Asbestos, Lead, and Mold Testing in Telluride

Our office is in Montrose. That's a real drive, and people ask about it constantly, so here is the plain answer: the trip is built into how we quote. There is no separate mountain surcharge that appears on the invoice after the fact.

We test in Telluride, Mountain Village, Ridgway, Ouray, Placerville, Sawpit, Ophir, Durango, Cortez, and Norwood. Most weeks we are over Dallas Divide at least once, so getting you on the schedule is usually a matter of days, not weeks. 

Telluride's housing stock predates every asbestos and lead regulation on the books. That's the town's appeal, and it's also why a remodel here uncovers what a 1990s subdivision never would — layered flooring and mastic, old plaster systems, pipe insulation in crawlspaces, and lead paint under every coat applied since.

The climate adds a second layer. Freeze-thaw cycles, deep snow loads, ice dams and shoulder-season vacancy give water a lot of opportunities to get into a wall and stay there. Mold in Telluride is usually a building science problem before it's a cleaning problem, which is why we test for both.

And a great many buildings in town are rentals that turn over weekly. Nobody is living in them long enough to notice the slow problems.

Two separate things have to happen, and people routinely discover the second one late.

Your architect is managing the Town's review process. Fine — that's their job.

The asbestos inspection is a State of Colorado requirement and runs on its own track. It isn't part of the Town's review, and your contractor can't waive it by looking at the material and forming an opinion. Get the survey done while the drawings are still in progress, and it costs you nothing in schedule. Get it done after demo is staged, and it costs you a week of crew time.

Telluride projects are quoted on the phone. Building age, size, access, how much is already open, and the season all affect the number, and a figure posted on a web page would be wrong for most buildings in town.

What we can tell you now: a residential survey usually takes about three hours on site, and accredited lab results come back in 1–2 business days, with rush options when the schedule demands it.

You'll have a number and a date in the same conversation.

We walk the building and identify every suspect material—ceiling texture, flooring and the mastic beneath it, pipe wrap, drywall compound, siding, window glazing, mortar, and grout, to name a few. Each one gets photographed and logged.

Samples go to an accredited lab certified by the Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment via FedEx Overnight service. Not a kit off a hardware store shelf.

You get a written report: what is there, where it is, what has to be handled, and what does not. That last part matters more than people expect. All reporting must comply with Regulations.  Roughly three hours for a house.

• We test. We don't abate. We have no removal division; that would be a conflict of interest and illegal.  So nothing in our findings is a sales pitch — and when we tell you something can be left alone, that's worth as much as the rest of the report.
• Professionals on every job. Chris Lakin is a licensed Professional Engineer, certified asbestos inspector, air monitoring specialist, and lead paint inspector/risk assessor. Azura Lakin is an industrial hygienist with more than eighteen years in the field. One of them is the person in your building.
• Thirty years and about 3,000 surveys.  Hospitals, schools, state and federal facilities, commercial buildings, and a great many houses — including $5 million in school abatement projects inspected and cleared. No penalties from the State.

Plateau tests for asbestos, lead, and mold throughout southwest Colorado: Telluride, Mountain Village, Ridgway, Ouray, Placerville, Sawpit, Ophir, Norwood, Rico, Cortez, Durango, Silverton, Montrose, Olathe, Delta, Gunnison and Crested Butte — and the surrounding communities of San Miguel, Ouray, Montrose, Delta, San Juan, Montezuma, La Plata, and Gunnison counties. Call 970-252-1363.