Walls and Ceilings - Asbestos Cement, rather concerned
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captainjoe
01-01-09, 05:09 AM
Hi, I found out recently where I grew up we had a barn and a stable a little distance away from the house which contained asbestos. The barn was made completely of asbestos cement stuff I believe and the stables roofing was asbestos, and I think the rest wood and just normal concrete.
What concerns me the most is that apparently the stable doors used to rub against the stable roofing, personally I never noticed it although never knew it was asbestos so even if it had I don;t imagine I would have thought much of it. I'm scared because I'm sure I must have opened and closed those stable doors a few times over the years, and even more concerned for my mother who used to do it regularly. What are the risks from that sort of exposure?
The doors apparently don't rub anymore, which is good but also parts of the barn are damaged, have holes in and such. The builder who did the work on the door told us it's fine and it's only dangerous if you start working with it, however I seem to have read sources that say it's dangerous if it's damaged?
Sorry this is all a little long winded, just a little concerned, not that there's anything i can do about previous exposure of course, still causing a lot of concern however.
What concerns me the most is that apparently the stable doors used to rub against the stable roofing, personally I never noticed it although never knew it was asbestos so even if it had I don;t imagine I would have thought much of it. I'm scared because I'm sure I must have opened and closed those stable doors a few times over the years, and even more concerned for my mother who used to do it regularly. What are the risks from that sort of exposure?
The doors apparently don't rub anymore, which is good but also parts of the barn are damaged, have holes in and such. The builder who did the work on the door told us it's fine and it's only dangerous if you start working with it, however I seem to have read sources that say it's dangerous if it's damaged?
Sorry this is all a little long winded, just a little concerned, not that there's anything i can do about previous exposure of course, still causing a lot of concern however.
Michael Thomas
01-01-09, 06:49 AM
I'm not a not a health care professional - just someone who's read extensively on this issue - so take this opinion for what it's worth, but:
My understanding is that asbestos-related disease is not caused by casual intermittent exposure; the people who contracted asbestos-related diseases were generally exposed to a lot of asbestos, of particular type, most of them for a considerable period of time, for example shipyard pipe fitters working with asbestos insulation in confined spaces. And my offhand guess would be that their exposure was tens or hundreds of thousands of times higher than your mother's, and that her exposure to door scrapings was probably lower than her other incidental environmental exposure resulting from factors such as asbestos containing brake pads.
My understanding is that asbestos-related disease is not caused by casual intermittent exposure; the people who contracted asbestos-related diseases were generally exposed to a lot of asbestos, of particular type, most of them for a considerable period of time, for example shipyard pipe fitters working with asbestos insulation in confined spaces. And my offhand guess would be that their exposure was tens or hundreds of thousands of times higher than your mother's, and that her exposure to door scrapings was probably lower than her other incidental environmental exposure resulting from factors such as asbestos containing brake pads.