That old thrift store aroma

[belfastboy]

Just occurred to me that I must have been exposed to asbestos when I worked at Lou Spurlock’s Texaco station in the early 1970s.

Lou had invested in a fair amount of expensive brake equipment. Good money in brake jobs, he said. I recall one machine —a simple device, really — that arced brake shoes. After the new lining was riveted on to the brake shoe it was put on the arcing machine, which took off a little lining on the shoe, so that it would make more consistent contact with the brake drum over its entire surface. It was basically a heavy grit sanding belt that did the work.

Brake linings back then contained asbestos. The arcing machine threw lining material into the air. I breathed that air. It’s quite likely that using compressed air to blow out the brake dust from the drums and the backing plates and springs and wheel cylinders and all that also threw asbestos into the air.

Yes, you are unfortunately correct. In my ever so brief career as an auto mechanic I was exposed in this way as well. This too was in the early 1970's.

 

[tonyb]

It is not to advocate the use of asbestos to note that the stuff may well have saved many a life by preventing the start or the spread of fire.

But then, that’s akin to observing that nicotine can be something of a brain tonic. And that amphetamines come in handy during all-night bombing runs.

 

[LizzieMaine]

It may be startling to some to realize just how pervasive asbestos was over the first two thirds of the last century. The Johns-Manville Corporation promoted it as "the wonder mineral," and merrily sold it for use in everything from floor tiles to potholders to shingles to your grandmother's electric heating pad to Christmas decorations to talcum powder. Basically, anyone who has ever spent any amount of time in any American building constructed before about 1975 had more chances to handle or be exposed to asbestos than they'll ever know.

Johns-Manville got a big contract during the war to make filters for civilian gas masks, to be distributed by the Office of Civilian Defense. Guess what the active ingredient was.

 

[belfastboy]

It may be startling to some to realize just how pervasive asbestos was over the first two thirds of the last century. The Johns-Manville Corporation promoted it as "the wonder mineral," and merrily sold it for use in everything from floor tiles to potholders to shingles to your grandmother's electric heating pad to Christmas decorations to talcum powder. Basically, anyone who has ever spent any amount of time in any American building constructed before about 1975 had more chances to handle or be exposed to asbestos than they'll ever know.

Johns-Manville got a big contract during the war to make filters for civilian gas masks, to be distributed by the Office of Civilian Defense. Guess what the active ingredient was.

In terms of the regulations in this province 1992 is the magic date. Post '92 and we are allowed to assume it is asbestos free. Prior to that a renovator has to prove it does not contain. If it does the costs just skyrocketed as the abatement procedure is a license to print money. And the construction debris has to be trucked one province over for disposal.

 

[tonyb]

^^^^
Yeah, that and lead paint abatement can push costs way up. A not-for-profit of my familiarity operated out of an old wood-framed, wood-sided school building. Three stories, as I recall. Painting it involved enveloping the entire structure in plastic sheeting, among other measures to collect the old paint scrapings and dust rather than let it blow through the neighborhood.

We must be doing some things these days that will become a genuine PITA to future generations. I don’t know what those things might be. But I can’t help but think some people do know but are keeping it to themselves.

 

[LizzieMaine]

Adding to the confusion is the fact that many products sold in the 20th Century as containing asbestos actually either contained only a trace of it or none at all -- scammers taking advantage of the "wonder mineral" reputation were legion. One reason the Iroquois Theatre fire in Chicago in 1903 was so deadly was that the "asbestos fire curtain" installed at considerable cost was actually made of pressed pulp. Painting the word "A S B E S T O S" in fancy letters across the front did not make it so.

 

[tonyb]

Neighbors in this subdivision, built out in 1977, tell me that the popcorn ceilings here are asbestos-free. (Scraping the ceilings is among the more common changes people make to their houses around here.) But it’s best to assume there is asbestos, even if the structure was built after new materials didn’t contain the stuff. Suppliers continued selling the asbestos-containing materials until they sold it out, and builders continued using it.

 

[belfastboy]

Neighbors in this subdivision, built out in 1977, tell me that the popcorn ceilings here are asbestos-free. (Scraping the ceilings is among the more common changes people make to their houses around here.) But it’s best to assume there is asbestos, even if the structure was built after new materials didn’t contain the stuff. Suppliers continued selling the asbestos-containing materials until they sold it out, and builders continued using it.

And the regulations up here keep changing...becoming more stringent with lower & lower levels of asbestos considered 'safe'. A few developers up here have been burned by shoddy HazMat surveys conducted prior to sale that showed low levels of containment only to discover the building was full of it.....lawsuits in progress.

 

[ChiTownScion]

Worked a summer construction job as a helper that I got through an uncle who was active in the local for what is now known as the International Association of Heat and Frost Insulators. Carrying asbestos pipe covering materials was the job: it paid what was then the unheard of sum of $4.50 an hour (the job I quit to take it paid above minimum wage at $1.75/ hour.) plus $3.50/ day travelling expenses. Gas was 30 cents a gallon and it was about a 130 mile round trip to the oil refinery we were building. That was half journeyman's wages.

One of the tasks was mixing an asbestos cement like compound to fill in cracks and joints. That crap would go flying everywhere as you'd mix it in with water in an open bucket. It would get into my skin pores and itch like hell. No one wore masks back then: it was considered sissified, and the union workers back then were macho to the point of being pathological about it in regard to that.

That was 49 years ago: I've been fortunate in that I have suffered no ill effects from my exposure. A young guy my age who snagged an apprenticeship and went into the trade died in his early fifties, and although my uncle lived well into his eighties he suffered obvious symptoms of oxygen deprivation. It had clearly affected his respiratory system. Had he not given up smoking in his 30's I'm certain he would have died a lot sooner and a lot messier.

Said uncle fell out of favor with the powers that be and I never was able to work for those wages again. I worked a few crappier jobs in order to get through school, but none with the potential health risks.

The job I quit to work that construction gig? I was a trap boy at a gun (trap & skeet) club. The trap machine was automatic but you had to load the clay birds by hand. The arm could easily remove your hand if you were not careful. That type of machine (Western White Flyer electric trap) is no longer used at clubs that hire people to throw the clay target birds- especially 16-20 year old boys. All machines have an auto load magazine now. Here's a pic of the old beast that I worked with. Always remove any rings when loading targets: