Who Do You Call to Check for Asbestos?

Who do you call to check for asbestos? Hiring a local professional asbestos testing company is an easier process than you may think. We at Angi maintain a list of trusted testing companies, or you can check with your state’s department of health or department of environmental protection for help with finding a testing company. 

Benefits of Hiring Asbestos Testers to Check for Asbestos

Because you cannot see dangerous microscopic asbestos fibers, and because you cannot confirm visually whether a material contains asbestos, it is important to do an accurate test. When you hire a local asbestos testing company to check your home’s construction for this cancer-causing material, you can be certain about the accuracy of the results. 

Additionally, asbestos testers know how to do the job as safely as possible, meaning they will not expose you or your family to fibers during the testing process. Professional testing companies have the personal protective equipment and tools needed to do the job safely and accurately.

Testing companies know where asbestos is found and can recognize signs of asbestos in a house. Should your test come back positive, the professional can give you advice on how to proceed.

Can I DIY Checking for Asbestos?

When considering how to test for asbestos, one option is to purchase an at-home DIY testing kit. The asbestos testing cost for a high-quality DIY kit is about $50, while the average cost to hire a professional testing company is almost $500. When you make use of a DIY testing kit, you will have to mail the sample you collect to the lab that made the kit. The lab will then let you know the results of the test. 

DIY testing kits are easy to use, but they are less accurate than relying on a testing company. Some test kits can generate false positives or negatives, especially if you make an error while retrieving the sample. Additionally, you cannot run these types of tests on any samples yourself. 

What does asbestos look like? It has microscopic fibers that can be of varying shapes and colors, making it hard for a novice to know what they are seeing in a test sample, even under a microscope. A pro asbestos testing lab will be able to identify accurately any fibers that have been collected.

Can I Hire an Environmental Consultant to Check for Asbestos?

You can also hire an environmental consultant to check for asbestos in your home. An environmental consultant has the training and qualifications to inspect and test for asbestos safely. If they find asbestos in your home, they know how to handle the material properly and in compliance with environmental regulations. 

They’ll collect samples and send them to a certified lab for analysis. Then, they'll provide you with a report detailing the location and concentration of asbestos in your home. They can also recommend whether remediation is necessary.

If your environmental consultant recommends remediation, it’s best to call an asbestos abatement company to do the work. Asbestos removal costs $2,200 on average.

How Do Testers Check for Asbestos?

When you hire an asbestos testing company, a technician will come to your home. The technician will inspect your home for asbestos, looking for materials that may be old enough to contain asbestos. 

If you use a DIY test kit, you need a separate one for each material that you test, which can drive up the cost. A professional testing company can run tests on as many surfaces as required from a single visit. If the tester must test several materials, the cost likely will be higher than average; if you only have one or two surfaces that need testing, the cost probably will be lower than average.

The technician will take small physical samples of any materials suspected of containing asbestos. Additionally, they may take air samples to look for microscopic asbestos fibers floating in the air, as well as samples of dust settled on surfaces. A DIY test kit usually cannot test air or dust.

Technicians will then submit the samples to their own lab or to a third-party testing facility. Results can take one to three business days to come back, upon which the technician will notify you. 

If you have positive samples, the technicians can advise you on the best steps to take to remove asbestos from your home. You should never attempt to remove asbestos on your own because of the danger of inhaling microscopic fibers that can cause serious illness, including cancer, a few decades in the future.