Whether you own a house, a duplex or an apartment building in Excelsior, the order is the same. We arrange testing, file the state notice and remove what the lab confirms, all before your remodel or teardown begins.
Of the three places we serve, Excelsior has the largest share of homes from before 1980, close to 7 in 10. Nearly a fifth go back to 1939 or earlier.
Vermiculite cleared from an attic so a sagging plaster ceiling can be secured from above
Example project
Home
Excelsior two-story from the 1930s; plaster ceilings below, loose fill in the attic bays
Original request
Fasten a sagging bedroom ceiling back to the joists from the attic side and keep the old plaster
Testing
An MDH-certified inspector takes the loose fill from two bays and a chip of bedroom plaster
Found
Asbestos in the vermiculite
Clear
No asbestos in the ceiling plaster
Area
About 850 sq ft of attic floor
Timeline
Five-day notice, then three working days
Cost
$8,100
In this example, a bedroom ceiling in a 1930s house in Excelsior has started to sag. The plaster contractor wants to work from the attic, setting new fasteners and adhesive where the plaster has let go of the wood behind it, so the old ceiling can stay.
Your work area gets sampled by an MDH-certified inspector. The asbestos testing page covers the choices and how to read the lab report.
Plaster and remodel work
Opening an old wall? Sample the plaster, joint compound and glazing putty first. The page on remodel and teardown abatement explains what happens after the results.
Flooring
Under a kitchen or bath floor there may be older tile, glue or sheet vinyl. Each layer is tested, and asbestos flooring removal takes up the ones that come back positive.
Planning to insulate or wire the attic? If you spot gold, gray or brown pebble-like fill up there, leave it alone, since it could be vermiculite. Our page on vermiculite insulation removal covers testing and removal.
Siding
Before residing, old shingles are tested; see asbestos siding removal for how they come off.
Excelsior homes
Homes from 1939 or earlier make up nearly 1 in 5 of Excelsior’s housing, and the median year built is 1970. Just under half are one-unit homes, while about 44 percent sit in buildings of five or more units. Just over half of occupied homes are rented.
Houses from before 1940
Houses that old can have plaster walls, old flooring and attic fill, all on MDH’s list. Sampling comes first, because age alone settles nothing.
Apartment buildings
Because so much of Excelsior’s housing is in larger buildings, one MPCA rule matters here. Its notice exclusion stops at houses of four units or fewer. A building with five or more units needs MPCA notice ten working days before a demolition or renovation disturbs regulated asbestos.
You can get a demolition permit application from Excelsior’s permits page, though the page says nothing about asbestos, so check with the city on what the application asks. Because Excelsior is in Hennepin County, a county inspection comes before demolition, and the inspector asks to see disposal manifests, receipts for abatement and the asbestos survey with its report.
Not for regulated amounts. Renting a property out takes it outside the license-free option, which is reserved for an owner who lives in the single-family house in question. MDH strongly advises even that owner to hire a licensed contractor. In Excelsior, regulated amounts in a rental house, a duplex unit or an apartment come out with a licensed crew.
How much asbestos is regulated in a home?
Measure the friable material first. A job is regulated once friable material is more than 6 square feet on building components, more than 10 linear feet on pipes, or more than 1 cubic foot when volume is the only way to measure it. Anything smaller is outside MDH regulation, and MDH adds that it is no safer for that.
Is asbestos found during a remodel an emergency?
MDH does not treat it as one. Have it sampled, and plan for the five-day advance notice before any regulated removal starts.
What should I ask a contractor for?
Ask for the contractor’s Minnesota license first, then the certificates of the workers and supervisors who will be on site. MDH also suggests asking for the permit it issued, the records showing where the waste went and the air sampling lab report. Before any demolition, Hennepin County wants the survey and abatement records.
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