You can’t tell a meth lab from the outside. It’s possible that meth has been cooked in that run-down mobile home or a Breaking Bad-type RV, but meth labs have also been found in multimillion-dollar mansions and posh estates. A space that needs meth cleanup in Utah can take many forms, but regardless of how it looks on the outside, it’s a dangerous environment until it’s been properly dealt with. Also, you need to consider meth use in homes. Not only are meth labs a big cause of contaminates, but also a lot of homes can house meth addicts that regularly use it.
Methamphetamines (also known as meth, ice, chalk, or crystal) is a white, bitter, odorless powder. It’s a stimulant and is highly addictive. Unfortunately, Utah residents from many walks of life—from the poor to the rich—are cooking it and using it at home.
What Are the Dangers of Meth Contamination?
When you are preparing to buy a house—or even if you’re already living in one—you should know that it could possibly be contaminated by meth use, production, or dealing. When people make meth in a home, it leaves traces of toxic chemicals behind, which could be a danger to you and your family members, even long after the meth itself is gone. Symptoms of exposure can include:
Dizziness
Headaches
Confusion
Throat and nose irritation
Difficulty breathing
Nausea
Vomiting
These chemicals could also damage your kidneys, liver, or lungs. And young children could suffer worse exposure if chemicals are in the carpet where they are crawling. Their development could be impeded.
How Is Meth Contamination Cleaned?
Professionals who perform meth lab cleanups in Utah have found that harmful chemicals from meth are left in walls, air ducts, carpets, and other parts of homes, whether meth was created or used there. Cleaning can take about a week, and contamination testing takes another week.
Cleaning crews scrub air ducts and tear carpets out, wearing protective gear just like asbestos cleanup crews use. They also destroy furniture and dispose of it as a hazardous material.
Next, they carefully vacuum bare floors and ducts, scrub appliances and hard surfaces, and use chemical cleaners inside the ducts and on the walls and ceilings, letting the cleaners sit for around five hours. Then, they repeat the chemical cleaning process. And then they do it a third time. Yes, even in the beauty of the Beehive State, meth cleanup in Utah is time-consuming.
Protect Yourself from Meth Contamination
Unfortunately, no one can tell just by looking whether or not a house is contaminated by meth. The only way to know for sure is to have it tested. Based on the tests we’ve performed, we have found that around half of contaminated homes looked like places you’d never expect to have a meth connection.
Meth contamination can even be found in student housing, apartments, and new construction. The only way to be safe is to have every home inspected for meth, whether you’re already living there or are thinking of buying it.
BTS Home Inspections performs the fastest, most accurate tests in Utah, whether you want to test for meth, radon, or mold. We can also perform thermal scans.
Be safe in the place you live, eat, and sleep. It’s never too late to find out the truth and to clean up your home, if necessary. Schedule your home inspection now.