Cleaning up fiberglass contamination

By Robert Horowitz
Discovering your home is contaminated with fiberglass is shocking and frightening. Coping with the disaster, and cleaning it up, can be exhausting and time consuming, but it also can be empowering, as you take control over your environment and methodically remove the source of your ills.

The best recourse in all instances of fiberglass contamination is to make alternate living arrangements until your home is safe to occupy. Stay in a hotel, with friends, neighbors or relatives, stay in a tent in your back yard if the weather is accommodating. You will be amazed at how quickly you recover from your most debilitating fiberglass poisoning symptoms, how your mental outlook improves, and how well you sleep, once you relocate to a clean environment.

Unless your home is a rental, and you can simply leave*, you will need to clean the house inside and out. The most critical part of any clean up is the planning; in order to be completely effective, the clean up must encompass the source of the contamination, every area of the house and the entire contents of the house. Any element which is left uncleaned could ultimately re-contaminate the entire house.

You may wish to enlist the help of professionals to clean your house. Professional cleaning services abound in any populated area. As with most things, it is best to interview several firms. Their experience, the services they offer, and the prices they quote will vary widely.

Cleaners with little experience may do an incompetent job, and therefore may turn out to be a waste of time and money. Highly qualified specialists, such as asbestos removal companies, may be quite costly, but if they do the job right, could be the best bargain. It may be most cost effective to contract out the more difficult or specialized work, while directing the various contractors and doing much of the grunt work yourself.

Especially important is the cleaning of the heating, ventilation and air conditioning (HVAC) system. This is one area where it is particularly beneficial to have professional help. Once again, the whole system must be cleaned and sealed at once. Cleaning or replacing part of a contaminated HVAC system almost never yields a fiberglass-free system. That is because once fiberglass gets into the HVAC system, it is distributed by the air handler throughout the entire system, as well as the entire house.

If the contamination is severe, or if the ducts themselves are lined on the inside with exposed fiberglass, consider replacing the system. It will be nearly impossible to clean. Ducts with exposed fiberglass lining on the inside are particularly susceptible to mold and bacteria growth in hot, humid climates. Cleaning the exposed fiberglass lining on these ducts may compromise the resins holding the fibers down, leading to more fiber shedding and more contamination. Flexible ducts, which often have fiberglass sealed between two layers of plastic, are relatively inexpensive and less toxic.

It is possible for a homeowner to clean his or her own HVAC system, and may be possible to purchase specialized tools, such as vacuums, to do it. However, cleaning the HVAC system usually means spending a lot of time in the attic, in the source of the contamination, which could greatly aggravate the symptoms of someone who is already suffering from fiberglass poisoning.

It's tricky to clean up a toxic mess and not spread it around, notes Scott Trimingham, a Registered Environmental Assessor in Redondo Beach, Calif. Your actions can have unintended consequences.

"Washing walls with soap and water may smear a lot of the particles around," he says. "As you rinse out your rag in a bucket, it instantly contaminates the water in the bucket. After one or two wipes, the rags become a source of the fibers. I prefer to HEPA vac the walls with a brush attachment, and then wipe the walls down with damp rags."

The basic order of the clean up is this:

1. Fix the source of the problem. If it is a faulty HVAC system, then clean or replace the entire system, including the air handler and all of the ducts. Ensure that the new system is totally air-tight and free of contamination.  Do not run the system.
2. Throw out anything you are going to throw out. This includes carpeting, bedding, draperies, upholstered furniture; even clothing.
3. Vacuum all exposed surfaces in the home using a HEPA or ULPA vacuum. Repeat this process several times for best results. Don't overlook window sills, ledges, and anywhere dust can accumulate.
4. Wash down ceilings, walls, floors, counters, tables and all hard surfaces with soap and water. Take out blinds, shelves, etc. for a good hose down.
5. Refurbish the home using the least toxic products available. Be particularly careful to avoid products which off-gas formaldehyde, such as plywood, particle board, new carpeting, new upholstered furniture, foams, fiberglass imbedded (thermal) drapes and other synthetic products. Use recycled, sustainably harvested and natural fiber products whenever available.
6. Fully ventilate your newly-furnished house the old fashioned way—by opening the windows— until you are sure that any new products have off-gassed and until all paint and varnish have fully cured. Use fans to speed up the process.
7. It is now safe to run the HVAC system.

