Customer Reviews:
Showing reviews 1-5 of 6
 Works absolutely fine! July 24, 2009
Concerned Consumer
6 out of 6 found this review helpful
Our family room has "popcorn" ceiling paint, which I wanted to remove (not hard, just very messy and time consuming!). As our house was built in '78, and we had no idea when the paint was applied, as we're the second owners, and there was still some asbestos-containing paint around during the late 70's, I needed to test. In comes this kit. I picked it up at a local ACE Hardware for $11 (about the same as the Amazon plus shipping). Yes, indeed, it's a pretty cheap little "kit" - some plastic gloves, a ziplock baggie and the order form, basically. Probably cost 25 cents to put together. But, since I couldn't find any testing locally for $41, I looked at the bottom line - this came out (despite the cheap kit) as the least expensive way to buy what I needed - an asbestos test. The outside of the package is very clearly marked as to the additional $30 "test fee" (again, just look at the TRUE test fee as $41, and you won't perhaps feel so disappointed), so there really wasn't any "surprise." I collected the sample on Sunday evening, mailed it Monday morning, and on Thursday (all in the same week) I had an email with my results! I'd researched the lab itself, and it seemed reliable and legitimate. Personally, I felt that the results were quite easy to understand. Listed are four analysis groups - a series of asbestos fibers, non-asbestos fibers, non-fibrous materials (such as vermiculite, mica, perlite, styrofoam) and an "other" category, which includes aluminum, bitumen, glue and "binders" which includes paint (which accounted for the vast majority of my sample). The report clearly indicated "ND" - None Detected - on all of the asbestos fibers (overall, my sample contained 3% cellulose, 10% mica & 87% paint; I know I nicked the underlying wallboard, which the instructions advise you to do, accounting for the cellulose (wallboard paper) & mica); so basically, my popcorn paint is just that - textured paint without asbestos. The interpretation standards were quite clearly listed - under EPA requirements & guidelines, anything less than 1% is considered "negative" for asbestos. The Limit of QUANTIFICATION, from a practical standpoint, is therefore stated as 1%. They will report as "trace" anything from the limit of DETECTION up to and/or equal to that 1%, and "ND" means that if any asbestos WAS present, it was in vanishingly small quantity - the test just can't find it. That means "negative" and "safe." Above 1%, they report percentages, as I illustrated above from my sample (BTW, it's volumetric analysis). It really isn't rocket science! I would definitely use this again, unless, quite frankly, I found a local source as reputable at this lab appears to be, and cheaper (including the overpriced baggie & gloves!!).
Simplicity Delivered May 12, 2008
Amazon Decade User (Santa Clarita, CA)
The instructions were simple and clear. The kit includes everything you need. Results in a couple of weeks.
worked great November 16, 2008
writer (usa)
I purchased this because my kids bought a home with bags of insulation in the attic- vermiculite. I read online that much of vermiculite has asbestos in it. So I collected a sample and sent it off. NO asbestos, so we can use it to insulate, and not pay several thousand dollars to "abate" it.
 Not much for your money but still helpful June 29, 2008
Patti L. D (Nokomis, FL)
2 out of 2 found this review helpful
This is basically just a couple of labeled plastic bags, a plastic mailing envelope and a request form. It was helpful though since I hadn't known where to send my samples and it was easy. The kit is only for one sample but I had two so I just copied the form, labeled my own bags and sent in extra payment ($20 I think). I received a report in a week and it was kind of hard to read. They tested for a bunch of different things and different types of asbestos but there was no scale to tell me how to interpret the results (one was negative which was easy enough but the other had a detection). I was able to figure it out by checking different sites on-line. The EPA web site has lots of info and is a good place to check. I was happy just to know for sure so in that respect it was good.
 Not $15 Lab Fee! March 31, 2009
gdeezy
1 out of 3 found this review helpful
The description reads that the lab analysis fee is $15. Wrong!! It is $30!!! Twice as much. That's over $40 (counting the cost of the kit). You can probably get something locally done cheaper.
Showing reviews 1-5 of 6
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