If you’re not a professional renovator, you may not know that getting a building or demolition permit in Calgary will mean getting an asbestos inspection. This inspection is a mandatory requirement of the city, and you’ll need to prove you had a qualified team (like Amity) out to your home to inspect the work site and to ensure that no asbestos will be disturbed by your proposed work.
Contained Asbestos is Safe Asbestos
This requirement makes a lot of sense. When asbestos containing materials (like floor or ceiling tiles or insulation) are in perfect condition, they’re safe to be around. It’s when materials get cracked, begin to degrade with time, or are in anyway damaged that problems begin. Asbestos fibers are extremely lightweight, and microscopic amounts of this mineral can easily escape damaged materials, become airborne, and pose a danger to everyone in the area. Even inhaling minimal amounts of asbestos can potentially lead to scarring of the lung and cancers.
It’s About Protecting Workers
If you’ve hired a team to renovate your home, you owe it to them to have the space inspected. The deadly nature of asbestos takes a very long time to take effect. In general, those mining asbestos and working with it regularly took 30-50 years to show symptoms of asbestosis or mesothelioma. Since it’s impossible for workers to know if they’ve been exposed until many decades later, an inspection is necessary to guarantee the safety of everyone on the job.
It’s About Protecting your Family
Similarly, asbestos fibers that are free and airborne in the bathroom you’re renovating are going to easily move to the living room, kitchen, bedrooms, and every nook and cranny of your house. So while you may technically be allowed to renovate your own home by yourself without an inspection, you’re putting your family, friends, and anyone who comes into your home at major risk.
If you’re planning on renovating or demolishing part of your home, then you need an asbestos inspection. Asbestos isn’t banned in Canada yet and many, many houses used numerous asbestos-containing materials up until the 90s. Newer houses may also contain some (though fewer) asbestos-containing materials as well, so until you have an inspection done, you just can’t know. Contact the professionals at Amity Environmental today, and we’ll make sure your inspection is complete, answer any of your questions, and help ensure you’re ready to pick up your city building permit.
