View allAll Photos Tagged Insulation,
Area of exposed insulation on large diameter pipe associated with an industrial boiler. The insulation was tested and found not to contain asbestos. Senior maintenance personnel indicated the original asbestos insulation was abated in the past and replaced with this newer material. Pre-formed notches in the newer insulation appear to be able to allow it to bend around curved mechanical equipment.
With the temperature below zero, I'm very glad to have something to keep this drafty window covered up.
Thanks to Ed Vielmetti for the info a while back:
Power lines & mill, Saginaw, Texas.
My sister, who used to collect these types of insulators, went nuts when I showed her this photograph.
Night, 3/4 moon, 100 second exposure with mini-maglite supplementing the insulators.
An uncommon application of an asbestos material: thick asbestos paper insulation on PVC pipe. PVC pipe tended to be installed in later era construction and typically appears uninsulated or usually may be seen with non-asbestos fiberglass or foam-rubber insulating materials installed on it.
However, in this case, reportedly an older supply of asbestos paper was found tucked away in forgotten basement storage areas and was installed on "newer" building components by building maintenance staff.
This vintage electrical equipment and associated components appear to be damaged by probable trespassing metal salvager(s) (or "scrappers") looking for copper. As a result, the area is contaminated with lab-tested, high-percentage asbestos debris and high-percentage PCB-containing coolant fluid (oil) leaking from the "pot".
Certain depressed areas of large urban environments often contain abandoned buildings that are infiltrated by desperate individuals searching for copper pipes, cables, wiring, roof flashing or other types of recyclable metals for scrap-value, especially as economic times worsen.
This image also appears to show a small scorch-mark on the white asbestos cable insulation where the former high-voltage cable was cut. Apparently, in certain circumstances, personal health & safety may take a backseat to ill-considered risky behavior and outright desperation.
Closed cell insulation in the cathedral ceiling with cellulose in knee walls. The cellulose was used as a cost saving measure and chosen by our client. We always recommend foam in a walls & ceilings.
Close-up view of the asbestos insulation material packed on the inside portion of the Kewanee boiler door. The soft and crumbly insulation was tested and found to contain approx. 10% chrysotile asbestos along with a mixture of vermiculite flakes as well.
Please feel free to use this photo but be sure to credit ArmchairBuilder.com and provide this link...
armchairbuilder.com/resources/how-to-build-your-own-home
Thanks,
Michael
ArmchairBuilder.com
A house with a turf riif and walls near Reykjavik, Iceland. Turf was plentiful in Iceland and provided superior insulation against the weather than wood or stone.
Detail of a high-percentage asbestos textile gasket installed along the inside edge of a Kewanee boiler door. The asbestos gasket seems effective at insulating around the door-boiler contact points, but has become brittle after decades of exposure to high temperatures and generates amounts of fibrous debris after even minor disturbance while opening/closing the door during basic maintenance of the boiler.
View of damaged, vintage asbestos aircell pipe insulation. Typical aircell construction looks like light grey, corrugated paper, very similar to contemporary "cardboard".
Any use of this photo should attribute credit to Ryan McFarland and point a link to www.zieak.com or www.zieak.com/2008/12/28/beefing-up-the-insulation/. Thank you!
Stripping insulation off the other walls. These walls were added in 1985, and this part of the basement is a little taller. I've also installed the new lighting at this point.
Zaatari refugee camp, Jordan.
( Story by Hala Al Ayoubi )
‘It is not those who can inflict the most, but those who can suffer the most who will conquer’:
These words were spoken by Irish patriot, Terence McSweeney in 1920 when his native Ireland was being ripped apart by the War of Independence. Although directly referring to the struggle faced by his countrymen some 90 years ago McSweeney’s haunting words can be applied to the thousands forced to seek sanctuary in a Jordanian refugee camp to in order to escape Syria’s on-going internal conflict. As a native Syrian, born in Damascus, I found the graphic images of my fellow countrymen and women shown on various television news channels both disturbing and upsetting. I was so moved by their plight. I wanted to see for myself the suffering and horrors of the living in limbo scenario they now faced on a daily basis. I was literally driven by an internal emotion I had never experienced before. I simply had to see what was happening to my people. Within days my photographer and I were on our way to Jordan. What we saw and witnessed on our trip is difficult to put into words. However, it is important I do record what we saw in the hope it highlights the human tragedy that is currently the plight of the Syrian refugees – my people.
Just six miles over of the Jordan-Syria border is the UN run Zaatari refugee camp. Located in the middle of a barren, windswept desert Zaatari is the temporary home of thousands of men, women and children forced to flee their homes in Syria because of the continuing conflict. At first sight Zaatari is a desolate place. It exudes an air of isolation. Its heavy wire perimeter fencing is intimidating and immediately creates the impression of a prison. This feeling is compounded by the presence of Jordanian police and soldiers who guard main entrance to the camp. As our car pulls up guards watch us intently. Our driver takes our passports and passes to a camp official. Documents approved, we are given permission to enter Zaatari.
As we drive through the second gate the reality of Zaatari looms before us. To the left the French and Italian international field hospitals. On the right the countless rows of dust shrouded tents, home for the refugees, are draped across the harsh desert landscape. Despite the dust the letters UNHCR are clearly visible on each of the tents. As we begin to walk around the camp it is obvious the situation is really difficult. Living conditions are very basic. There is a lack of proper sanitation with people often standing in line to use toilets and bathrooms. There is barely enough water and electricity is almost non-existent. Clothing is at a premium. Food is mundane and repetitive. Dust is everywhere. Blasts of sand ravage the simple, thin tents and their occupants The swirls of suffocating sand ensure everyone in Zaatari carries a powdering of dust and grim. Residents are told on a daily basis ‘things will get better’. They never do.
