Asbestos Surveys for Demolition or Renovation Projects in Florida
When you are working on a demolition or renovation project for commercial buildings, you may need to have an asbestos survey performed. TSC Southeast provides asbestos surveys in South Florida to help mitigate exposure to asbestos, a known carcinogen.
What is Asbestos?
Asbestos is a group of naturally occurring fibrous silicate minerals that are made up of long and thin fibrous crystals. Exposure to asbestos is highly toxic. If inhaled, asbestos can cause diseases including mesothelioma, asbestosis, and lung cancer.
Asbestos was widely used in building materials before the 1980’s due to its unique properties including strength, flexibility, and resistance to heat, electricity and corrosion. Certain applications of asbestos use in buildings have been banned but in the United States there are still over 3,000 asbestos-containing building materials that are legally available and in use.
People are exposed to asbestos fibers when Asbestos Containing Materials (ACM) are disturbed during demolition, renovation, maintenance, and repair activities.
Preventing Exposure to Asbestos
The U.S. EPA has created regulations for demolition and renovation projects to reduce and prevent exposure to asbestos. In Miami-Dade County, the Division of Environmental Resources Management (DERM) seeks compliance through plan review, document review, field inspections and outreach activities.
Most demolition and renovation projects for commercial and certain residential facilities require review for asbestos and approval by DERM. Examples of residential facilities requiring review by DERM, include:
- Residential buildings containing 5 or more units
- Multiple small residential buildings on the same property
- Residential buildings demolished or renovated as part of a larger project (e.g., demolition to construct a park, hotel; demolition for road expansion purposes…)
An asbestos survey must be completed for all demolition projects, and all renovation projects where more than 160 square feet of suspect Friable Asbestos-Containing Materials (ACM) and Category I and Category II nonfriable ACM will be disturbed.
What is an Asbestos Survey?
An asbestos survey is an inspection of your building for Asbestos Containing Materials (ACM). During an asbestos survey, TSCSE will identify asbestos in your building and provide sampling and testing to determine the condition of ACM and where it is located. Surveys are typically performed before a demolition and renovation project so that exposure to asbestos can be mitigated.
TSC Southeast can perform asbestos surveys that will help to manage exposure to ACM, monitor the abatement of ACM before renovations or demolitions, provide information about the location, amount, and condition of ACM, and provide proper reporting for compliance with local regulations.
If you need an asbestos survey performed for your demolition or renovation project in South Florida, contact the experts at TSC Southeast today by giving us a call at 551-226-0706 or email Katherine Depablos at kdepablos@