It is highly recommended to hire professionals to handle or collect materials that may contain asbestos. This precaution ensures your safety, as well as the safety of current occupants, potential future owners, and workers.
If you collect a sample yourself instead of entrusting this task to a laboratory technician, the test result cannot be certified. Only a laboratory analysis can confirm the presence or absence of asbestos, as it is not detectable by the naked eye. Therefore, it is always advisable to have a laboratory technician collect samples from the material you want to test, ensuring that they can analyze them in the lab and provide you with a certified analysis report.
In the context of a real estate transaction, financial institutions and insurance companies now require a certified asbestos test for collected samples. Additionally, if asbestos removal work is performed, certified post-work asbestos air testing is needed to prove the absence of residual asbestos fibers. A house free of asbestos, along with proof of compliant work, will also be more appealing to potential buyers.