You don't say! Asbestos is bad, huh?

If you've seen Band of Brothers as many times as we have then this quote will be familiar. I've replaced "the Germans are" with "Asbestos is":

Luz: Hey Janovek, whatcha reading?
Janovek: An article.
Luz: No s***. What's it about?
Janovek: It's about why we're fighting the war.
Luz: Why are we fighting the war, Janovek?
Janovek: It appears Asbestos is bad, very bad.
Luz: You don't say! Asbestos is bad, huh?
[Turns to Perconte]
Luz: Hey Frank, this guy is reading an article that says Asbestos *is bad*.

Ha! I laugh every time I read that (I can hear Luz's voice in my head). As it turns out, asbestos is bad. Who knew, right? Well, when we found out that our existing ductwork was wrapped in a canvas coated with an asbestos compound our little budgeted hearts did a nose dive.

We took the proper steps to have it tested. A nice man came out, cut a small sample, tested it and then recommended we stay out of the basement entirely. That we we're going to die if we we're even in the general vicinity and that it was going to cost us $25,000 + to have it abated.

TWENTY-FIVE THOUSAND PLUS.

I used the term "nice man" loosely.

Paul got a hold of an old friend and asked for his opinion and if we we're totally hosed. We we're pretty sure this was outrageous but wanted some confirmation. We're not idiots, contrary to some subcontractors beliefs. To them, we're just homeowners who don't know any better. But what sucks for them is, we do this type of thing for a living and we know better. The friend we called laughed and recommended another gentleman. One that owned his own environmental consulting company and monitored the removal of asbestos.

Cue Jamie.

Who turns out to be our neighbor, living only a block away. He came over earlier this week, took a look at the house, determined that it was asbestos, that our linoleum floor also had asbestos (which we wanted removed anyways) and that he had a crew that could do the entire job, including his consulting fee and air quality monitoring, for $5,500.00.

FIVE THOUSAND DOLLARS.

He has kids, he gets the need for it to be right in our house and for the material to be handled properly. He also has no desire to screw people over. No fear mongering here. His crew completed the work the next evening working late into the evening to get it finished. 

It's nice not to have to worry about bad, bad asbestos anymore.