As a Mum I was particularly moved by the plight of Mothers and their children living in Zaatari camp. This is not a ‘Child friendly Zone’ despite the presence of a tiny and very basic kids play area. The provision of a slide and a see-saw do little to resolve the suffering and trauma of kids who have witnessed horrendous scenes of brutality and violence in the on-going Syrian conflict. Many of these children are now mentally scarred for life! Their drawn and dusty faces say it all. Disease is also rife within the child population of Zaatari – measles and cholera top the list. Although officials plan to introduce a measles immunisation programme shortly it will do little, if anything, to relive a problem which is fast becoming a humanitarian catastrophe. The plight of Zaatari’s child population is particularly heart-breaking. They are the innocent victims of a situation they did not create. However, there is a faint glimmer of hope on the horizon for the refugee children. A hope their future will not be as desolate as their past. That hope is education. There are approximately some 4,000 children of school-age within Zaatari. The task of educating them is a considerable challenge. The majority of children have lost out on months of schooling through the violence in Syria. However, many have lost their entire families. They are totally alone and are cared for by organisations such as UNICEF and Save the Children.
When I visited Zaatari classes were held in temporary makeshift tented accommodation. The authorities plan to supply a more permanent type of classroom shortly but, in the interim kids simply have to make do with what is available. A retired teacher, now working in Zaatari told me education was vital for the refugee children. The routine of the classroom, he said, gave the children something to do on a regular basis. It also removed the biggest problem facing the kids – one of boredom. “We are not just educating these children”, he said “we are attempting to save a complete generation and give it a future”. As a Syrian and a Mother I hope that objective is achieved sooner rather than later.
As I toured the Zaatari camp it became obvious many people were too scared to talk. Despite the fact I was a fellow Syrian very few wanted to speak on camera or have their identities revealed. Although they have fled their homeland many refugees – should they return to Syria – are frightened they will be the targeted in revenge attacks by supporters of President Bashar al-Assad. There is also the very real fear members of the Syrian secret police – the Mukhabarat – are active within the Zaatari refugee camp. Fear of the Mukhabarat pervades the atmosphere of the camp. It intimidates the residents and stops the majority of them speaking out.
However, there are those who are prepared to speak on the condition their identity is protected. A mother of four told me she and her children fled Syria fearing they would be killed if they remained in the home. Although now living in the relative safety of Zaatari she told me she how longed to return to her own country: ‘Life in the camp is killing us. It’s unbearable. Dirt and dust are everywhere. We live, sleep and eat the dust. This is not life. It’s barely an existence’.
‘I just want to go back. Go back to my home, that’s all I want but, there is nothing there now. They destroyed everything in my town. What can we do? We have to stay here. We have nowhere else to go’.
Abdul and his family have been in Zataari for 27 days. He told me they fled their home in Syria to escape the constant bomb attacks and killings: ‘All my family is here, my wife and children. We had to leave. To stay in our home was too dangerous. People I knew were killed in the bomb attacks. If we had stayed we would have died’.
‘Getting to Jordan was difficult. But we had to get away from Bashar’s bombs. My wife and I just ran, we ran with our kids. We just took them and ran’.
‘But we are living like animals now. Conditions are really bad here. We have no clothes, food is always the same and we have very little water. Just look at us, look at my children. They are living in a tent and sleeping on the ground.’
With winter looming large on the horizon Zaatari’s residents will face additional problems in their struggle to survive. The desert is already very cold at night. With temperatures due drop to around freezing point in the next few weeks there is now a race against time to ensure the camp is properly prepared for the colder weather. Prime objectives for the Camp authorities are the distribution of heaters, thermal, blankets and the insulation of the refugees tented accommodation.
Abdul fear the arrival of the freezing winter weather: ‘We don’t know what it will be like in the winter. Will we get blankets and heaters – we just don’t know. How can little children survive the winter living in a tent. This is no way for them to live. When it gets cold and rains then it will be miserable here ’.
There is clearly a growing feeling within Zaatari’s refugee population that ‘Nobody cares about us’. A belief exists that until the world recognises and helps those interned behind the wire and barriers the suffering will continue and get worse. Actions do speak louder than words. However, words are cheap but human aid expensive!
Zaatari is meant to be a place of refuge for the countless displaced Syrians. However, the camp is quickly becoming the venue for escalating tensions between the refugees and their hosts, the Jordanians. Tensions which have already exploded into violence which has seen tents set on fire and property damaged in protests over living condition. Those tensions will increase and the prospect of further violence remains strong if living conditions do not improve drastically.
Refugees living in Zaatari are human beings. They are individuals with names, personalities and unique personal stories to tell. They are also my fellow countrymen and women. Until recently they were able to work, earn a living and support their families. Now their lives have been changed irrevocably through the violence in Syria. All these people want is to have their voices heard. To be acknowledge and accepted as people and not to be portrayed as parasites living off the Jordanian system. Above all they just want to go back to their homes in Syria and live their lives. Sadly, at this time and for the foreseeable future that is impossible.
As I left Zaatari Terrence McSweeney’s words: ‘It is not those who can inflict the most, but those who can suffer the most who will conquer’ flooded through my mind. Those words proved correct in respect of the people of Ireland. I believe these very same words do and will apply to the Syrian refugees in Zaatari. My hope is it the suffering they now endure on a daily basis will be short lived. Unlike my fellow countrymen and women I have been able to escape the suffering that is Zaatari refugee camp.
Hala Al Ayoubi.