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WB Asbestos History

The following overview was compiled by consulting basement meeting notes, a page on talking to asbestos labs, and a page tracking progress on interacting with abatement contractors.

It appears that concerns about asbestos in the basement were first raised in or before February 2023 and were last explicitly mentioned in basement meeting notes May 2023. Meeting notes discuss self-collection of air samples to sendingsend to labs for testing but it's unclear if this was ever actually completed.

In March 2023 a number of lab were contacted for quotes. The quoted prices ranged from $650 to $2000.

Around that time  Renewal with Grace, Inc visited the basement and their assessment was summarized as such

We can have the asbestos removed if we want, more for mental health - he seemed unconcerned about it being actually unhealthy. He said if we ran an air quality test right now, it will be negative.

It appears this assuaged concern about asbestos until February 2nd 2025 when the following was reported in the woodbine.basement chat

hi so the asbestos insulation on the pipe near the soldering station is becoming friable

i blew on it and a strand came loose

i dont hav reason to believe it's gotten all over the place yet but it's gotten to the point that we need to act

i know a guy who knows an abatement guy who i will talk to tomorrow

this same person contacted Patrick Hogan of Leinster Contracting Services on February 6th 2025

Hogan visited the basement on March 17th 2025 and quoted $4500 for abatement.

asbestos guy came and pointed out all the places where it is incl some places i didnt know about

gave us a quote of $4500 for abating the whole basement

he said that the last abatement wasn't handled great. he said it's crumbling even when it's not being disturbed, and bits of it must be on the ground and getting kicked up into the air. [...] he said the situation seemed so visibly problematic that he didn't even feel it would be necessary to run further air quality tests

Hogan said the largest area of asbestos is on this pipe. interestingly this spot was not included in the prior group of photos documenting the asbestos locations.

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an inquiry was made to 311 in March 2025 and the following was noted

three different processes

  • disturbed
  • exposed (that’s what we have)
  • in the air

because it’s a commercial space it is not under the jurisdiction of the HPD. the landlord will not get a ticket if he doesn’t care. it’s not clear whose responsibility it is.

if you report it. you can say it is exposed, and that report gets send to the DEP. then an inspector comes out and makes an assessment.

if a suspicion of the air, you reporting an air quality issue, not an asbesthos issue.

As of April 6th 2025 we have heard back from the following abatement contractors with quotes:

  • KAC (?): $2500
  • Undaunted: $1400
  • Renewal with Grace: $3300

There still seems to be debate around:

  1. doing an air test and just delaying abatement if it comes back negative (to save money)
  2. doing a full abatement

it's also unclear how willing or what the terms would be of WB paying for either of these.

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