According to Health Canada, asbestos is a major health hazard. It’s known to cause cancer, asbestosis (a respiratory disease that troubles your breathing), and other issues. Asbestos negatively affects your health. When it’s sealed in your attic or in your basement — it’s not that harmful, since no asbestos particles reach your lungs or spread around your house. However, when you do literally any kind of work — including drilling, demolition, or even smoothing of the house structure’s elements — it gets dangerous.
Unfortunately, asbestos was commonly used in building materials, including insulation, drywall, and cement. It was banned in the 1980s, but if your house is built before that — there’s a chance that you can still find this dangerous material in some of the home’s systems.
The last thing you want to do is to disturb it. And that’s exactly what happens when a major crack opens. Maybe it’s not even in the wall itself, but the crack partly contacts the sealed communications, and the asbestos particles spread around your home interior.
Our experts know that testing for asbestos in old homes should always be step number one, before even cleaning the area and starting any foundation crack repair.