Guide · Columbia, SC
You started a renovation. You pulled up a floor, opened a wall, cut into a ceiling, and now you're staring at material you didn't expect and can't identify. If your Columbia-area home was built before 1980, treat what you found as presumed asbestos until a lab says otherwise. Here's the sequence.
Stop cutting, sanding, sweeping, or vacuuming. Do not use a household vacuum — standard vacuums exhaust fine particulate straight back into the room air. Turn off HVAC systems that share air with the disturbed area to prevent fibre migration to other rooms.
Close doors. Seal gaps with tape and plastic sheeting if you have it. Get pets and children out of the room. Adults leaving the room should change clothes, shower, and bag the clothes for professional cleaning or disposal.
Sweeping puts fibres back into the air. Wet-mopping can drive fibres deeper into porous surfaces. Wait for the professional response — the cleanup protocol involves HEPA vacuums (not standard vacuums) and wet-wiping under containment.
Call the 24 Hour Line: (803) 859-4938. A coordinator will arrange for a licensed sampling visit — typically same-day or next-day for post-renovation discoveries. Bulk samples go to an accredited lab; results in 3-5 business days (rush available).
The scope of remediation depends on how much was disturbed, whether HVAC systems were running, and whether the material was friable. A small, contained disturbance in a single room is straightforward. A whole-house situation where forced-air HVAC ran for hours during demolition is a bigger job requiring air testing across all connected spaces.
If a general contractor is on the project, they need to know immediately. Under NESHAP, the discovery of previously unknown asbestos during a covered project triggers notification obligations. Your abatement contractor will coordinate the SCDES paperwork.
See our residential asbestos abatement service, or call (803) 859-4938 for urgent response.
Licensed asbestos abatement, testing, and clearance across Columbia, SC and 7 Midlands cities. Same-business-day callback on every request.
