Asbestos Abatement Costs and Recommendations

I have a little experience with this problem with asbestos floor tile, as well as asbestos steam pipe wrap.

The first step is to make very sure it actually has asbestos--check into your source, read the original report, etc. Some contractor's "uh, looks like it might be asbestos to me" is not enough to go on.

If there is asbestos, then, assuming money is an object, I would look into encapsulation of some kind first. Find out what you can legally do that might be aesthetically pleasing. I'm wondering if there is any kind of thin polished concrete that would work for you, for example? It might be significantly cheaper to cover the floor, and then to raise the kitchen floor a bit?

Asbestos abatement is crazy expensive because you must pay for special disposal and even tracking of the removed material, not to mention the onsite precautions. Measure the square footage and call a couple of licensed asbestos contractors and get over the phone quotes--while you are sitting down.

We encapsulated everything in our former house, in case you're wondering. I painted intact asbestos with paint recommended for the purpose, and we placed tight engineered hardwood over the asbestos tiles.

I'm gut renovating my tiny kitchen and had to have the linoleum tested for asbestos and then have it abated. It was really expensive. And we're talking about less than 25 square feet -- so I can't imagine what it will cost you with all that parquet. For me it was $575 for the testing and then $4,550 for the abatement, including NYC filing fees. We got 3 bids -- one as high as $6,980. We went with Gozzer Corp, which has done other apartments in my building and was recommended highly by the super. If you do the abatement thing, make sure to have the company give you a Capital Improvement tax form, which will save you money. Gozzer = info@gozzercorp.com Phone (877) 769-3034

I had to abate a tiny section of roof that needed to be cut for my roof deck addition -- just enough for a stairwell and bulkhead. Cost was in the neighborhood of $3k, I believe. I don't have the name of the firm who did it.

All so silly. Pop the tiles off yourself, bag them, and throw them away.

I can't wait till c0lumbiac0unty chimes in on THIS asbestos thread.

Thanks everyone. When doing asbestos work, any idea what happens to the furniture in my room? Obviously if I was thinking of re-doing the flooring, I'm expecting things to be shuffled around, but I sort of imagine the asbestos folks will not want anything in the room -- which of course is an issue without paying even more money to send stuff to storage.

alanhart: A friend told me that she had her bedroom floor replaced. She told the floorer that the super said the tile sin the closets were asbestos, so he 'd have to seal the tile before he put the flooring in closet. When she came home, she found the floorer pulled out the tile, bagged them, and put the floor in. He took the rest of his debris out. She didn't want the building to hear about this, so she put the tile in smaller bags with trash and went all over the neighborhood over a 2 week period and dumped them in corner trash cans. I laughed and laughed reminding her that there were surveillance cameras in some of the areas she dumped the tile. Big Brother was going to get her one day.

If you are combining apartments, you will need to file plans with the DOB. The DOB will require an asbestos abatement form ACP5 from an asbestos investigator stating that the project a) is asbestos free, b) has less than 10 sf of asbestos, or c) the asbestos will not be disturbed. If you have more than 10 sf, you will need to have the asbestos removed by a licensed abatement company and have all the city/state filings completed before the DOB issues your permit. This all takes a lot of time and money. A recent project of ours with approx 110 sf of parquet and vct cost $4000 for removal plus $650 for the investigator and lab tests. (We received identical quotes from two separate abatement companies - both were quick to respond and very helpful in explaining how the process works.)

From experience, I recommend leaving the asbestos flooring if possible, and covering it over with your new floor material. This way you can obtain the ACP5 sign-off without paying for abatement and move forward with your reno. If that is not possible, I suggest you "somehow" have the asbestos flooring removed prior to beginning the reno process.

Also, since the asbestos becomes airborne once it is disturbed, I personally wouldn't want to leave my furniture in the space during abatement.