Asbestos & Lead Abatement

Lead

You may have heard that lead-based paint is damaging to your health. In fact, it is severely detrimental to your health. Lead can harm an unborn child, so pregnant women need to be careful about lead exposure. At low levels of lead, it can cause damage in brain development, especially in children. This damage is irreversible. At higher levels, lead can cause kidney failure and damage the nervous system for both children and adults. At peak levels of lead, it can cause seizures, unconsciousness and possibly even death.

Lead can be found in lead-based paint, lead-contaminated dust, lead pipes, brass plumbing fixtures, copper pipes soldered with lead, and other sources still present today in trace amounts. The use of lead-based paint in homes, children’s toys and household furniture was banned in the US in 1978. Older homes prior to 1978 may still have lead-based paint. Lead poisoning accumulating over time can cause serious health risks. Lead poisoning can occur from contamination in the air, dust, water, soil, batteries, and auto repair.

While treatment is available for lead poisoning, lead abatement can help protect yourself and your family.

When treating lead, we follow the following procedures:

• Contain the affected area
• Use negative filtration to avoid contamination, HEPA vacuums, wipe non-porous surfaces and dispose
• Remove lead-based paint, contaminated dust, contaminated soil, and replace lead-painted surfaces

Protech will ensure safe work practices and proper removal, inspecting the site thoroughly and disposing of lead-based sources correctly. Do not try to remove the lead yourself. We use industrial grade equipment and we have the knowledge of how to remove it without further contaminating your property or harming the occupants.

Asbestos

Asbestos once hailed for its versatility, has now been discovered to cause lung cancer, mesothelioma, and asbestosis (inflammation in the lungs and scarring of lung tissue). Asbestos was used widely in building construction materials for its fire and heat resistance, providing building insulation. When asbestos was found to be carcinogenic, it was widely banned in more than 50 countries in the 1980s and the 1990s.

Asbestos was used as a fire retardant in buildings and throughout the home, such as in the attic and wall insulation, vinyl floor tiles, roofing and siding shingles, and textured paint and patching compounds for walls and ceilings. Asbestos has also been used in manufactured products such as in automobile clutches, brakes and transmissions, and in heat-resistant fabrics, packaging, and coatings.

Protech will safely eliminate asbestos by the following procedures:

• First, seal off the asbestos area to avoid contamination with equipment using negative air pressure fitted with HEPA filters.
• Use a special vacuum cleaner only designated as Class H for asbestos abatement
• Vacuum, clean all the rooms and dispose of debris in plastic bags
• The plastic bags and any contaminated material, clothing, etc. are brought to the abatement company to dump into a special sealed dumpster for asbestos

It is important to hire the right contractor who can safely remove your asbestos in your property since illness from asbestos is hard to detect and can cause health problems that appear much later down the road. Take caution and use safety measures before agitating the asbestos source. So don’t go about fixing your popcorn ceilings, until you contact a reliable environmental restoration company like Protech. Fully protect yourself from breathing its dust, as this can lead to lung problems in the future.