The purpose of this practice is to provide criteria for the selection of an encapsulant once the decision to encapsulate an asbestos installation has been made. It is assumed that the users of this practice have already made a decision to encapsulate friable asbestos-containing material and that this decision is appropriate. Test Method D 4240 and Practice E 849 shall be consulted for the measurement of airborne fibrous materials in the environmental air space.

Since existing asbestos-containing materials installed in buildings may have been applied for a variety of purposes in addition to fire-resistance, encapsulant properties and performance characteristics not addressed in this practice may be important for preservation of original qualities of the asbestos-containing material and should be considered.

The results of the test methods described in this practice on nonasbestos-containing materials will not necessarily predict encapsulant performance on friable asbestos-containing building materials. These test methods are designed to characterize the behavior of the encapsulants, rather than to give a definitive indication of their performance on any particular friable asbestos-containg materials.

The test methods described in this practice measure characteristics of encapsulants in order to retain essential properties of the building material intended for encapsulation.

1.1 This practice covers encapsulants intended to reduce or eliminate the release of asbestos fibers from a matrix of friable spray- or trowel-applied asbestos-containing materials.

1.2 This practice includes: (1) a series of laboratory tests to show whether an encapsulant is capable of acceptable performance on a specified asbestos-free model matrix, and (2) a series of determinations to be conducted in the field at each location for which encapsulation has been accepted, to show whether a given encapsulant is acceptable on the specific asbestos-containing matrix.

1.3 The values stated in SI units are to be regarded as the standard. The values in parentheses are for information only.

1.4 This standard does not purport to address all of the safety concerns, if any, associated with its use. It is the responsibility of the user of this standard to establish appropriate safety and health practices and determine the applicability of regulatory limitations prior to use.