5 deadly dangers to die from when salvaging houses, barns, & buildings.

Yes, it can be dangerous, sickening, deadly. There are virtually invisible dangers, conditions, and even the dust when salvaging materials from old structures.

The dust you may breathe when taking down a house has many things that are not good for your body to digest. As you take a ceiling down, you will create a dust storm from the attics up above. The rooms will fill with things that could make you sick, even kill you if you are not taking precautions, particularly a particulate mask. N-95 can be good enough in most cases, but in some, you need a full-on respirator with filters to be sure you do not breathe in the stuff that will kill you, maim you for life, and destroy your health in several ways.

Insulation in old houses can be hazardous to your health. Yellow-colored fiberglass is a carcinogen of the same type as asbestos. The fibers entering your lungs will cause inflammation and tumors over the years following exposure. The rock wool insulation is like tiny razor blades that cut up your tissues in the lungs when breathed in, so much so that it cut the tumors in my father's lungs, causing them to bleed. In one way, it was good in that it exposed the degree of the problem by revealing that he had lung cancer already.

The critical evidence of immediate damage was there, yet the rock wool was still sold to the public, like fiberglass. After breathing the Rock Wool in my attic, there was an obvious consequence the same day. Other issues in the insulation and attic are often hidden, especially if you have had leaks, which led to mold attached to the insulation and parts, giving off mold spores in the air and dust. It will not be evident for days that you have developed a mold infection, and it can lead to significant health problems, even kill you if you already have immune system disorders like Lymes disease.

Next, mainly in the pre-1930s when sheetrock was starting and came in 2x4 foot sizes and brown paper. If you run into this while salvaging an old house, you have a problem, one that could cause you cancer as it has the highest airborne asbestos fiber threat of anything in the house. Breathing this in will allow the fibers to stick to the lungs; the danger of asbestosis, a lung tumor that kills, maybe in your future as a consequence. This is not an obvious threat as the sheetrock is likely painted, and you would not know it except for the size and brown paper. The dust from regular sheetrock is terrible enough on your lungs as it is composed of 47 percent hazardous waste called Fly Ash. It is a chalky dust that sticks inside your lungs and does not come out quickly if you breathe it in.

The floorings, often the linoleum on old floors, also contained asbestos in the glues; the actual flooring material has fibers of asbestos that should be contained as it is taken up and moistened best to limit the dust from the job. The carpets in old houses hold so much trash, cat hairs, flea shit, and even the fibers of the carpets or rugs are also dangerous to breathe in too. The mold in the old carpets is often hazardous and will become part of the air you breathe in as you tear them up to get to the incredible wood floors below them. This dust can make you sick and give you parasites due to the worm egg that can be in there if there were animals in the house. The fleas that are in some old houses will climb up your legs and bite, all the way up in your crotch, or worse, in houses that have not been bug-bombed before starting, and even then, many will survive if the floors are covered with things that save the bugs from being exposed to the bug bomb gas.

Next, as I have had volunteers on jobs, we found bees in the walls, chimneys, and trees; this is an issue if someone on the job site is allergic to bees. Do you have Benedryl on site? It would be best if you had an Epipen because you are going to need to stop the allergic reaction on the job site or face possible death before reaching a hospital. If someone gets attacked by the mad bees, you may be disturbed. We found three big bee nests in the El Campo expedition, and you can see the video on how we dealt with them in one house before even starting and the other while the job was going on. We did get stung more than once, but no one was allergic, thank God. The scorpions and spiders, like Black Widows and Brown Widows, are easier to spot than the Brown Recluse spiders, which can cause the meat to rot off your body. One man I knew had several pounds of his thigh cut off due to the destruction of the Brown Recluse bite. You cannot ignore it because the flesh rots off fast and grows if not treated. One man I knew applied an Echinacea poultice for weeks and beat it, but he had two spots on his chest, grey rot, until it healed weeks later.

While not the whole list of things that are harmful to you, it is relatively invisible or hidden. Besides the potential of falling through a rotted floor or things falling on your head, there are many ways you could end up dead. Ladders positioned well or led to falling and a hospital. People falling off the roof go to Hell fast, or Heaven if you are good. LOL. The paints have the lead that will mess up your health and head if you breathe it in. It will not kill you quickly but mess up your guts and, worse, mess with children's memories and their learning abilities. Adults are not as vulnerable, but you must protect your lungs from getting lead-in as it does not take very much. You can get it out, but it’s better to take care and wear your masks while working there. The houses are painted, and dirt and dust will float as you take them apart. Please consider that the health of those who work with you depends upon protection, or they could get sick or even die, so you will be the one responsible if you do not read and prevent the things that kill you if you are not aware.

There are safe ways to salvage but know these things are bad. Pigeon shit will make your lungs have problems, like the roach crap, rat poop, and vulture poop in attics, the nastiest of all. Beware of the things you breathe in and the wounds from working on the salvage job. Blood will surely come. Be sure to treat the wounds and stop infections from the start, or they could get much worse and even move into your heart. Be careful what you do, and you will find rewards for sure without paying with your health and wealth attempting to be cured. It is better to stay healthy, strong, and wise. So share these dangers with those who do salvage or your friends who know someone or someplace they want to salvage to build a new home you can live in for a lifetime and then be fulfilled.

DarbyPSL@gmail.com for more information, consulting for salvage jobs, and assistance in building houses with your booty. Be the best you can be to fit for your 70s. At 69, I am close to seeing a decade I never expected to see, let alone be so healthy. Savor the dayz. Gratitude, grounding, and perspicuity is the key to happiness in our best years, our 60s and 70s are the best years of our life if Wii care for the vessel and honor it as God said Wii should.