Household Appliance Installers

Asbestos can be found all over the place. While it's been used in a variety of ways for centuries, its use really reached a peak during the industrial revolution, between about the 1860s and through the 1970s. The damage it causes to humans, which we'll touch on a bit further down, notwithstanding, asbestos has a lot of qualities that make it appealing. It's estimated that their are over 3,000 different asbestos products. This is especially true for items used in the construction industry. Homes built before the mid 1970s probably have at least a few products in them that contain asbestos. This means that folks who, today, work on house renovations and updates, which include those who install updated appliances, have to be very careful.

Asbestos Exposure

As mentioned above, there were over 3,000 products, quite a few of them very common, that had asbestos added to them. Asbestos becomes dangerous when it's disturbed. When the installers come in, they often have to rip out old products before they can put in the new stuff. This not only disturbs old dust that may contain asbestos fibers but can create new dust, both of which will become airborne and affect the person(s) working in the area if safety precautions aren't taken.

Asbestos really came to the public's attention during the 1990s. In most cases people are aware that asbestos can be found in some of these products and there are contractors out there who are certified to get rid of it. Not only does the actual ACM need to be removed, but the all of the dust has to be cleaned up, too. If someone is installing newer appliances and they think that that stuff they are about to start messing with contains asbestos, their best bet is going to be to stop working and let the owner of the home know that they may have a problem. It's hard to tell for sure if a substance is asbestos or not until some testing is done, but it's better to be safe than sorry.

Household Appliance Asbestos Uses

Asbestos has some very good properties. First of all, it's cheap. There are asbestos deposits found all over the world and it's easy to mine. Second, asbestos doesn't burn. Well, everything will burn if the heat is hot enough, but it takes some incredibly extreme temperatures to affect asbestos, we're talking lava hot. This makes it an excellent insulator. Third, it has some other resistances that are useful. It doesn't conduct electricity and doesn't react with most chemicals, even acids. Fourth, when asbestos fibers are added to products they increase the tensile strength of the product. Fifth and finally, it comes in the form of long thin fibers that are very easy to work with. Archeologists and historians believe the ancient Greeks and Persians used asbestos fabrics for a number of different purposes.

If the house that these professionals are working on was built before the mid 1970s, there are many different items they need to watch out for. Cement blocks and the mortar used to join them together may contain asbestos. Asbestos was wrapped around hot water pipes to help keep the water hot. Floor tiles and ceiling tiles had fibers added to make them stronger and have a higher flame resistance. There are even situations that cabinet facings and countertops were made with asbestos containing materials (ACMs). There is a good chance that the old appliances may have asbestos insulation in them. Hot water heaters, stoves and ovens had asbestos used in their manufacture so that the heat wouldn't affect the surfaces around them.

What Household Appliance Installers Should Know

The problem with asbestos is that it causes some very bad damage to living creatures. All too often, this damage is fatal. Asbestos falls apart very easily. The technical term for this is 'friable'. As it crumbles, it falls into a dust. This dust contains millions of microscopic asbestos fibers that float through the air. Once it become airborne, it's very easy for people who walk through or work in the infected area to breathe in and swallow the fibers.

While there are some cases where swallowed fibers cause problems, they, for the most part, travel through the body and leave it in the normal way. The fibers that are inhaled, however, have no where else to go but the lungs. And there they sit. During respiration, the lungs expand and contract and the fibers scratch up the delicate tissues in the lungs. After some time, the damage from the fibers can become so bad that the lungs can't pull oxygen from the air anymore. Once the scarring has become so bad, the victim won't be able to catch their breath. This medical condition is called asbestosis.

Asbestosis kills, but it is treatable if caught early enough. There are even situations where lung transplants can be performed and allow the patient to lead a fairly normal life with a fairly normal lifespan. Unfortunately, these folks have a higher likelihood of developing lung cancer and another kind of cancer called mesothelioma. There is no cure for either of these conditions and, currently, there isn't even and effective treatment for mesothelioma. The average lifespan of someone diagnosed with mesothelioma is about eighteen months. This cancer appears as tumors that grow in the mesothelium, the lining that covers and is meant to protect most of the vital organs in the body. Not only do these tumors affect the operation of the organs, they also have the potential to quickly spread cancer cells to many other parts of the body.

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