The Home Tribe Real Estate Blog

Asbestos. It’s a daunting word—especially when you learn that you may have it in your home. We all know that asbestos isn’t “good”, but what exactly does it mean for you if your home has it? As part of our Home Inspection Series, we’re diving into what exactly asbestos is, how you can test for it, and what it means for your home if the test comes back positive.

What is asbestos?

Asbestos is a naturally occurring, fibrous silicate material that has six types—all of which can be released into the atmosphere by abrasion or disruption. Asbestos is a highly-effective and inexpensive fireproof material that was used in home construction from the early 1940s through the late 1980s.

Is asbestos harmful?

The short answer is yes and no. Asbestos does have the potential to be harmful and cause a variety of long-term respiratory conditions if inhaled, but that doesn’t mean you should be worried if it is present in your home. The only time when asbestos can be harmful is if it is disturbed, becomes airborne, and is inhaled.

Note that asbestos isn’t easily disturbed and there is no reason to be worried if you learn that your home does indeed have asbestos in the drywall, floors or ceiling!

When should I test for asbestos?

Though it is not a part of the typical home inspection, it is still part of your due diligence. If your home was built before 1990, there is a high chance that asbestos may be present in your Edmonton home. But don’t fret yet! Just because your home may have asbestos doesn’t even mean you need to test for it—like mentioned above, it is only ever harmful when it gets disturbed and becomes airborne (like during a renovation or demolition).

You can test for asbestos at any time. This can happen years after owning your home or even before purchasing! If you are looking to test before purchasing, your realtor will negotiate with the seller to get special permission before closing. Because asbestos can be expensive to get removed, some buyers may walk away from purchasing a home if they were looking to do major renovations.

Who do I call to get asbestos testing?

Many of our clients have been through asbestos testing and used Edmonton-based companies to get it tested safely and quickly. Here are list of reliable asbestos testing companies our clients have used:

• Asbestos and Mold Removal Edmonton
• RH Services Inc.
• Environmental Monitoring Solutions
• Edmonton Asbestos Removal Pros
• Safety Coordination Services

The process of testing for asbestos

Though there are DIY testing kits that can be purchased online and sent to the lab for testing, we suggest that asbestos testing be done by a professional, always. Not only is it safer (which should be reason in itself), but it is often a faster turnaround for results.

On-site sampling prices vary from around $250 to $750, depending on the size of the home and the amount of areas sampled. And if you want to take it a step further and monitor the air in your home, that can cost you an additional $1000, approximately.

If asbestos is found in your home, there may be an additional cost to get it removed. In the spirit of transparency, it doesn’t tend to be cheap. Found on the Canadian Hazmat Environmental website, a 2,200 square foot home starts at about $9,000 for asbestos removal. It goes without saying that it can be a large expense and should be taken seriously! 

Because of the large cost of asbestos removal, it can be important to do testing before you purchase a home, especially if you plan to give your new home a facelift. It can save you money in the long run, and will give you peace of mind with your big purchase.

If you are in the market to purchase a fix’r up’r but want to learn more about asbestos, feel free to send us a message to get started. We are more than happy to set up a call, discuss your home buying plans and start your search with you.

The home-buying process is a great adventure, but furnishing your space is a whole other opportunity for fun. Though it can be an opportunity to be creative, it can also be time consuming and frustrating when trying to find furniture that meets your aesthetic and your budget.

What’s more, mid-century modern furniture and decor is back. And unless your grandparents have an attic full of beautiful, untouched, legitimate 1930s-1960s furniture, there is only one way to get your hands on mid century pieces… by thrifting it. Take a peak below for our suggestions of where to thrift vintage furniture in Edmonton! 

Roam Vintage Home

Price range: $$

Roam Vintage Home is an Edmonton-based vintage curator offering affordable, quality, vintage housewares and furniture. With a focus on large furniture like bedroom sets, seating and wall decor, you are sure to find unique pieces for your home. Roam Vintage Home’s business runs completely through Instagram, so it is a good idea to set notifications for posts and stories so that you don’t miss out on your perfect teak piece.