Helpful tips:

• Always use proper safety gear, including a full-face or half-face respirator, when working in or around fiberglass. Paper dust masks do not filter out the tiniest, and therefore most dangerous, particles. A good respirator has two replaceable cartridges and adjusts to fit over the nose and mouth, with no leakage. Respirators like the 3M 6000 series can be purchased through nearly any industrial supply outlet starting around $10. Use HEPA cartridges, which cost a little more.
• Wear gloves and eye protection at all times when working in or around respireable fiberglass. Disposable Tyvek coveralls protect your clothes and your body. In lieu of that, a hooded nylon windbreaker (hood up!), long pants, and heavy duty shoes will do. Wear clothes that you won't feel bad about throwing away... but keep washing those clothes and wearing them during your cleaning project.
• Ordinary vacuum cleaners only stir up more dust. The smallest fiberglass fibers will go right through the bag. HEPA (High Efficiency Particle Arresting) vacuums capture most of the fibers, and can be purchased from many vendors. ULPA vacuums release almost no dust; ULPA technology was developed for high-tech clean rooms, where no contamination is tolerable.
• The Rainbow vacuum uses water instead of a bag. Rainbow vacuums are sold through independent dealers, not large stores. Used Rainbow vacuums can be found in the classified ads of your local newspaper. Expect to pay around $400-800 for a used model.  New ones run near $2,000.
• Carpets, upholstered furniture, drapery, bedding and even clothes will most likely have to be thrown out. It is almost impossible to wash microscopic glass fibers out of fabrics. Silk, because of its extremely tight weave, can be cleaned. Same for leather and tightly woven nylon, such as found in rain jackets.
• Carpeting is a huge source of dirt, germs, bugs and dangerous chemicals, and should be replaced with hard flooring whenever possible.
• Washing walls and ceilings with soap and water is just as effective as painting over them, and much less toxic. Hosing them down is better than wiping them; then suck up the water with a shop vac and pour it down the drain.
• Fiberglass contaminated clothes should always be washed separately from clean clothes, and the washer tub should be wiped out with a disposable cloth afterward. Throw out your fiberglass clean-up clothes when the cleaning is done.
• Be extremely careful about what you touch when you know your hands and your body are contaminated by fiberglass. Don't scratch or rub, especially around the eyes, ears or genitals. Microscopic fibers on the end of your fingers will become imbedded in other places, causing extreme discomfort.
• You can create a "clean room" within your house to strategize and rest in while you clean the rest of the home. Clean it completely first, and completely shut off any contaminated vents. Keep all clean clothes and linen in there. Sleep there and change there; do not enter there until after you have showered and changed to clean clothes. Buy a portable HEPA air filter to use in the room.
• Take frequent breaks from the cleaning to get fresh air and a better attitude.
• Although professional cleaners may be quite good, and are recommended for cleaning the HVAC system, no one will do a more meticulous job than you will in cleaning your house free to be from fiberglass.
• Don't overlook cleaning your bathroom. Recessed lights and exhaust fans commonly found in bathrooms can be a source of contamination. However, it is not safe to simply seal the tops of recessed lights; the vents prevent overheating and fires. Instead, build a covering over them which keeps the fibers out, but allows the heat to dissipate.
• Heat exacerbates leaks between the attic and the living space. High attic temperatures force air out in all directions, including down through gaps in the ceiling, through exhaust fans, recessed lights, trap doors, etc.  Attic vents relieve the pressure differential.
• Only remove fiberglass insulation from a house as a desperation measure; the removal efforts almost always create significant contamination. If insulation removal is unavoidable, do so though an attic window or vent, never through the house. Dampen the insulation with water before attempting removal. Blown in fiberglass can be removed with a vacuum device very similar to what is used to pump the substance up there in the first place.  Wet-clean afterward.
• Seal any fiberglass removed from your home in heavy duty plastic bags and take it to the local landfill for burial. Used fiberglass harbors filth, including mold and rodent feces, so be careful when at the dump and at all points along the way not to let any escape from its bags.

*We recommend you send a formal letter to the landlord notifying them that you are leaving the house because of fiberglass contamination, advising them of the need to clean the house correctly before renting again. Keep a copy for yourself. You may want to stop by the house periodically after you leave, in case the cleanup does not occur and the owner is placing new tenants at risk. Pin a copy of the note on their door if they are not home.