Its removal fairly urgent - as I can't get any tradesmen in, or any friends in to help, until the house is safe. I could have paid $700 for a professional to do it safely, but.....
With guidance from Kate, I purchased the right safety gear non porous gloves, a respirator, an eye mask, and full body suit with hood. As for shoes, I had to go buy some. You know those dusty old gentlemen type shoes you see at Ops Shops? and you think "who buys those?" Well I buy those - for renovations. Absolutely hideous - but at $4 they do the trick.
Frustratingly, by the time I get to the house after work, there is only 1.5 hours of daylight in the evenings so I have to work fast. (There is of course no electricity, no water, no gas etc.) Thank you iPhone Flashlight app.
I had to solve the fact there is no water on the property before removing the asbestos - as it is the dust that gives you lung problems/ cancer etc. You are supposed to keep yourself and the abstestos saturated at all times while removing it. I knocked on the neighbours door to ask to borrow their hose. It is some sort of "Chinese Hakka Institute" - so no one actually lives there (loud music here we come!) No one was home so I left a note, then squeezed through the a hole in the back fence to plug my hose in their tap. No alarms seemed to go off... no dogs seemed to bark...? no police turned up?
In a very chaotic fashion, I doused the laundry walls in water and began hacking away with a crowbar. The work was more difficult than first thought - fiddly juggling the hose and tools. Also, the face gear keeps wanting to crush your nose and ears and then you use your poisonous hands to adjust it....
Blah blah so I got about a third done. I'm not convinced it is safe, as my wrists and ankles were kind of exposed, and the clean up and de-suiting spreads dust... hmm. I don't know, I'll keep going tomorrow. We'll know in about 20 years whether it kills me.
Look just the part to go work at Springfield Nuclear Power Plant
As I was hosing away at the power cords I was thinking "hmm imagine if the electricity is actually on" I did order AGL to turn it on but I'm waiting to hear whether they will even get out of the car once they see the house.
You can see the tin roof now I've smashed off the laundry ceiling.
Cleaning up the pieces - it has to be disposed of in thick black plastic and taken to a special tip. The floor was all flooded with water.. I guess this doesn't matter!
oh.. and Happy Anniversary.. 3 October ..
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ReplyDeleteOH, so that's what you said on the phone the other night ASSPESTOSS!! now i get you!! hilarious.
ReplyDeletep.s. plz don't die in 20 years.
Yeah it was a terrible line. Who knows what we said. Hopefully we did actually organise a coffee today?! ;)
Deleteyeah you should probably be wary of the electricity. I don't think they actually SWITCH it off, just stop the billing, unless someone's illegally using it at the place (which may well have been the case!). And I guess getting asbestos on your skin is not such a problem, as long as you don't inhale the stuff... Glad to hear it's all gone, phew! We got our ceiling here checked and wouldn't have bought the place if it had it so good on you for punching on thru! xxx
ReplyDeleteYou're right - I became a lot less careful about the absestos on my skin as days went on, as I read up about it and it seems it indeed is only dangerous on the lungs. I can't really say I've not inhaled a single speck though...
DeleteThe electricity has been physically cut off from the street some time ago. They are coming Friday to connect it but I'm quite certain when they arrive they won't allow it in such an unsafe looking house. In which case I'll have to get an electrician to install a "builders pole" etccccc