Asbestos Abatement Hoochie Coo!

Our 1929 house only had heat, not air conditioning. Now it has nothing. This week we had the boiler and all of the piping with asbestos insulation covering removed from our basement. This was a major step in making this place green, healthy and safe to live in, and for the trades to work in.

We love radiant heat and I even like the look of the radiators. Unfortunately, after getting some bids, replacing the boiler just didn’t make sense. It was expensive, not as efficient as some other systems, and we still wouldn’t have air conditioning. Also, removing the piping and insulation instead of just encapsulating it will make re-wiring the house and running ductwork much easier. I like a tidy ceiling.

We chose NEO Corporation to do the work, and we’re happy with the outcome. We also employed a third party company to perform a visual inspection and final air clearance sampling. Glove bags were used to contain the asbestos while the pipes were cut. The work included removal and disposal of:

• Approx. 220 linear feet of asbestos containing pipe insulation and pipes
• Approx. 350 sq. feet ceiling tile (which also contained asbestos, but not enough to require treating it a hazmat)
• The boiler and related plumbing

The cost was $6,400. The third party air sampling was done after all the work was completed and the cost for that was about $500. The work started on a Tuesday morning and was done the following Thursday afternoon. And it was loud, loud, double loud.

This boiler was probably original to the house. A label on it listed heat output for hand, coal and fuel firing. The house has a driveway that leads to a narrow garage that was originally a coal dump. From there, coal could be loaded through a hatch into another holding area closer to the boiler. In these before pics you can see the behemoth boiler (over 5 feet tall), the coal hatch, some coal (still lingering in the corner!), the piping, a branded asbestos label, and the lovely suspended ceiling.

These during and after pics show the signage on an exterior door, the sealed off basement stairwell, some of the air sampling gear, the exposed ceiling, the missing boiler, and this one weird radiator that was overhead in the one basement room with a plaster ceiling.