When Should a Homeowner Have Their Soil Tested for Asbestos?
Many homeowners have mistaken ideas about asbestos and where it can be found on their property; they may assume that asbestos is only used as a home insulating material, so it's only going to be found behind walls or in an attic. In truth, materials containing asbestos have also been used to insulate and protect outdoor plumbing pipes and other fixtures buried underground. This means that asbestos can show up on your property in areas other than just the attic and behind walls; it may even be in your soil. Note when a homeowner might want to have soil tested for asbestos and then consider the options for having it removed.
1. Drought
Asbestos is only dangerous when the fibres are inhaled, and moist soil may keep any asbestos locked in the ground. However, once the soil becomes dry, dust then forms and any asbestos fibres in the soil can become airborne. If your area has experienced a severe drought or you've been warned that a drought may occur in the near future, you may want to have your soil tested for asbestos. This can tell you if there is enough in the soil for it to become airborne when the soil dries out and if you should consider having it removed, or having the soil treated to keep it from staying dry and dusty.
2. When pipes have been discovered underground
Any type of older pipes that have been discovered underground should signal that the soil needs to be tested. If those pipes were insulated with asbestos-containing material, this asbestos could have made its way into the soil and contaminated it. Old telephone servicing pits and other such installations may have also been insulated with materials that contain asbestos, so if anything like this has been found on your property, have the soil tested.
3. If you want to do any major tilling or excavating
Tilling your soil for a large garden or farm, or excavating for plumbing pipes, a new pool, a large irrigation system or the like will mean making any buried asbestos airborne. It's good to have the soil tested before you start this work. It's also good to have the soil tested for asbestos before you do any planting, especially planting of foodstuffs. Vegetation absorbs nutrients from the ground, so you want to ensure your soil is safe for gardening, farming, and for planting anything that is meant to be harvested and eaten.