Avoiding a positive asbestos test for house demolition

[Sean H.]

I have no idea whether the house has it or not, but its really hard to tell since it can even be in the linoleum!

I'm seen houses gutted right down to the skeleton, ive always wondered if this was to avoid a positive asbestos test. What are the creative builders doing?

[Aaron McGinnis]

... soil contamination, airborne particles, neighbors, worker safety... The fact that you're razing the house actually makes it worse. The amount of dust created by a steel track backhoe when it wrecks a house is tremendous. Trying to think of ways to avoid doing the right thing and potentially making that dust cloud toxic is absolutely repugnant and the kind of behaviour that gives decently-minded investors and contractors a bad name.

I am literally the last person on earth who loves regulations, but in the case of asbestos the regulations are there for a good reason. Asbestos is a known toxic carcinogen at its most deadly when it becomes particalized... which is exactly what happens to it when you demolish a house.