed to have your asbestos removed now.
Some would even threaten calling the city to have your house condemned.
They would then shove an estimate in your face for like $1200 per air drop and they cut you a "deal" if you did it that day for $800/drop.
I needed my ducts cleaned, but when they pulled that shit I told them to get lost.
I think they duped a few people in my neighborhood. When I told my neighbor about it that night he said that was an ongoing scam.
Few months later I was installing drop lights from the attic, I wet and carefully removed all the pipe insulation, it was cardboard thin, placed in bags and got rid of it.
I put fiberglass over the ducts.
For shits and giggles I sent a piece to get tested. Wasn't even asbestos. I forgot what it was, but the previous owner had it abated if it ever had asbestos at all.
 
Get a respirator that will block asbestos. I got one on Amazon for around $40. Get some of the disposable protective suits about $20 a pop. Rent a steamer from Home Depot. Get a good sized metal scraper. I used one designed to scrape off roof shingles. Gear up. Use the steamer to loosen up the tiles. Use the scraper to peel up the tiles. You want to get them up in a single piece with minimal breakage. I put all the tiles into heavy duty contractor garbage bags. When I was done seal up the bags. I know a guy who is a builder and he was nice enough to take the bags of tiles for disposal.

That would be good to do but I don't know how to get rid of it.
 
For shits and giggles I sent a piece to get tested. Wasn't even asbestos.

And that is the problem.
When I replaced my boiler I had it looked at by a few places. No one could tell me if it had asbestos inside of it but they all maybe figured it did. Regardless of it did or did not they were all going to charge me like it did. Same with my kitchen floor. Tiles maybe/maybe not. The mastic/glue most likely but once again not sure. No problem, we will charge you like it has asbestos even if it doesn't. Similar deal with my kitchen and the paint. They were concerned there was lead paint and wanted to send samples out to test before giving a quote for work.

If you own a house built anytime before the mid 70s and there is any original stuff left a ton of contractors, companies are going to use that as a reason to claim some kind of hazardous material and jack up the price. Not trying to minimize the potential issues but you really need to do some research and get multiple places to look at things.

And if you own a newer house or are remodeling I would stay away from the spray in/on insulation. Once that stuff has been applied any rework is a pain in the ass and 20 or 30 years from now they are going to talking about all the bad chemicals in it.
 
And that is the problem.
When I replaced my boiler I had it looked at by a few places. No one could tell me if it had asbestos inside of it but they all maybe figured it did. Regardless of it did or did not they were all going to charge me like it did. Same with my kitchen floor. Tiles maybe/maybe not. The mastic/glue most likely but once again not sure. No problem, we will charge you like it has asbestos even if it doesn't. Similar deal with my kitchen and the paint. They were concerned there was lead paint and wanted to send samples out to test before giving a quote for work.

If you own a house built anytime before the mid 70s and there is any original stuff left a ton of contractors, companies are going to use that as a reason to claim some kind of hazardous material and jack up the price. Not trying to minimize the potential issues but you really need to do some research and get multiple places to look at things.

And if you own a newer house or are remodeling I would stay away from the spray in/on insulation. Once that stuff has been applied any rework is a pain in the ass and 20 or 30 years from now they are going to talking about all the bad chemicals in it.
These guys weren't just saying... Maybe/not sure/use caution, it was a literal scripted dramatic production. Chicken little x10.
I installed spray foam for the exact reason that in 20 years I can hire a 2AM TV commercial lawyer. I'll make my $$ back, with interest.
I can confirm its a bitch to work on tho. A hurricane will blow my house off the foundation before it blows the frame apart.
 
Landfills, that I'm aware of, need to know ahead of time for friable asbestos disposal. They take precautions such as digging a hole in the rubish and burying deep. Sometime wetting the waste. And, personell nearby will wear respirators. A bit overkill perhaps but it's what they do. Non-friable, not really a big deal as long as it doesn't get crushed, chipped, shredded, etc.

Asbestos can only be legally dumped in specific special waste landfills. From the looks of it, there are only 3 around MA. 1 in MA, 1 in NH and 1 in CT.

The real trick is avoiding it going to a waste to energy facility, have it burned and then the remaining dumped in a local landfill. That just spreads it around in general.
 
The one in MA the Fitchburg/westminster one doesn't accept it anymore. I figured I could bring it there since I live so close but when I called them a while back they said no. They've told the state numerous times that and the website never got fixed.
 
That would be good to do but I don't know how to get rid of it.
you need the test.
i had some linoleum tiles that had it, and in another room a different color, but same size tile from the same age that were asbestos free.

and like i said, test the mastic under the tile too.
 
I had a buderous boiler that looked like it might have asbestos rope insulation at the doors and between cast iron sections

I called up their customer service, gave them the model and serial number. They looked it up, and said there was no asbestos in it. That was great! Taking it apart with a sledge hammer went much more easily after that
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Buderus never had asbestos on any of their boilers, they've only been around for maybe 25 years
 
If you cant see asbestos on a boiler it's nearly 100% chance it doesn't have any, asbestos was used as insulation, therefore it's going to be almost completely wrapped with it.
 
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