Pre-Demolition Survey

The Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) has regulations (National Emissions Standards for Hazardous Air Pollutants – NESHAP) requiring that prior to demolition of a commercial building a thorough inspection for asbestos containing building materials (ACBM) must be performed. Subsequently, friable ACBM must be removed prior to demolition. The Pre-Demolition Asbestos Survey has been designed to meet this EPA requirement.  Corwin Inspections relies on the type of building, age of building, size and the buildings past and current uses in determining cost and estimating number of bulk samples to be collected.In some instances residential buildings fall under this requirement. If the residential structure has five or more units, it is part of a larger commercial of government development or if the residential structure is part of facility. Additional reading is available at http://www2.epa.gov/asbestos/asbestos-neshap The Pre-demolition survey is considered “invasive”. Often holes must be made in ceilings and walls to locate ACBM. The amount invasiveness may be tempered by your time frame for demolition and building occupancy.

Pre-Renovation and Limited Survey

The Pre-renovation survey is for a select area that is planned for renovation and not a building wide survey. Often these surveys are limited to only the material to be impacted by the renovation. i.e. if rooms are to have new flooring installed only the current flooring, cove base and possibly the wall plaster would be sampled, based on the scope of work there would not be a need to sample the ceilings, ductwork, fire doors or other building components.This type of survey is almost always less costly, quicker and geared towards specific needs. Corwin Inspections is able to read renovation plans and work with engineers, architects and contractors to determine what materials would be impacted by the renovations.