Scary Mystery Dust & Kitchen Remodel

The Firehouse vlog continues with more demolition, some potentially hazardous discoveries and a kitchen transformation!

Scary Mystery Dust

During the demotion of the office space, we ran into some scary mystery dust. We found it while pulling the paneling off the walls and it completely filled most the cinder block cavities. While it was amusing at first, the cautious side of my brain kicked eventually kicked in. For all we know, this stuff could be hazardous so I stopped all work. What the heck was it? Termite poop? BBQ rub? Unfortunately, no. It turned out to be vermiculite insulation, a fairly effective way to insulate the open air cavities in a cinder block wall. After doing some research, it was pretty clear that given the year the building was constructed, there was a very good chance the vermiculite was contaminated with asbestos.

Thankfully I already have an established relationship with an environment testing company and had several samples tested from various locations in the build. There were only a few spots where we had access to the powder and given the potentially hazardous nature, I wasn’t going to go out of my way seeking it out. All samples came back negative, which was a huge relief. After several rounds of testing from several locations, the material was shown NOT to contain asbestos. But being the excessively cautious person I am, I’ll be treating the material as hazardous from now on and will do everything I can to limit our exposure to the stuff in the walls. On the positive side, the building has proven to be incredibly well-insulated and now we know why.

Kitchen Transformation

After the vermiculite debacle, we then moved onto the kitchen transformation. We pretty much gutted everything. Asbestos was found under the sink so we were careful to dispose of it properly. Aesbestos was also found in the vinyl floor tile adhesive and fortunately, the best course of action there is to simply cover it up with the same flooring we’re installing throughout. We picked up cabinets from Lowes as well as new lights, new appliances, and new trim. Finally, we have a clean, safe and comfortable place to prepare and enjoy lunch.

We have other parts in this vlog series that you might be interested in, such as the Bathroom Remodel.