Asbestos risk of garden

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stanigator

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A neighbor is demolishing his property. Right now, they are treating the asbestos within the property. Even though the risk of asbestos leaking and landing onto my family's vegetable garden is low given that they are dealing with it, the risk is still there. Hence I'm writing here to ask for feedback on the risk of asbestos particles landing on my family's vegetable garden leading us to eating them.

Thanks in advance for your feedback!
 
Where is the asbestos on your neighbor's house? When you say they are treating it within the property what do you mean? What form is the asbestos in? Shingles, loose insulation, floor tiles, in the drywall compound? Typically if the asbestos is friable they set up a containment area and filter the air with a HEPA filter to contain any dust. Not all asbestos is very friable unless you grind it, floor tiles for example won't easily give up the asbestos that is embedded in the tile.
 
I don't really know where it's located within the neighbor's house. I believe they are treating it within the property before it is demolished.
 
I'd only be concerned if they were scraping exterior paint upwind from the garden. If done internally, I wouldn't worry about. By the way, natural dirt carries both radon and asbestos, but our food is grown in it every day.
 
I'd only be concerned if they were scraping exterior paint upwind from the garden. If done internally, I wouldn't worry about. By the way, natural dirt carries both radon and asbestos, but our food is grown in it every day.
Paint would likely have lead, not asbestos,

As with any produce, I'd just rinse it off and not give it another thought.
 
Paint would likely have lead, not asbestos,
Yes, I was just referring to any harmful substances falling onto you or your garden.

My last house has asbestos lined duct work, and an asbestos heater flue. Because I was adding a room addition and installing a 5 ton A/C unit at the time, permits were needed. The inspector knew what I was doing and reminded me that I would need a professional to remove it.

I called PW Stevens who draped my house with plastic. They then draped my interior with plastic walls, with negative air flow through a HEPA filter. They donned their space suits, masks, booties, wrapped their sleeves, necks, headgear,etc. I kinda chuckles and asked if this was really necessary and the guy laughed back and told me, "hell, it was you that paid $3000 for this show, so we are providing you the complete 3 ring circus!"

I guess he had heard my question a thousand times before, but they were very professional, and I can assure everyone that they did it the correct way, with no hazards outside my home.
 
Yes, I was just referring to any harmful substances falling onto you or your garden.

My last house has asbestos lined duct work, and an asbestos heater flue. Because I was adding a room addition and installing a 5 ton A/C unit at the time, permits were needed. The inspector knew what I was doing and reminded me that I would need a professional to remove it.

I called PW Stevens who draped my house with plastic. They then draped my interior with plastic walls, with negative air flow through a HEPA filter. They donned their space suits, masks, booties, wrapped their sleeves, necks, headgear,etc. I kinda chuckles and asked if this was really necessary and the guy laughed back and told me, "hell, it was you that paid $3000 for this show, so we are providing you the complete 3 ring circus!"

I guess he had heard my question a thousand times before, but they were very professional, and I can assure everyone that they did it the correct way, with no hazards outside my home.
Asbestos removal requirements can be a real three ring circus and what you had can be very friable. My elementary school from back in the 1960s had asbestos in the floor tiles in one section. They made a big deal about getting it removed, even though the threat from intact floor tiles is minimal. The contractor doing the removal used a solvent to loosen the cutback adhesive and it soaked into the sub floor. Then after they started using the classrooms again kids were complaining about the fumes from the solvents. They eventually tore it down. This was in the late 80s or early 90s. The oldest part of the building was probably 60-70 years old and the youngest part was built in the early 60s. So it had a good run, but absent the solvent it could have lasted another couple of decades.

We had some asbestos tiles at our church in the original sanctuary. We renovated it back in the mid 2000s into a coffee house/entertainment space. At one point they installed commercial low nap carpet over the tiles. We left that all in place and installed a click-lock floating cork floor over it, using the carpet as the pad. 15 years later the cork is holding up well. Tiles are probably the lowest risk use, unless you grind them, it is very hard to get the asbestos to be airborne. It is embedded in other material and doesn't break away easily.
 
The flooring professionals in our flooringforum(.com) will say asbestos in floor tiles is about as stable as they come. They will commonly overlay on top of that tile, rather than pulling it out and disturbing it.
 
The flooring professionals in our flooringforum(.com) will say asbestos in floor tiles is about as stable as they come. They will commonly overlay on top of that tile, rather than pulling it out and disturbing it.
We left the carpet in place because pulling it up could have broken tiles since the carpet was glued to it. The carpet was such that it made a pretty decent pad for the cork laminated flooring. The carpet might have come up easily, but there was a risk. Plus we'd need to dispose of the carpet and repair any breakage caused by the carpet removal and install a pad. We left a sleeping dog lie.
 
Another angle to the story is that the neighbor's crew have removed the drywalls. They were placed in bags in a dumpster that's not well-secured. Windstorms and rainstorms may have blown some of the construction material dust to my family's garden. How safe is it to still consume our garden's vegetables, provided that we wash them thoroughly?
 
Another angle to the story is that the neighbor's crew have removed the drywalls. They were placed in bags in a dumpster that's not well-secured. Windstorms and rainstorms may have blown some of the construction material dust to my family's garden. How safe is it to still consume our garden's vegetables, provided that we wash them thoroughly?
I would say 100% safe from the standpoint of asbestos.
 
Your garden probably should be covered.

I'd check in with a qualified attorney to start prepping for settlement negotiations with their insurance company.
 
Wash off the produce and you'll be fine. Field grown produce gets coated in dust all the time, it is normally washed off by irrigation.
 
Just makes sure to use water that doesn't have asbestos in it.
 
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