Are those DIY/home test kits things reliable??

[rafaelrobertson]

Hi all, We are moving house so want to get some renovations done at our old place (1992 uk built so not extremely, extremely old). We want to replace the lights and remove a wall. My parents cheaped out and bought some home test kits to send to a lab instead of getting a surveyor. Are these reliable at all? All came back negative but im worried bout false negatives. I don't want any of us to get ill

To fair to my dad who took the samples, his technique sounded pretty good to me. He said cut through all the layers of the wall to take the sample cause that's what a video said to do. Plus for the popcorn ceiling he took it from 3 different spots. Just wanna know your guys' thoughts

 

[__dan]

If you're talking about dust, and then old dust gypsum plaster with maybe asbestos, test kit would not be first on my list. That's if I owned the property and the liability would be all mine. If it's customer property, then maybe you might want to test to assign liability. That's all the test would do for me, assignment of liability.

Dust otoh, I would always assume it's bad and take precautions. Today, that's a 3M 8233 N100 respirator, good vacuum system with a dry bag, ventilate the place with known supply and exhaust air. At least two open windows and then if you fan power the windows, know which is the supply and which is the exhaust. Fan should add to the natural flow and not fight it or go nowhere. Probably fan at the exhaust window, blowing out. Do not blow the fan inside on the dust.

Wear a respirator, clean, vacuum, run a vacuum while you work. Clean with the vacuum and dry bag system instead of sweeping. Testing for dust is not going to tell me anything I do not already know.

 

[rafaelrobertson]

If you're talking about dust, and then old dust gypsum plaster with maybe asbestos, radon test kit would not be first on my list. That's if I owned the property and the liability would be all mine. If it's customer property, then maybe you might want to test to assign liability. That's all the test would do for me, assignment of liability.

Dust otoh, I would always assume it's bad and take precautions. Today, that's a 3M 8233 N100 respirator, good vacuum system with a dry bag, ventilate the place with known supply and exhaust air. At least two open windows and then if you fan power the windows, know which is the supply and which is the exhaust. Fan should add to the natural flow and not fight it or go nowhere. Wear a respirator, clean, vacuum, run a vacuum while you work. Clean with the vacuum and dry bag system instead of sweeping. Testing for dust is not going to tell me anything I do not already know.

thank you so much for your suggestion

 

[ActionDave]

This is not a home renovation forum.