Dumbass plumbers and fancy steak (long)

[Skrae]

Ok, a couple months ago, we had a series of unfortunate events, I'll go with the most serious. In January, there was an arson two doors down, and since we live in a townhome, we're extremely worried that we're going to be homeless, but lucky us, the fire department manages to save our house. I told you that to tell you two other things:

1. Six days later, we had plumbers working on the pipes, soldering the pipes and they manage to catch the insulation on fire, lucky us! It gets better, we had asbestos, so our house was condemned to get the asbestos out. (I wish I made this up cause then we wouldn't have to deal with it -_-)

2. Ok several weeks afterwards, we're finally reunited (we got kind of scattered afterwards, I stayed with an ex girlfriend, mom stayed with a family friend, and dad stayed in a motel) and staying at this nice hotel courtesy of our home owner's insurance. So we decide we're all craving steak so we go across the street to this really nice steak restaurant (5 stars I think) also courtesy of home owner's insurance. I gotta say, we got less than 5 star service, not through the fault of the restaurant directly, but apparently they sprang a leak in the women's restroom, which causes the fire alarm to go off. Now we're displaced people due to a fire, and the arson we survived had been a 4 alarm I think. So obviously, a fire alarm is NOT going to make us happy, we're all stressing out about it for obvious reasons.

Eventually we got half the bill knocked off or something, but this entire year has been an ordeal since we're still waiting to move back in.

[Sofar]

The brightside is that if you hadn't had the asbestos the house probably would have burnt down.

I thought we were plastering over that stuff these days? They finally figured out that removing the stuff is more trouble than it's worth.

[Skrae]

Yeah I suppose. Still doesn't make me happy that because the asbestos was exposed, most of our stuff had to be disposed of. Clothes, food, anything with a motor (so if I hadn't have grabbed my computer, they'd have thrown it out, assuming it didn't get stolen since a couple weeks later, our house got looted the night before it was quarantined), anything porous, only things we're allowed to keep are papers and items with nonporous surfaces. Frickin plumbers. It doesn't help that my dad was standing over them telling them how NOT to catch the insulation on fire.

[air914]

I'm so sorry your year has had such a bad start! I hope it gets better!

[Skrae]

So do I, right now I'm working on getting my first job. So hopefully that'll work out.

[Sofar]

Wait a second, they made you throw stuff out? That's just stupid. I've got asbestos in my ceiling. We just plastered over it. Done. Now we don't breath it and we still get the fire-proofing aspect. We didn't have to throw anything out.

[JustADude]

I think it's because they somehow managed to set the asbestos on fire. Don't ask me how that works, but....

[Skrae]

They set the asbestos on fire, and it got highly exposed. Think about a bathroom, now think about that bathroom with an entire wall burned off (not really off but best way I can explain it).

[Sofar]

Ah, I see. Well, if you managed to set your asbestos on fire it must not have worked very well in the first place. Maybe the stuff doesn't work after a certain amount of years . . . ,

[zzapp the witch]

Asbestos won't burn. Period.

Asbestos tile can get hot enough to where it will shatter. You still see houses from the 50s that have asbestos tile on the outside....mine did.

Now, the predecessor to gypsum board (that board you put tile on) was made out of asbestos.

Some of the very old insulation types are VERY flammable, but not asbestos based. Most of your asbestos would be found in heated areas such as woodstoves (chimney cement), protective siding, ceilings, they even had sleeves of asbestos cloth to wrap wiring in. Tarred roofs have asbestos in the tar. Even the "tile" cement waterpipes are made out of asbestos, this is stuff used for big city plumbing.

The most logical scenario I can come up with is they lit the insulation around the pipes on fire, and then discovered that the tile board or sheeting in the bathroom or around the "wet" area was asbestos based.

Fiberglass has a stiffening agent sprayed onto it that is highly carcinogenic and is possibly as dangerous as asbestos (if you look at fiberglass microscopically it has all these little barbs that hook themselves into your lung tissue). And if asbestos was as dangerous as they claim it is, industrial powerhouses and boilers would not have it on them or in them anymore. There is nothing to fear from asbestos as long as its stabilized properly, see Sofar's comment on painting over his ceiling, it can be that simple, oil based paint works best though.

Brake linings and clutches are to this day asbestos on some applications because its just the best to use, hence the brand name "Raybestos."

The asbestos in Skrae's home became dangerous when it was damaged by the damage around it caused by the fire. It gets hot, but it won't burn, and in this case, it had to be removed because it had been broken and destabilized.

Much like a beautiful stained glass window, you don't fear the window, you fear the damage that may come to it. Don't fear the asbestos, fear the damage that destabilizes it.

[Sofar]

Thank yoo. It doesn't help that fiberglass is woven from a million gossamer-thin glass threads that practically vaporize when you break them.

[Skrae]

Yeah ok, that makes more sense, I was going under the assumption all the insulation was asbestos. Anyway, yeah the asbestos was destabilized and exposed and that's why it had to be removed and our stuff either cleaned or disposed of depending on what the item was.
Thanks for the educational look at asbestos, that clears up alot of my assumptions.

[Food Lady]

Skrae, I'm sorry all this stuff happened to you, but I'm glad your family is ok and you have insurance! Just remember that possessions, unlike people, are replaceable.

[Skrae]

Yeah, most of it can, we had a few irreplaceable things that had been passed down in our family, but we're safe, and that's what matters.