Ok, so my client (Illinois home buyer) was told the seller refuses to allow a sampling of the popcorn ceiling to determine if asbestos is contained therein. That doesn’t seem right to me…
looking for any laws pertaining to this,
whats up with that???
My guess is that they can decline since they own the property unless you feel the police should enforce such a thing?
OK going overboard to prove a point.
Your client can also walk from the deal if they do not like it.
Suppose you could have just taken the sample without asking.
In my area, it is in the real estate contract that the seller has to allow all inspections and testing the buyer wants; if seller will not cooperate, the seller has to give the buyer’s earnest money back and pay for any fees acquired by the buyer for the purchasing process of the home.
It could be as simple as the seller is concerned with damaging the cosmetics of the ceiling. By all right’s, if there is damage to the cosmetics, the buyer is responsible to repair said damage. Not everyone or everything is sinister, but I have been wrong once or twice before!
once or twice?
:D:D
To take it with out asking is stealing ,
That would not look good to Have a home Inspector charged for stealing.
What is the point of testing it, anyway?
If you found 9" speckled tiles in the basement … do you have your client pop one out and test it, too? What about the adhesive holding them to the floor?
Shouldn’t the client remove a few copper elbows to see if there is lead in the solder?
Most people are surprised to learn that asbestos is still … as I type this post … being used in building materials for new construction.
If the ceiling is intact, leave it alone. If it is not, recommend that it be repaired or replaced by a qualified contractor.
I can’t blame any seller who refuses to have bits and pieces of their home snipped off and analyzed. I wouldn’t allow such a thing either.
Joseph -
To start ARE you state licensed as an ACM inspector in Illinois?
Where I’m at the CURRENT homeowner can take samples BUT nobody else can without ACM certification / license or $10,000 fine.
Next - SOME inspections are considered INTRUSIVE or DESTRUCTIVE, such as me drilling holes in Stucco or EIFS, OR me cutting out paint chips for lead paint testing, OR me cutting insulation off Boiler pipes AND I would NEED sellers permission to do so EVEN though my RE Contract says buyer can test anything. AND if seller DOES NOT want any INTRUSIVE or DESTRUCTIVE tests they DO NOT have to allow it.
So where are you in this???
I would be willing to bet that this pertains to non-destructive investigation only.
Yup! :mrgreen:
As a seller, I would refuse such an invasive investigation as well. Especially if it was currently encapsulated and fully intact.
What needs to be considered is this.
Many people find stucco and popcorn style ceilings ugly and a sign of crack cover up so if they wish to remove a asbestos laden ceiling what is the cost involved in doing so?
Anyone know or care?
We can say cost does not matter because it is not our Bank Account shrinking.
The buyer pays for the repair and the buyer knows this.
Tell us what method is used to sample a popcorn ceiling?
Big damage?
No not really. You just need to wet an area and scrap the popcorn off, usually in a closet is the best area.
If the sample taken comes back absent of asbestos, is that sample representative of the entire ceiling?
This only works on a ceiling that has not been painted .
What do you do now that the ceiling has been damaged .
Who pays to restore it to the way it was .
This can get very expensive.
Best way would be to have a portion of the sale withheld equivalent to the cost of abatement.
This would be released contingent on results.
When have you ever sprayed ceiling texture and used different medium throughout the home?
Any testing is representative of that area only; same as taking a tape or swap sample of mold. Representative sampling is only recommended if the preliminary samples come up as Asbestos.