Scott Frost shares his insights from our newsletter:
Anybody who’s worked on an older home knows every project eventually turns into archaeology.
You start out trying to patch one wall or repaint a single room.
Then suddenly you’ve opened a wall, uncovered mysterious insulation from 1974, and are carefully relocating an entire shelf of bobbleheads to safety.
All while creating a level of dust that feels historically significant.
Older homes have a way of revealing surprises once you start opening walls, pulling up flooring, or digging into materials nobody has touched in decades.
Sometimes the surprises are harmless.
Old newspapers from 1956.
Strange wiring choices that somehow haven’t burned the house down yet.
A paint color decision nobody can fully explain. (Avocado green had a disturbingly long run in this country.)
And sometimes the surprises involve asbestos.
That doesn’t mean people need to panic every time they start a home project.
But older homes do have a way of hiding materials people rarely think twice about until they’re already halfway through tearing something apart.
Especially in houses built decades ago, asbestos has historically shown up in insulation, floor tiles, ceiling materials, pipe wrapping, roofing products, and other materials that look completely ordinary at first glance.
That’s part of what makes it tricky.
Most people can’t identify asbestos just by looking at it.
To the average homeowner, it can look like old insulation.
Or dusty tile.
Or one more thing standing between them and finally finishing the project.
The bigger risks usually start once materials get cut, sanded, broken apart, or disturbed during renovations.
And by then, the project has usually expanded far beyond the original plan anyway.
That’s the thing about older homes.
There’s no such thing as one small weekend project.
Before long, you’re uncovering decades-old materials, making unexpected trips to the hardware store, and realizing the house has been quietly keeping secrets since the Reagan administration.
— Scott Frost
(866) FROST-WINS
P.S. If your home project suddenly turns into archaeology, slowing down and asking questions is usually a lot better than guessing.
From Exposure to Closure
