Tag: Hazardous Building Materials

Hazardous building materials in Long Island and NYC construction — asbestos, lead, vermiculite, and other legacy materials that require licensed professionals for disturbance and removal.

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American building construction between roughly 1940 and 1980 incorporated a range of materials that subsequent research identified as hazardous to human health. Asbestos appeared in insulation, flooring, ceiling materials, roofing, siding, and joint compound. Lead was used in paint, plumbing solder, and some pipe materials. Vermiculite insulation from specific sources contained asbestos contamination. Urea formaldehyde foam insulation caused indoor air quality problems. Polychlorinated biphenyls (PCBs) appeared in older caulking compounds and electrical equipment.

Long Island and New York City have among the oldest housing stocks in the United States, and a significant proportion of residential and commercial buildings in this region were constructed during the era when these materials were standard practice. This creates a hazardous building materials management obligation that affects virtually every renovation project in pre-1980 construction — and a regulatory framework in New York State that is among the most stringent in the country.

Upper Restoration articles tagged with Hazardous Building Materials address the identification, risk assessment, regulatory framework, and professional remediation of the hazardous materials most commonly encountered in Long Island and NYC construction. Content covers the specific regulations governing each material type, the licensing requirements for disturbance and removal, the engineering controls required to protect workers and occupants during remediation, and the disposal requirements that apply to regulated waste.