A Des Moines-based contractor, Mid-Iowa Environmental Corporation, removed asbestos from two rooms of the Burling Library basement over fall break in preparation for upcoming renovations. The asbestos abatement started on Monday and wrapped up on Thursday, Oct. 24. The two rooms affected, a staff lounge and adjoining staff area, are now open to the public again after air quality tests indicated the rooms are safe.
Mark Christel, librarian of the College, said that the asbestos removed from Burling was of a “less worrisome nature than other forms of asbestos” due to it being located in the black mastic, a common flooring adhesive. A more dangerous type of asbestos would be friable asbestos material, said Corey Hammond, Facilities Management (FM) maintenance manager. Friable asbestos can more easily be crushed into a powder and, when disturbed, release potentially cancer-causing asbestos fibers into the air.
Hammond added that all known potential cases of friable asbestos on campus were removed years ago. The remaining cases of asbestos that FM is aware of is mastic. “The mastic [asbestos] is not something we would go through and remove, because it’s not a hazard unless you start disturbing it,” he said.
Tiles in the two rooms of Burling’s basement were beginning to crack, possibly exposing the mastic to the air, Christel said.
In a later email to The S&B, Christel wrote, “FM was initially thinking about doing a focused asbestos abatement on just that part of the floor. When they spoke to us about it, we mentioned a minor renovation of an adjoining area, which led them to expand the abatement to that area.”
Hammond said FM usually checks for and removes any asbestos before renovations in the case that the asbestos could be disturbed.
Christel wrote that the renovated area will be used by Special Collections for classes and housing printing equipment. “We hope to have the space semi-functional by spring semester,” Christel wrote.
The College has known about asbestos in Burling for several years, since at least when renovations were done in the 1980s, according to Christel. The last asbestos abatement in Burling happened this past summer when the College renovated the digital studio in Burling’s basement, Hammond said.
Many buildings constructed or renovated before the 1980s run the risk of containing asbestos because of the building materials used. Burling finished its initial construction in 1959.
