Typical cost in Seattle
Got a ceiling, floor or wall in Seattle that is about to be opened up? Test it first. Seattle Asbestos Removal arranges the whole thing. A certified building inspector takes the samples, a lab analyzes them and you receive a written report. A removal contractor can price the job from that report.
Two sets of rules ask for it. Seattle Public Utilities and PSCAA both call for a survey ahead of renovation or demolition work, and Washington law has owners, or whoever acts for them, arrange a good-faith inspection before work that could disturb asbestos. We cover Seattle, White Center and Tukwila.
Limit it to what the project will touch. Replacing a kitchen floor means sampling the floor layers, and the ceiling too if that is coming down. PSCAA wants a certified building inspector to do the sampling, except when you own and live in the single-family house being remodeled.
Before a teardown, every part of the structure is surveyed, from siding and roofing to caulk and whatever sits inside the walls. A certified inspector must do it, and owners get no exception. In Seattle the survey also has to be settled before the city will issue the demolition permit.
PSCAA lets you survey a single-family house yourself if you own it and live in it, and only for a remodel. Rentals, condominiums and demolitions are out. Even then, a positive sample brings the same work practice and disposal rules.
A single lab result speaks for one material in one spot. It says nothing about quantity, what lies beneath or what is inside the next wall. Move to a full survey once the plan is set.
Good surveys answer the questions that decide cost and paperwork.
Which notices apply depends on how much there is. PSCAA counts friable pipe covering against a 10-linear-foot line and everything else friable against a 48-square-foot line, per calendar year. L&I’s separate notice begins above 48 square feet or 10 linear feet.
Treat a survey as a snapshot of one scope of work. If the scope grows, say to include a second flooring layer or an extra wall, the new materials get sampled too.
On its asbestos page, Seattle Public Utilities calls for a survey ahead of any renovation or demolition and refers owners to PSCAA for the guidance and the demolition notice. For a teardown, the permit steps from the city’s construction and inspections department put the survey first.
Once the report is back, the next page depends on the result. Ceiling texture belongs to popcorn ceiling removal, old floors to floor tile and sheet vinyl removal, pipe and duct wrap to pipe and duct insulation removal, and a demolition to pre-demolition asbestos abatement. Everything else we do is on the Seattle Asbestos Removal home page.
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