Planning a renovation for your home is an exciting time!
Whether you’re renovating one room, like your master bedroom or bathroom, or you plan to re-create an entire floor, home renovations require more than just design.
When it comes time to start the demolition, you’ll need to think about what’s hiding behind the walls, floors and ceilings of your home. There’s a good chance you’ll be dealing with asbestos and mold during home renovations. Here’s what you need to know before you begin your renovations.
It’s hard to believe that asbestos was once considered an excellent building product.
Asbestos was a main source of insulation before 1990, protecting buildings and homes against cold weather and noise. It was also used for fireproofing as asbestos is heat and fire resistant. Now we know better! The mere mention of asbestos causes concern, and for good reason.
Health Canada warns that breathing in asbestos fibres can cause:
Should you be worried about asbestos? If you’re about to renovate a home that was built before 1990, the answer is yes. Although use of asbestos started to decline in the 1970s, the most stringent regulations that prohibit the manufacture, import, sale and use of asbestos were enacted in 2018.
Let’s be clear. If you don’t disturb asbestos—if it stays isolated in an attic or sealed behind walls and floorboards that you are not planning on removing—there aren’t health risks. But if it’s disturbed, like what would happen in a renovation project, there are big health risks. Breathing in asbestos fibres is dangerous and should be avoided at all costs.
Where is asbestos found? In cement, plaster, building insulation, house siding, floor and ceiling tiles, and furnaces and heating systems, to name a few. Any amount of drilling, sawing, or disturbing of asbestos means you could breathe in small asbestos fibres, or dust, that are released into the air. By doing this you’ll be putting yourself and your family at risk.
As a result, when it comes to dealing with asbestos during home renovations, you must avoid disturbing asbestos materials yourself. Health Canada warns: “Before doing any major renovations, remodelling or demolitions, reduce your risk of exposure in the home by hiring a professional to test for asbestos.”
If asbestos is found, a qualified asbestos removal specialist must remove it before you can begin working on your home—or your office or commercial space. Even if you plan to do the renovations yourself, you need a professional to do this important work prior to starting your project.
Removal of asbestos must follow all local asbestos abatement regulations to ensure safe and lawful removal of asbestos materials from your home or commercial building.
At got mold?™, our team of trained and certified professional are able to assist you with all asbestos testing, abatement and removal services. Having a professional team come out and handle your asbestos concerns allows for proper regulations and safety protocols to be in place, making sure that your home and your health are safe. Let us help you keep your home, health and family safe!
Another potential danger in your home is mold, also recognized by Health Canada as a health hazard.
People living in homes with mold and damp conditions are more likely than others to have:
It’s also believed that exposure to indoor mold and dampness may contribute to the development of bronchitis and other respiratory infections. This is important to keep in mind as some of us are more at risk than others: infants, children, seniors, pregnant moms and those with existing respiratory conditions.
Mold growth is oftentimes a hidden problem and can grow and spread quickly without you knowing. It might be behind walls or above ceiling tiles, lurking in attics and basements or storage spaces. Building materials also contribute to the ideal environment, as it can act as a food source and provide nutrients that encourage mold to grow.
When it comes to mold, it’s another danger that’s best left to a professional to detect, remove and clean. That’s because it’s not always visible to the naked eye and could even be hiding under the new paint of a recently completed renovation!
The team at got mold? is a Consumer’s Choice Award Winner in the category of Mold Removal. Starting with mold inspection and testing, and following through with removal and remediation, we are qualified to take on any mold situation from start to finish to ensure a safe removal process. We take pride in being one of Western Canada’s top professional mold removal companies.
If you’re beginning a renovation project, contact us first to evaluate any dangers. The first step in our process is to conduct sampling with one of our certified inspectors. We can determine whether asbestos or mold is actually present in your home before you begin to move and disturb building materials.
Then we follow these steps to deal with either danger:
Don’t risk your own health, or that of your family’s, by taking on a renovation project without knowing whether you will be disturbing and releasing dangerous particles into the air, like asbestos and mold.
Whether you’re about to begin renovations, or you’re simply concerned about the air quality in your home, you can trust the team at got mold?™ to make sure that your home is healthy and safe for you and your family. We can provide you with advice and resources to deal with concerns about asbestos or mold, along with water damage, flood damage, radon testing and removal, and more.
Finding and fixing sources of unhealthy indoor air is our mission as professionals, and our team can handle residential, commercial, industrial and institutional projects. Contact us today at 1.888.909.MOLD [6653] to find out more about our services in Saskatchewan, Alberta and Manitoba.
Ardith Stephanson is a freelance writer and journalist who shares some of her own stories at theardizan.com
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