Asbestos Encapsulation
Asbestos encapsulation is being used by many builders as an alternative to asbestos on its own. Asbestos has been banned in many countries because of its toxic nature when inhaled. We are going to look into what asbestos encapsulation is. Basically asbestos is made out of fibrous material which is highly toxic when inhaled. Asbestos has high heat resistance property and for this reason, during the late 19th century, asbestos was widely used for buildings mainly for roof top coverings. At present use of asbestos has been completely banned in some of the countries and instead, some of the builders have found an alternative in asbestos encapsulation which greatly reduces the risk of harmful asbestos fumes.
Very briefly, asbestos encapsulation is a product from the technique used to seal the asbestos material within a protective shell. This has been mainly done to reduce toxic asbestos fumes. Since it is impossible to remove all the asbestos used in buildings, the builders have used this technique to encapsulate the existing asbestos material used, there-by stopping the toxic fumes to escape. The capsules have been devised by the builders which can be applied without asbestos demolition.
It has been found that when asbestos is removed from structures it becomes more harmful because of the tiny particles of asbestos that floats away into the air making the environment toxic, and this contamination may spread further into the air space. Asbestos encapsulation avoids such pollution, keeping the environment free from toxic asbestos particles. This has caused the builders to devise asbestos encapsulation to contain the toxic fumes within the capsule covering the asbestos material. This technique is far more cost effective than removing asbestos material from a building.
The technique used in asbestos encapsulation is to simply coat the unharmed surface of the asbestos material with a substance that stops asbestos fibers to escape into the air. While inspecting a structure, if crumbling or cracked asbestos areas are located, the areas are immediately repaired by removing asbestos and replacing it by new ones. This would then have to be encapsulated. This often happen with friable asbestos at places, which easily crumbled or pulverized to powder.
In olden times we found asbestos pipes in guttering. These have now been replaced by PVC pipes which are practically maintenance free and also very much cost effective compared to asbestos piping. Many of the pipes used for water supplies, and drainage supply pipes were made of asbestos which have now been replaced by PVC pipes.
Asbestos contamination is found everywhere. The water that we drink could be contaminated with asbestos powder, with the result pipes that supplies water have now been replaced by PVC pipes. Asbestos encapsulation has several benefits. It contains the harmful asbestos toxic material by holding the toxic fibers within. It also prevents asbestos fibers and powders to escape into the environment while asbestos demolition. Asbestos encapsulation retains the fire resistant property of asbestos, and encapsulation is always economical compared to removing asbestos from structures.
