If you’ve driven through downtown Port Orchard lately, you will
have seen the old Los Cabos building wrapped in white plastic.
The city of Port Orchard
bought the eyesore in August with the idea of demolishing it to
improve the ambiance of the downtown core. The sale price of
$148,000 included demolition by Turnaround Inc., the company that
held receivership on the building. The demolition will be ongoing
for the next two to three weeks, hence the wrapped building. More
on that in a minute
The former site of Los Cabos restaurant was gutted by fire in July 2013. There were boarding rooms upstairs that were occupied at the time of the fire. Three people escaped by climbing out a bathroom window onto a roof and jumping onto the bed of a truck at street level.
The building sat abandoned ever since, growing a fine crop of
mold in what was the dining room.
But the mold is not the worst problem. The two-story,
6,000-plus-square-foot building was constructed in 1910, accord to
the Kitsap County Assessor, and has asbestos within from various
additions and remodels.
Asbestos, a naturally occurring mineral, is a remarkable material, fireproof, strong, a good insulator, but it has been linked to cancers including mesothelioma, a cancer that attacks the lining of the lungs.
According to the United States Consumer Product Safety Commission, asbestos can be found in insulation of houses built (or remodeled) between 1930 and 1950, in textured paint and patching compounds whose use was banned in 1977, some vinyl flooring tiles, some roofing and siding shingles, older hot water pipes and furnaces.
According to Bobby Pelkey, of Rhine Demolition of Tacoma, the company handling the building demo, asbestos isn’t a big problem if it’s contained in materials like tile or widow putty, but if it’s part of insulation or “popcorn” ceiling tile, tearing it our could release the asbestos fibers that can cause cancer on exposure.
To protect themselves, workers wear fully enclosed suits and respirators. They tear out the hazardous material and seal it before removal. Inside the building itself, they construct a three-segment decontamination chamber, which includes a shower for removing any particles. The suits are bundled and sealed after they are taken off, as with the rest of the contaminated material.
The job is hazardous, no doubt, but says Pelkey, “As long as you take the proper steps to protect yourself, there’s nothing to worry about.”
According to crew supervisor David Schultz — who has been in the
demolition business and working with asbestos for 21 years now —
one of the biggest dangers of older buildings is unstable floor and
ceilings. Before demolition begins, the building is tested for
asbestos, and a walk through reveals potential hazards, such as a
ceiling likely to collapse.
It’s a living, and decent one at that, Schultz said. “I make a
comfortable living.”
And about that plastic wrap, it seals any asbestos fibers inside the building. So when the building comes down, the asbestos will have been removed. Voila a blank slate.
Once the demolition is complete, gone will be the entire
building, including this well-established collection of pigeon
poop.
What would you like to see on the property?
