Ok , my friend was ripping out 30 year old carpet in a 80 year old house and he found that under the carpet is nothing but asbestos . He wants to know what he should do as far as who to call , and he wants to know whats going to happen when he does call . like what are they going to do to his house . He seems to think that the house is going to be tented and the whole neighborhood is going to think something bad has happened . Also he is worried about the cost cause he is almost broke and was going to just put in new tile himself . Please give me real answers to these questions . Thanks .

There are asbestos professionals who can come and remove it. Quite frankly, yes, it is going to cost a lot of money.

I believe they will just tent up the room where the asbsetos is, not the entire house. Regardless, neighbors aren't going to think anything "bad" has happened. They own houses, and they understand that work needs to be done. They might be concerned for him and ask what's going on to be polite. If their houses were built around the same time, they might also have this problem, so he should definitely talk with his neighbors about it and find out what they did.

It's possible that they can cover the asbestos rather than remove it. That might be cheaper. He should ask the professionals about both options. However, it means he can't ever drill into his floor, and he'll have to be very careful about any work done on the house. Personally, I would have it removed.

If money is an issue and he hasn't purchased the tile yet, he might be better off spending the money to remove the asbestos and then just use some cheaper flooring for now, like carpet. The asbestos is a much larger issue than nice flooring.

what's better. to have his house tented or to die a terrible death?

Many houses where I live have that same problem, first off if he does not know how to tear it up he needs to not touch it, you need masks and gloves. I also know with my sisters flooring she had asbestos under her old tile, they left it, covered it with a patching and laid the new tile over it. His scenario, well your saying he lifted the carpet and there it is? Is he sure its just not bad padding? It would have to be removed if he has just that, under that should be a wood floor.