Can you identify this mysterious building material?
August 2, 2013 11:32 AM Subscribe
Somebody left a piece of building material on our front porch this morning. We immediately assumed it had fallen off of our house somewhere but I can't see anything missing. Can AskMe identify what it is and where I should look? We're new homeowners and I'm growing paranoid that some critical piece of the weatherproofing has come off and I won't realize it until disaster strikes.
A couple of pictures of the material: 1 and 2. I think it's fibreglass, and the colour matches our siding but also that of half the houses on our street (none of which, that I have noticed, are visibly missing anything). Logically it must have come from the front or the side of the house, as I don't expect somebody would have spotted it and moved it here otherwise. It's not new--there is what seems to be some leftover caulking or something on a bit of it. I suppose it is possible it is random debris that somebody mistakenly assumed was from our home, but it hasn't been particularly windy or anything today--just a bit breezy.
Can anyone confirm what this is, and where I should look on our house to get some peace of mind?
A couple of pictures of the material: 1 and 2. I think it's fibreglass, and the colour matches our siding but also that of half the houses on our street (none of which, that I have noticed, are visibly missing anything). Logically it must have come from the front or the side of the house, as I don't expect somebody would have spotted it and moved it here otherwise. It's not new--there is what seems to be some leftover caulking or something on a bit of it. I suppose it is possible it is random debris that somebody mistakenly assumed was from our home, but it hasn't been particularly windy or anything today--just a bit breezy.
Can anyone confirm what this is, and where I should look on our house to get some peace of mind?
Response by poster: One picture is the front, the other is the reverse. It's l-shaped (or maybe more v-shaped). Link two is meant to go here, which is the reverse side (can a mod fix that?). It has... I don't know what to call them. Not grooves but there are different "steps" on the inside of it.
posted by synecdoche at 11:43 AM on August 2, 2013
posted by synecdoche at 11:43 AM on August 2, 2013
Response by poster: Mystery solved! My neighbour just came by and said he left it there-- it's from the roof of our shed!
posted by synecdoche at 11:49 AM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by synecdoche at 11:49 AM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
Can you take a close up picture of the material? I don't want to panic anybody, but it's at least not entirely impossible that it's some sort of asbestos product (transite for example). The fact that it's grey and that you think it might be fiberglass makes me wonder.
We're having an old abandoned transite pipe removed from a house we're closing on right now. It has a very similar color and a slightly fibrous texture.
Again, not meaning to cause a panic. But do your due diligence before handling it. If you decide to handle it yourself and you're not sure... at least be very careful, gently spray it with water first, don't break it, bag it and seal the bag. Better safe than sorry.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 11:51 AM on August 2, 2013
We're having an old abandoned transite pipe removed from a house we're closing on right now. It has a very similar color and a slightly fibrous texture.
Again, not meaning to cause a panic. But do your due diligence before handling it. If you decide to handle it yourself and you're not sure... at least be very careful, gently spray it with water first, don't break it, bag it and seal the bag. Better safe than sorry.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 11:51 AM on August 2, 2013
Ah, never mind then. Mystery solved, no health hazard.
posted by Hairy Lobster at 11:51 AM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
posted by Hairy Lobster at 11:51 AM on August 2, 2013 [1 favorite]
This thread is closed to new comments.
posted by epanalepsis at 11:38 AM on August 2, 2013