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Survey & sample
An IDPH-licensed inspector walks the property, flags suspect materials, and collects small samples using wet methods and containment so nothing is released into the air.
Certified sample collection and NVLAP-accredited lab analysis for Chicago's pre-1980 two-flats, bungalows, and greystones. Find out exactly what's in a material before you gut a kitchen or pull a demolition permit — with a written report you can hand to a contractor or the City.
Chicago and Illinois both regulate who can touch asbestos and what has to happen before you demolish or renovate an older building. Testing is the first step that keeps a project on the right side of a permit — and off the City's radar for the wrong reasons.
IDPH runs Illinois' asbestos program — it licenses and accredits the inspectors, project managers, and abatement workers who are allowed to sample and remove asbestos. Sampling on your Chicago property should be done by an IDPH-licensed inspector so the result stands up for a contractor, a buyer, or the City.
The Department of Buildings issues demolition and renovation permits, and the City's asbestos and demolition rules expect suspect materials to be identified and, where present, handled and reported before work begins. A documented survey is what a permit application and the City's notification process rely on.
Federal NESHAP rules — enforced through the Illinois EPA and the City — generally require written notification at least 10 working days before a covered demolition or renovation. An asbestos survey is what tells you whether that notification, and licensed abatement, even apply to your job.
Asbestos testing isn't a guess or a hardware-store kit. It's a controlled process: careful sampling by a licensed inspector, accredited lab analysis, and a clear written result you can act on. Here's how a job runs across the city.
An IDPH-licensed inspector walks the property, flags suspect materials, and collects small samples using wet methods and containment so nothing is released into the air.
Samples go to an NVLAP-accredited lab for Polarized Light Microscopy (PLM), with TEM available for fine flooring and confirmation. No home-kit guesswork.
You get a plain-English report: what was sampled, percent asbestos by type, and where it is — formatted to support a City permit filing or a contractor's scope.
If it's positive, we explain your options and can arrange licensed abatement plus post-work clearance air testing. If it's clean, you're cleared to proceed.
The Bungalow Belt, the brick two-flats and three-flats, the greystones and worker cottages — most were built when asbestos went into flooring, insulation, plaster, and pipe wrap as a matter of course. You usually can't tell by looking. These are the materials we sample most in Chicago and Cook County homes.
Those small 9-inch vinyl-asbestos tiles in basements, kitchens, and sunrooms — and the black cutback adhesive under them — are a classic find in Chicago flats and bungalows built before the 1980s.
Loose, pebbly vermiculite (often Zonolite) poured into attic joist cavities of Bungalow Belt homes can carry amphibole asbestos. Never disturb it — we sample it safely before any attic or reroof work.
The white, plaster-like pipe wrap and boiler lagging in old Chicago basements — a legacy of steam and hot-water heat — is one of the highest-risk materials, friable and easily disturbed during heating or plumbing work.
Sprayed popcorn ceiling texture and skim coats from the mid-century era often contain chrysotile. Scraping one in a Logan Square or Lakeview walk-up before testing releases fibers throughout the room.
Wall plaster, drywall joint compound, and the paper wrap on old gravity-furnace ductwork all turn up positive in pre-war Chicago homes. We take composite samples so nothing gets missed.
Cement-asbestos transite siding, roofing shingles, and old glazing and window caulk show up on cottages and two-flats across Pilsen, Bridgeport, and the near-west neighborhoods.
Testing is where every safe job starts — but if your sample comes back positive, you'll want it handled properly. We connect you with IDPH-licensed abatement for containment, safe removal, and post-work clearance air testing so you have independent proof the space is safe to reoccupy.
Most residential asbestos tests in the Chicago area run about $250 to $650, depending on how many materials are sampled and how fast you need the lab results. A single-material check — say a popcorn ceiling or a floor tile — sits at the low end; a full pre-rehab or pre-demolition survey with multiple samples costs more. You get the price up front before any sampling.
In almost all cases, yes. Before a demolition or a renovation that will disturb building materials, an asbestos survey is expected under federal NESHAP rules, which are enforced through the Illinois EPA and the City. The survey tells you whether asbestos is present, which drives whether a 10-day notification and licensed abatement are required — and City permit reviews for older buildings routinely expect that documentation.
The Illinois Department of Public Health (IDPH) licenses and accredits the inspectors, project managers, and abatement workers who handle asbestos in Illinois. Sampling should be done by an IDPH-licensed inspector, and the samples analyzed by an NVLAP-accredited lab. That combination is what makes a result defensible for a contractor, a buyer, or the City of Chicago.
Generally, yes. Covered demolition and renovation projects require written notification — usually at least 10 working days before work starts — under federal NESHAP rules administered through the Illinois EPA, and the City of Chicago's demolition and asbestos rules expect suspect materials to be identified and reported. A written test report gives you the documentation that whole process relies on.
In bungalows, two-flats, three-flats, and greystones built before the 1980s, the usual suspects are 9x9 vinyl floor tiles and their black mastic, boiler and pipe lagging in the basement, vermiculite attic insulation, popcorn and textured ceilings, transite siding and shingles, and plaster or joint compound. You can't confirm any of it by sight — a lab-analyzed sample is the only reliable answer.
It isn't strictly mandatory, but for a pre-1980 bungalow, flat, or greystone it's often worth it. A clean survey removes an unknown that buyers, inspectors, and lenders flag, and if material is present, disclosing a documented result is far better than a surprise mid-transaction. Buyers planning a rehab or a two-flat deconversion frequently ask for it directly.
Testing identifies whether a material contains asbestos and how much, through certified sampling and accredited lab analysis. Removal — properly called abatement — is the licensed work of containing and safely taking that material out, followed by clearance air testing. You always test first: the result decides whether removal is even needed and defines its scope.
We arrange certified sampling across the city — Lincoln Park, Logan Square, Pilsen, Hyde Park, Lakeview, Bridgeport and beyond — plus the older Cook County suburbs like Oak Park, Evanston, Cicero, and Berwyn, where the housing stock is just as likely to hide asbestos. Use the quote form on this page for a same-day quote.
Certified sampling and accredited lab results across Chicago and Cook County. Serving Lincoln Park, Logan Square, Pilsen, Hyde Park, Lakeview, Bridgeport, and the older west and near-west suburbs.