Landmark Hotel Closed for Asbestos & Lead Paint Removal

Summer time is holiday time for so many Canadians and our beautiful country is full of iconic travel destinations. Many of them across the country feature hotels and accommodations that match the natural landscape in their gorgeous facilities. Still, even those landmark hotels aren’t immune to the kinds of issues any home or property owner might fact – including asbestos and lead paint.

The new owners of the luxury Algonquin Hotel in St. Andrews, New Brunswick have discovered both of these ‘old’ problems during renovations to the property. They’ve hastened to assure any former guests that the asbestos was found inside walls where plumbing ran through (common at one time due to the heat resistant properties of asbestos) and that the lead paint was on the exterior of the building on the windows.

Despite the assurances however, the hotel is now closed for two months for asbestos removal and lead paint removal along with other needed work.

Resale Homes
It’s not uncommon to still find lead paint on the walls of older homes. If you’ve recently bought a resale home, you may never know how long paint has been on the walls. It’s also not uncommon for homeowners to simply paint on top of older layers, including wallpaper, meaning that once it begins to flake, or if you go to strip the walls in preparation for a new treatment, you have no way of knowing what might be coming up from underneath.

Dangers of Lead Paint
It may seem like ‘only paint’ but when it contains lead, there are a number of potential hazards, particularly for children.

• Lead exposure can harm young children and babies even before they are born.
• Lead can get into your body by breathing or swallowing lead dust, or by eating soil or paint chips containing lead.
• Removing lead-based paint improperly can increase the danger to occupants

We Can Help
At ESG, we know that the best way to protect yourself and your family is with knowledge. Environmental Services Group provides lead testing and assessments for homes and buildings where lead paint may have been used as well as asbestos removal services in these cases.

Some laboratories and environmental suppliers have available a “do it yourself” kit to aid in testing for the presence of lead based paint. Although this method is the most inexpensive it is not 100% reliable. There have been cases of both false positive results and false negative results.

We use XRF Lead Paint Analyzer, a tool that uses x-rays to scan into walls that may contain lead and gives a reading that is 95% reliable. The XRF testing can be done on-site.

Let us give you peace of mind – call the Environmental Services Group for a quote.

In The News:
ESG is now an official supplier of HGTV’s Income Properties!

Environmental Services Group is a cutting edge environmental consulting firm based in Toronto and servicing both the Greater Toronto Area and Ontario. We provide state-of-the-art, industry-leading expertise in remedying environmental hazards such as mold, lead, asbestos and much more. Call 416-575-6111 or visit our website today for a pressure-free initial consultation. You’ll be glad you did!