Get The Lead Out® has tested thousands of homes, apartment buildings and commercial buildings for Asbestos Containing Material (ACM) since 1993. We are a professional company with experienced, qualified, licensed asbestos inspectors that will uncover any asbestos-containing material on your property! It is estimated that thirty million tons of asbestos building materials were used in the U.S. between 1900 and 1975 with probably eighty to ninety percent of that still in place. This is why it can be found in many commercial and residential buildings built before 1975. Because of its needle-like shape, an asbestos fiber can stick to lung tissue if inhaled and cause an inflammation.
Types of Professional Asbestos Tests
There are two types of professional asbestos tests that Get The Lead Out® inspectors use to identify the presence of asbestos. One is a basic test and the other is a more advanced test. As asbestos fibers cannot be seen without the use of a microscope, these two methods are the recognized tests that the EPA utilizes.
PLM (Polarized Light Microscopy) Test
The EPA requires that the asbestos content of suspect materials be determined by analyzing samples with polarized light microscopy (PLM). PLM analysis
results give the percent and type of asbestos in the sample. The asbestos content of manufactured items ranges from one percent to 100 percent. Our experienced and licensed asbestos inspectors carefully target and collect enough individual samples to proficiently determine the presence of asbestos. These samples are then shared with our EPA-approved laboratory partners. With this method, a small amount of the sample is crushed and placed on a microscope slide using the appropriate refractive index oil. Polarized light is used to observe the many optical properties of asbestos fibers that allow the microscopist to distinguish it from non-asbestos fibers.
Transmission Electron Microscopy (TEM) Test
TEM is also used to identify and quantify asbestos in a bulk sample. TEM uses a beam of electrons from a filament in a vacuum. The TEM's electron beam 
passes through the sample and an image is displaced onto a screen. Using an energy dispersive X-ray (EDX) and a computer system, information about the fiber's elemental properties can be gathered and graphed in their appropriate ratios. The higher magnification used by the TEM allows for more accurate asbestos concentration estimations in samples that contain very little asbestos (less than 5%). TEM samples are ashed at 480°C for 6-8 hours to eliminate the organic binder and/or tar material, and are then treated with acid for a few minutes to eliminate the carbonate material. This allows hidden asbestos fibers to surface and be easily noticed and identified under the TEM.
Cost of Basic PLM Asbestos Test
A basic PLM Asbestos Test with Get The Lead Out® costs $250 plus $15 per sample. The number of samples collected at your home depends upon the initial survey and findings of our inspector. The variance in cost is tied to the number of samples that are collected for testing.
The cost of a TEM test varies widely and we can give you an estimate for bulk sample collecting under this very advanced asbestos testing method.
Please call Get The Lead Out® at 704-376-3594 or email peteh@gettheleadout.biz to find out more about PLM and TEM asbestos testing for your home. Peace of mind and general safety for your family is the very reason we provide these asbestos tests.
