We recently had an acoustic ceiling removed from a home built in 1974. They draped the plastic and wet the ceiling, scraped it off and removed the debris - then replastered and repainted the ceiling. They also removed and replaced all the floors with laminate. Then we moved back in.

However, they did not test for asbstos and now I am thinking they should have. I have an annoying cough that has been present ever since we moved back in and I am terrified that I am being poisoned. Should I worry and what do I do now?? My husband claims the cough is from the off-gassing of the laminate flooring but there is a white powder all over the walls (my husband claims this is from the paint sprayer and not the acoustic removal) and I am scared! And coughing!

Please only answer if you know what you're talking about. Thanks.

The chemicals in the plastics (just like the new car smell) will off-gas for a while. Even the foam underlayment for the for the floors will off-gas. Open the windows if possible and exchange the air more frequently. As far as the ceiling tiles, they probably shed more dust just being up on the ceiling than what you have 1 month after their removal. Make sure you are using electrostatic filters on your furnace/ air conditioning unit to trap as much particulate out of the air but the most important is to have plenty of air exchange.

You open a whole can of worms if you have asbestos testing in your home and it turns up positive.... especially if you ever want to sell your home because you have to disclose that information at the time of sale if you were made aware of it or you could be held liable for all the costs for removal. (Or you just scare away most potential buyers.) The real source of any asbestos in your home could be the wall boards and then you are stuck with a hazmat bill to remove all the walls from your entire home. Many of the early drywall gypsum boards had asbestos. When a company comes into your home to test for Asbestos, they will look for ALL potential causes and disclose them or they face a large liability problem. Under a painted wall they pose no risk. If you discover they contain it then YOU are responsible for its removal and storage in a hazmat land fill..... so I guess you have to be cautious what you ask for . You may get a lot more than you bargained for.

There is a virus going around as well that leaves the person with a persistant cough for more than 1 month. Perhaps your symptoms are coincidental with the home renovations. Asbestos dust inhalation is usually does not produce symptoms until many years of exposure has occurred or you work in a foundry or brake shop and have constant high level exposure.

One additional comment: Hire a company to come in and clean your air ducts if you have forced air/ central air conditioning. Just because a company lays out plastic to catch what falls on the ground, a lot of the plaster dust from sanding will get deposited into your heating ducts because you are circulating air. When the A/C comes back on, it will lift some of this off of the inner duct surfaces and re-suspend in the air to drop out on your furniture and sills. This can go on for months after the job was completed. Having a thorough cleaning of the ductwork may go a long way in settling down the particulate problem.

In 1974 the gypsum products, sheetrock/joint compound/popcorns/textures did indeed have asbestos in them. I am a 37 year experienced painter and have sanded scraped tons of this stuff, and can remember in the 80's when they started outlawing them and made them change formulas in all the products... It hasn't seemed to hurt me, but I do have a question of my own. If they sprayed your ceiling with an airless and there is mist on the walls, why are they not responsible for having to paint the walls too? We always had EVERYTHING covered with plastic that wasn't supposed to have paint on it. Now me not seeing the situation, another scenerio would be that the dust is from when they tore the plastic/coverings down..the dust accumilated on this(the plastic) shook off of it and coated the walls. I am guessing that this dust is simply giving you the annoying cough and not asbestos....I have worked aeround it all my life , and never really knew any painters I've had contact with to get any asbestos related illnesses..However have seen many that get emphazema etc, but not directly track down to asbestos problems..The painters should have vacuumed the walls and any areas they created a mess I agree...Here is a link on a real cheap asbestos testing kit..It appears you have to get the test, use it then send off to thier lab and get an answer within a wek..Now before I bought this I would call thier number here, and ask if there are any additional or "hidden" costs involved here..I searched " asbestos testing kit" and came up with 65k results..I suggest calling these people, it was the first link I clicked from the result, and checking on hidden costs..If they do have costs of these types, and it is outrageous, search another site and see what you find..