>selling for $20k less than its tax assessed value
that whole thing is asbestos and if you try to do anything to it without dealing with the asbestos, you'll get raped.

>>3002443
I live in SW Ohio, it's an incredibly common material to find in older houses. Sort of, the state 'came of age' when asbestos was high tech.
I spent 2 years looking for a place, and never once saw it mentioned in a real estate listing.

Depends on the county, but the assessor's site would sometimes list if a structure was known to have asbestos.
In practice, if I ever mentioned it to the selling agent, they "didn't know anything" & would cut contact after that. Real estate & scummy behavior are a match made in Hell.

>ONLY such house where I've noticed asbestos called out in Listing
Testing for it is a kind of 'poison pill'. If an owner/agent is made aware of it, by state law they can't conceal info about an 'environmental hazard' & have to disclose it. That's probably the only reason it shows up in that listing.

Without specific test results though, it's hard to say how much of a problem it is.
Back in the day they put asbestos in absolutely everything. Ceiling insulation & floor tiles are the two common ones. But it was added to any kind of adhesive, 'panel' or 'shingle' material, insulation, etc.

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>>3002461
>Back in the day they put asbestos in absolutely everything.
All kinds of insulation: Wires, walls, ceilings, appliances, furnaces, HVAC ducts, water pipes, radiator systems, fireplaces, woodstoves. As you mentioned, it was in drywall and panels but also in adhesives and glues, vinyl flooring, plaster, wall and ceiling treatments (popcorn ceilings are famous for it). Not just inside the house either. Roofing shingles, felt, tar paper, exterior siding, tiles of various types (roofing, siding, etc.), caulking, window glazing, roofing cement, normal cement, mortar, and even grout. Even talcum powder is loaded with the stuff. Plastics too. Old toys, plastic cases/enclosers, knobs & dials, even costume jewelry.

>>3002461
>& would cut contact after that.
by "cut contract" you mean write contract or ghost you?

I'm starting to narrow down the vintage of houses.

Should be post-asbestos and maybe even post lead paint, but pre-OSB flake board.

So between 1973 (because you know older material was being used up) and about 1987 (when flake board was replacing real plywood.)

I wonder if flake board was first adopted for "manufactured housing" after the 1976.5 HUD cutoff?

>>3002466
literally the "State Rock" of CA.

The official state rock of California is serpentinite (commonly called serpentine). Designated in 1965, it was the first state rock chosen in the United States.Physical TraitsColor: Apple-green, dark green, or black with light and dark spots.Texture: Waxy or shiny surface with a soft, soapy feel.Structure: Fine-grained, compact, or fibrous.

>>3002466
That captures the scope of it.
I'm not a contractor or anything, just a /diy/er looking to buy one house during my life. When I first started digging into it, it seemed impossible to comply with all regulations.

>>3002472
>ghost you
Cut contact, as in, 'not wanting to deal with it'.

Where I'm at, there's still incredible demand for any house, even problematic ones.
So why would the selling agent 'waste time' with someone asking questions vs take an equal offer from someone who doesn't give a shit?

>>3002482
>it seemed impossible to comply with all regulations
In many places the regulations only apply to professionals. Not owner/occupiers of single-family homes. Check that. If someone that owns a rental wants to do this shit they have to bend over. If the owner lives in the unit and is doing the work themselves they are often exempt.

They will often get you if you dispose of it improperly though. Don't just check it in a dumpster and walk away. Where I am located they want everything contaminated placed in two plastic garbage bags and sealed with tape. This isn't hard but it can take a while if you have a lot of shit to get through.

When I removed old vinyl flooring this is what I did. I got a little Tyvek suit and HEPA mask. The flooring tiles were 9 inches, which are almost always asbestos. They were applied directly to concrete. I poured a dish soap and water mixture on the floor so everything had a little standing water on it. I then used a large scraper to peel up the tiles. I did my best to get them whole. I kept everything wet. I had a 65 gallon garbage can that had double bags in it. When it was about 80% full I wrapped up the ends of the bag and taped them shut. Repeat. Once the tiles were out I used the scraper to get all the mastic off the floor. It likely had asbestos in it too so I again kept everything wet. Once the floor was smooth I cleaned the bathroom, mopped up the water, and dumped it directly down a drain. I then washed the bucket, garbage can, scraper and mask. I tossed the Tyvek suit, old pair of boots, and mophead in one of the bags. I had already called the dump and they explained how they wanted the stuff. I put it in my truck, drove to the dump, and handed it all over. They took it for the normal minimum landfill tipping fee of $25.

