Over the past year I came in contact with many situations in which either lack of knowledge of the building inspector, lack of a home inspection or lack of asbestos building inspection have cost homeowners thousands of dollars.
I know that hiring an inspector for every specialization might be overkill but the fact is that an Experienced building inspector should specify if any of the building components could possibly contain asbestos . Because of liability issues no building inspector is going to confirm or deny existence or presence of asbestos building materials ( Only IDPH Licensed Asbestos Inspector can perform Asbestos Inspection), but he is obligated to inform you of such possibility. Please remember that a good home inspector will not only inspect framing, roof, walls, HVAC and plumbing (because majority of new buyers are only concerned with these); he should also inspect age and condition of:
wall and ceiling insulation, flooring material, thermal system insulation, duct insulation.
So if you’re having a building inspection or you’re going to have one in the near future, you should ask your building inspector about asbestos. If he states that it’s not within his field of knowledge and he is not required to disclose it, please do yourself a favor and hire a more experienced building inspector.
Too many times I came out to projects because building inspectors didn’t inform new buyers of even a possibility of having materials, which MIGHT have asbestos in them. List of sins is long but worst of all is so obvious and easy to spot:
-old 9 x 9 asbestos-containing floor tiles
-asbestos pipe insulation
-Asbestos duct insulation
-asbestos-containing vermiculite insulation
-asbestos siding hidden underneath vinyl siding
Building inspector omission of such obvious materials will cost hundreds or even thousands of dollars to have professionally abated, so if you’re currently having the building inspection performed and you are concerned with asbestos, lead or mold please give 1st All Around a call at 773-986-8725.
Our consultation and appraisal will cost you nothing!!
A friend of mine thinks that there might be asbestos in his house, and we were curious about how you would find the right company to inspect the house. I had no idea that they also inspect pipes and ducts. It would be nice to get every inch of your house covered before it’s too late.