Asbestos has been banned in many forms since the late 1980s, but de facto not all of them. A bigger issue has been what to do about asbestos that still is present in structures. Discharge is messy and potentially dangerous, so a process known as encapsulation has come to be popular. In this article, we take a look at the pros and cons of it.
Asbestos is a tremendously productive fire unyielding material and also very heat resistant. As a result, it makes a great insulator and fire break in structures. For this reason, it was heavily used in all manner of structures beginning particularly in World War Ii. Of course, this was before asbestos was found to cause major health problems along with many types of cancer.
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Asbestos is rarely used in building materials anymore. That is good news for new construction, but what about older structures? Many still have asbestos in them. Discharge is costly and messy, so many owners now go with encapsulation processes. As the name suggests, the areas of asbestos are encapsulated with a sturdy material. This keeps any asbestos from becoming airborne and causing a host of health problems.
The major benefits of encapsulation are effortlessly apparent. First, the offending asbestos material remains in place and perilous fibers are not kicked up while the destruction process. Second, the fire unyielding benefits of asbestos remain in place since the material is still in the building. Third, the cost of encapsulating is almost all the time much cheaper than removing the material.
What about cons? There de facto aren't too many. The most frequent issue that arises is inadvertent exposure. If a building is damaged in an earthquake, tornado or other natural disaster, the asbestos can be exposed and create a perilous situation. The same goes for a large fire where firemen are cutting away parts of the building without realizing they are infested with asbestos.
All and all, encapsulation has come to be all the rage these days with asbestos risk exposure. The short term results appear inevitable and it only is an issue of looking whether the process holds up over time to determine whether this is ultimately a explication to the "old asbestos" problem.
The Pros and Cons of Asbestos Encapsulation