Concussion and Asbestos Angst

We managed to get to Kalamazoo on time and looked at four whole houses . . . with my sister AND Mr. Crabbypants in tow. It seemed like we found "the one", the house that you walk into and just know that you have to buy it. Perfect 1940's bungalow, with everything original . . . which is a plus for the decor, minus in terms of the furnace and electrical. But this house was so cool that the tribe was willing to overlook the furnace (and that never happens) (we might negotiate on a bad roof and give on the windows, but it has to be special for the furnace to be original). The cabinet hardware was the best I have ever seen and it had the original stove, which I so want to steal for my house. Cute as a button.

But then I just had to go into the attic. "Oh, M. this is bad . . . really bad." The insulation looked like kitty litter . . . and for some reason I know that kitty litter insulation somehow equals asbestos. It's like a gift. It was so sad, my sister and I in the little attic, looking down at the toxic kitty litter, which was going to be the deal breaker of the house. As I called for my mother and the realtor (CP was taking a nap in the jeep at this point), I was so distracted by the sad facts that I clocked my head on the top of the gnome door to the attic. HARD. So hard that I couldn't move. So hard that I just had to close my eyes to keep the stars from coming. So hard that I was slightly nauseous. So hard that I yelled "Monkey f@#ker" in front of my sister's realtor.

After recovering from the shock of my made-up swearing combination, the realtor assured us that it was "just vermiculite". She then made a big show of calling up her house inspector "John" who assured her on the phone that they still use vermiculite to insulate houses and that it was "perfectly safe" and "vermiculite is not asbestos". And I hoped she was right, because quite frankly, I didn't want to be right about the toxic kitty litter in this great perfect house. A house that June Cleaver would be proud of . . .

And this was all well and good, until we arrive back home and used the evil internet. All vermiculite produced before 1990 was gathered out of one mine (the Libby mine) which also had a huge vein of asbestos mixed through it. They didn't bother to remove it from the vermiculite because they didn't know . . . so any vermiculite you find mined before 1990 is potentially full of asbestos and therefore toxic cancer-causing kitty litter. You should be okay if you don't touch it or take a stick and poke at it (disturb the kitty litter) but then how do you sell the house to the next person?

So outdated furnace we can swallow . . . cancer-causing kitty litter, not so much. So now my sister gets to research how much a haz-mat team is. And these things are good to know.

My head still hurts too.