Pete's Log: DIY Asbestos Removal
Entry #2059, (Homeownership)(posted when I was 43 years old.)
Ice dams continue to plague us and Jamie and I have also just been thinking of home energy efficiency in general.
To that effect, today we started pulling everything out of the attic to start figuring out how to better insulate it. While I was starting to remove a piece of plywood to get a look at how the insulation under the attic floor looks, Jamie was taking a closer look at the linoleum-looking flooring that covered about three quarters of the space.
Luckily, she is wiser in these things than I am and realized we may have to worry about this being asbestos. We asked a few trusted friends and relatives for their opinion and the consensus was there was a decent chance this was asbestos.
I read up on it a little more and the black color, felt-like appearance, and use in the attic were all indicators it may be asbestos. Luckily it was just laying loose on top of the plywood and not fastened in any way, so Jamie and I decided to be brave and get rid of it ourselves (all our trusted sources suggested this approach). We bought ourselves some safety gear and had at it. Since the flooring was too brittle to roll up, we had to cut it up into large trash bag sized pieces.
We ended up with five large garbage bags full. Is it asbestos? No idea. But at least it's out of the attic now.