Asbestos can be the hidden killer in your home and you might not even know it. We don't say this to alarm you but merely to get you proactive into looking at your homes potential needs. If your house was built in the early '50s then you might have the asbestos building material in your home somewhere. Asbestos was a cheap way to construct homes in the past but we've since learned that the material is an integral part of creating respiratory illnesses when it is stirred up and inhaled. If you fear that you might have asbestos in your home then you can go ahead and do a test to find out.
What you'll want to do in order to accomplish this test is narrow down exactly where you fear that asbestos may be lurking. For this part you want to be careful not to breath in any of the potential contaminants. So buy yourself a dust mask filter from the local hardware store. You also want to have gloves on so that you don't get the material onto your hands and later rub it into your eyes or onto your mouth. Let's say that you've found potential asbestos, the next step is to bag it up.
You will want to use a pair of pliers to remove the potential piece of asbestos before dumping it into a click locking plastic bag. Use two of these bags to make sure that there is no chance of it getting loose. After you've put your specimen into its bag you should seal up the area from which the asbestos was taken. This way you don't have to worry about it being stirred up and thrown into the air.
Next you will want to download an asbestos testing form, available online, which you will then fill out with as much detail as possible. Bring the form and the asbestos sample to the closest asbestos testing clinic in your area. You'll have to wait a little bit for the clinic to test the specimen but you'll have an answer in no time and from there you can begin to address the alrger issue.
