Asbestos Fibers

Sussex Elementary School students who may have been exposed to asbestos face "no immediate health hazard," Baltimore County school officials and Health Department doctors said yesterday."

Sussex Elementary School in Essex will be closed for six to eight weeks while asbestos is removed from the building and, beginning tomorrow, students will attend classes at five locations in the area, school officials said yesterday.The school has been closed since Friday, when routine tests found higher-than-acceptable levels of asbestos fibers in the air. Subsequent tests showed that asbestos sprayed on steel beams in the roof has made its way into the building."We went in there [Monday]

Sussex Elementary School in Essex will be closed for six to eight weeks while asbestos is removed from the building and, beginning tomorrow, students will attend classes at five locations in the area, school officials have said.The school has been closed since Friday, when routine tests found higher-than-acceptable levels of asbestos fibers in the air. Subsequent tests showed that asbestos sprayed on steel beams in the roof has made its way into the building."We went in there [Monday] in a very aggressive mode, and used fans and a leaf-blower to really disturb the area," Keith D. Kelley, Baltimore County's assistant superintendent for facilities, said yesterday.

Sussex Elementary in Essex was closed yesterday because tests found high levels of asbestos fibers in the air, and word is expected Monday on whether the school will have to be closed indefinitely for asbestos removal.Baltimore County school officials decided to close the school yesterday and Monday after routine monitoring tests done at the school Thursday night found higher-than-acceptable levels of asbestos fibers.Exposure to high concentration of asbestos fibers can lead to asbestosis, a scarring of the lung tissue, and also has been linked to cancer.

ANNAPOLIS -- Maryland Casualty Co. officials figured they were free and clear. Their policy covering a Baltimore mechanical contracting firm now being sued by asbestosis victims had expired years ago.But the state Court of Appeals reshaped their thinking a bit yesterday. The company must pay legal fees to defend Lloyd E. Mitchell Inc., in each of the 3,000 asbestos cases filed against it and must pay any judgments against the firm, within policy limits, Maryland's highest court ruled.The "bodily injury" that plaintiffs cited in their suits occurred while Maryland Casualty's policies were in effect, even if the disease resulting from those injuries didn't surface for more than a decade, the unanimous court held.

The ancient Greeks called it the magic mineral, whose fibers could withstand the fiercest heat and yet were soft and flexible as cotton. The Emperor Charlemagne used to wow visiting Visigoths by throwing his tablecloth made from it into the fire and pulling it out unscathed. It shears readily into strands. It is durable. It won't burn. It resists corrosion. It insulates well. It is common in nature, inexpensive to extract and easy to work with. In the years between World War II and 1970, its fibers were used in more than 3,600 products, ranging from painted ceiling decorations to ship's hold linings to ironing board covers to brake shoes.

Recent columns on dealing with old tile floors drew queries from a couple of readers. Both were considering removing old resilient floor tiles -- one to replace it with other tile, one hoping to find wood flooring underneath -- and wanted to know whether and how to proceed.The problem with removing old tile, besides its being a messy back- and knee-breaking task, is that even tile very recently put down may contain asbestos. Asbestos fibers can cause lung disease if inhaled. There are two things you can do to minimize the risk: Leave the old tile in place and put down new underlayment and new tile; or remove the old tile using recognized asbestos abatement procedures.

No matter what kind of changes you make in a kitchen, the question invariably arises of what to do with the old floor.Should you take it up or put new flooring down on top? Suppose there are pieces missing, or the floor's uneven: How do you prepare it for a new surface?A reader wrote in recently asking exactly those kinds of questions. Should she take up the old linoleum, she asked, or leave it there and install new flooring on top?The answer depends on what kind of flooring is there already.