Finishing a basement, replacing a boiler or taking down a house in Robbinsdale? The first step is a lab test. We then remove the materials that come back positive and handle the state notice and the waste paperwork for you.
Over a third of the homes in Robbinsdale predate 1950. Add the next three decades and the share built before 1980 tops three-quarters.
Heating pipe wrap taken off so a bowed basement wall can be braced
Example project
Home
1940s one-story house in Robbinsdale with a hot-water boiler and a bowing basement wall
Original request
Let a foundation crew bolt steel braces from the floor to the joists along that wall
Testing
An MDH-certified inspector samples three things: wrap on the straight pipe, the elbow fittings and the boiler jacket
Found
Positive: the wrap and elbow fittings on roughly 60 ft of heating pipe running along the bowing wall
Clear
No asbestos in the boiler jacket, which was replaced years ago
Timeline
Five-day notice, then one working day
Cost
$2,100
In this example, the north wall of a 1940s basement in Robbinsdale is bowing in. The foundation crew will bolt steel braces from the floor up to the joists, and the wrapped heating pipes run along those same joists.
An MDH-certified inspector samples the materials your project will disturb. See asbestos testing.
Boilers, pipes and ducts
A 1940s basement may still have a boiler, insulated heating pipes or an old gravity furnace with wrapped ducts. We strip that insulation under pipe, boiler and duct insulation removal.
Attics
Robbinsdale attics from the 1940s and 1950s may hold loose fill in brown, gray or gold that could be vermiculite. Keep boxes and feet off it, and read our vermiculite attic insulation removal page before anyone works up there.
Floors
Each layer of an old floor, from tile or sheet vinyl to the glue below, gets its own test. Positive layers come up through floor tile and mastic removal.
Ceilings
Popcorn or stained texture that tests positive is scraped wet under popcorn ceiling removal.
Robbinsdale’s homes are older than those in St. Louis Park or Golden Valley. The median home was built in 1956, and the 1940s and 1950s together built close to half of today’s homes. About 1 in 7 dates from 1939 or earlier.
Houses from the 1940s and 1950s
A house from those decades may contain plaster, pipe insulation, floor tile or vermiculite, each named on MDH’s list. Only lab results can show which of them a particular house actually has.
Duplexes and rentals
About 1 in 20 homes is in a two-unit building, and close to 3 in 10 occupied homes are rented. The owner-occupant exemption covers single-family houses only, so duplex and rental work above the state amounts needs a licensed contractor.
The city’s permits page says demolition permits are handled by Rum River Consultants through its Baseline portal, and it does not mention asbestos. State rules apply to every job.
Then there is the county. Hennepin County inspects homes before they are demolished, Robbinsdale homes included, and the inspector asks to see paperwork from the asbestos side of the job. Put your asbestos survey and report in one folder with the abatement receipts and the disposal manifests so they are easy to hand over.
For regulated amounts, the job belongs to an MDH-licensed asbestos contractor. Owner-occupants of a single-family house are the exception and may skip the license and permit fee, but MDH strongly recommends they hire licensed help too.
What amount needs a licensed contractor?
The state sets the line by how the material is measured. On pipes, a licensed contractor is needed once friable material runs past 10 linear feet. On any other surface, such as a wall, ceiling or floor, the line is more than 6 square feet. If neither feet nor square feet can be measured, the line is more than 1 cubic foot, counting friable material only. MDH warns that a smaller amount is still not safe to disturb just because the rule does not cover it.
How long before work can begin?
At least five calendar days pass between the MDH notice, which the licensed contractor files, and the start of regulated work.
What papers should I ask for?
MDH recommends asking for five records. Get a copy of the MDH permit and of the contractor’s Minnesota license, the certifications for the site supervisor and workers, then the air-sampling lab report and the waste manifests once the job is done. File them with the rest of your house records.
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