>>3002486
interesting, what State?

I'd be tempted to basically "do it right" but then drive to a dump 3 dumps away and forget to mention the A-word and if anyone asks its "wet sheetrock and ceiling tiles" or some shit.

Or roll it up in carpet like the Mob disposing of body.

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>>3002495
Believe it or not, Commiefornia. This varies by county here though. I'm in a red county where the population is almost as low as the average IQ and all of the locals have the same grandparents if you check far enough back.

So I called up the local air quality management district and asked how disposal was handled. We discussed what I was doing and that I was the owner/occupier of the unit. They said well, you can remove it however you want as the laws don't apply to you but this is how you should do it. I also watched some videos*. They said disposal was another matter. This said the local dump takes the stuff and to talk to them.

I called the dump and they said double bag it, make sure the bags have zero holes, and tape them shut. Air tight. Bring it to the normal entrance but tell the staff it is asbestos contaminated construction debris. I did just that, they had me pull out of the line, they inspected the bags, said they were sealed well enough, and changed me the minimum dump fee. They unloaded the stuff by hand, normally they expect you to drive to the tip area and unload everything yourself, and put it in a big dumpster they had set aside full of similar taped up garbage bags.

*Some of the videos were like, take this tiny squirt bottle and make the tiles ever so slightly damp. I said fuck that and poured a bucket of soapy water on the floor. Can't put fibers in the air if its underwater, can it? I already had a nice HEPA full face mask because they are much easier to breath in. The disposable Tyvek suit was $12. The biggest expense was the garbage bags and the 55 gallon can (not 65 like I said before).

>>3002486
>Not owner/occupiers of single-family homes. Check that.
It's in the past.
The info you have is good, but where I live the city has this net of tight ass regulations, despite it being kind of ghetto.

To be clear, I live in Hamilton OH (Butler county), commute into Mason OH (Warren co). Cincinnati (Hamilton co) is the MSA, but local govts have a lot of say.

The place I bought in 2025, there were 0 permits, 0 zoning variances in thet past 119 years. If that sounds suspicious...
The big issue was the driveway being out of spec, so I dove into local ordinances.

The offer was contingent city planning (probably a yes) -and- on asbestos & lead paint testing, because I had intentions to remodel the entire place. Move walls, move bathrooms, change the exterior footprint, etc.
The owners were righteous (literal), and understood that the testing might reveal a huge 'hidden' cost, so they were willing to go half-in via a discount.

This was through an FHA 203k loan, so I was able to 'roll renovation costs' into the loan. Like, simplifying it to round numbers, 40K to have a licensed company do the asbestos work. So the seller took 20K off the price, and I asked the bank for the original amount +20K. Still more than the original price, but it's like I'm only getting half-boned. Maybe the best you can expect?

1/2 ... comment too long

But that fear of 'being raped' is real. Along the way, everyone, people at the bank, and esp. city govt people, were like skittish animals.
I'm convinced that it only worked out because the proposed changes were intrusive enough that I had to bring in an engineering firm.
So, success from, a combination of the owner being agreeable, having an estimate from a licensed remediation company, and having building plans from a local firm.
When I say skittish I mean almost like the city people couldn't interpret their own regulations (driveway shit), but at the end of the paperwork chain they saw a PE stamp for the overall plan, so they were on board.

That initial work was just removal, no new material installed, not fixing any damage, etc. But after the "hazardous material" was gone, I kind of had a clean slate.
I still had to bring in an electrician & plumber (licensed, willing to deal w/ permits), but I was able to do basically everything else myself. I still had a company come in to do the roof, so they could bang it out in two days vs. me doing it over two weeks.

BUT: bottom line from my experience, asbestos is a bogey-man. So easy to get caught up with extra effort, extra expense.

>>3002443
asbestos is regulated by OSHA for the most part, if you plan to do work involving asbestos yourself there should be no regulations, but if you have a contractor do any work that may disturb asbestos it's going to be fucking expensive