Asbestos Testing Question
I just started my first major flip in Philadelphia, PA. I am trying to get some advice on what's the best way to handle asbestos testing on a full interior gut. Asbestos...I know...shriekkkkk. Anyways, please don't overdramatize it. I've done plenty of research, and I know the dangers. I am also more paranoid than the average person, so I want to be careful with it.
Philadelphia doesn't mandate that residential, single family properties have reports done on asbestos. Honestly, I did not consider anything related to asbestos until we got 75% through the demolition. That's when I started to get concerned about the potential for asbestos, and I did some research, became paranoid, etc. First of all, I have no reason to believe my property has asbestos. The inspection the previous owner did had a note about the insulation material potentially having asbestos in it, but no testing was done. It was more of a generic comment about the type of insulation we had. I am assuming 100% of old-style row homes in Philadelphia have some level of asbestos materials inside. So, here comes the question, do people typically do any testing when you're doing a complete interior demo? If you do testing, I would think you'd have to take 50+ samples of material to get a good level of confidence, and I just don't see anyone doing that. I've read a decent amount of flipping books, and not once do I recall someone recommending you go out and do asbestos testing during due diligence. Furthermore, none of the contractors I have worked with have ever noted anything to do with asbestos. What gives?
To give a little context, my property is a 3 story row home built around 1910. The cosmetic surfaces were likely redone around 1995 during a previous flip and when an addition was added. Besides lath/plaster walls, there really isn't anything that screams asbestos. No linoleum tiles, loose insulation, etc. We did remove two inoperable chimneys, though. At this point, what's done is done. I think if I could do it over again I'd have brought someone in to at least try and narrow down potential hot spots. The chimneys removal was a dirty job, and I definitely spent time in the property during the process (always with a respirator mask, but I didn't upgrade to P100 until recently...gasp!), so that's what's most concerning health-wise. Anyways, there's nothing I can do about that now, so I just need to be more careful moving forward. What do people recommend I do, if anything. Option 1 is to just continue to wear my P100 mask when I'm in the property, make sure workers wear masks, and just stop worrying about it. Option 2 would involve some sort of testing. I could do material and air quality tests for a few hundred bucks. If things come back negative, I feel a whole lot better. If things come back positive, then I have to decide again whether to let it go or do invasive/expensive remediation (i.e. scrubbing the air and wiping everything down). No great options. I'm just so surprised that this doesn't seem to come up more on full guts with flippers.
Thanks for any and all help!