Roam Vintage Home is more than just a vintage reseller—the owner often shares their home renovations on their Instagram stories so feel free to ask questions if you see something you love or want to know more about.

Alexander & Rose

Price range: $

One of our favourite vintage sellers, Alexander & Rose sells mid-Century, antique pieces that oftentimes have some quirkiness to them. Unique to the rest of the businesses we will feature in this article, Alexander & Rose gets most of its stock through estate management!

The owner & curator, Zach, left the hospitality industry to work at his mom’s Estate Management company and became exposed to all the amazing collections through their clients. Now, he spends his days treasure seeking, buying and curating classic elements to sell directly through Alexander & Rose’s Instagram and at markets!

Thrift Sister

Price range: $

Just like the name sounds, Thrift Sister is run by two thrifty sisters who have an eye for thrifted items. Though a lot of their stock is vintage clothing (which you should totally check out), they often carry dinnerware, artwork and teak decor and accessories that will amp your bookcase up a notch.

Thrift Sister doesn’t have a storefront or a website (yet), however they often do pop-ups around the city. Give them a follow on Instagram to see their upcoming schedule!

Dom Deco

Price range: $$$

Dom Deco is a mid-Century modern dream. Located at 8213 56 Street and open by appointment only (for the time being), you will find high-end refinished furniture, cameras, books, barware, glassware and home decor.

What makes Dom Deco different are two things. First, if you have something on your wishlist, you can contact them with photos and dimensions and they will be on the lookout for your perfect match. Secondly, Dom Deco refinishes and repairs antique furniture, too! Their pricing is transparent and listed on their website.

Find Edmonton

Price range: $

Find is a social enterprise with two goals: providing essential furnishings free of charge to individuals and families who are moving out of homelessness, and supplying low-cost, quality furniture and housewares for sale to the public. Isn’t that cool?

You can shop Find through its online website or by going in person to its storefront. We definitely recommend giving Find a follow on Instagram because they have daily posts to their stories to introduce some of their newest stock!

Mission Thrift Store

Price range: $

Hope Mission is a volunteer-driven, non-denominational Christian organization that currently operates more than 50 thrift stores across Canada.

Though you are not likely to find a lot of big furniture items at the Mission Thrift Store, you will definitely be able to buy a lot of home decor and kitchen items there.

Consign Design Furniture & Decor

Price range: $$$

Long time local couple behind Consign Design, Lynne and John, are extremely passionate about design, fashion, furniture, and local business. Thus the birth of Consign Design, an Edmonton-based furniture and decor hub. Consign Design provides previously loved furniture and decor for Edmontonians who are conscious buyers who want one-of-a-kid pieces that are sustainable and cool!

What’s more—you can consign items of your own through them, to. All you need to do is send them a message to get started! If your item is a good fit for their inventory, Consign Design will sell on your behalf.

Lightly Loved

Price range: $$

Though Lightly Loved is based out of Stony Plain, the ~45 minute commute to pick up your items is always worth the drive. With a focus on bigger antique furniture items like bookshelves, lighting, dressers, tables and chairs, you will likely be able to furnish your entire home in a jiffy. 

You can shop Lightly Loved directly through their Instagram posts, or you can use the hashtag #shoplightlyloved to see which items are still available, since items tend to sell quickly! 

Bex Vintage

Price range: $$$

Bex Vintage sources unique vintage and mid Century home furnishings within Calgary and throughout Alberta. The company refinishes vintage furniture & decor to give them a second life another 50 years. 

Unlike any of the other companies featured in this article, Bex Vintage sells rugs in addition to other larger furniture items! Vintage rugs are often so hard to find, so be sure to keep an eye out for Bex Vintage’s beautiful retro, persian and imperial-style rugs.

More Than A Fad

Price range: $

We like More Than A Fad so much that we are featuring them for a second time! More Than A Fad is a thrift store in Edmonton raising funds for women in addiction recovery at Adeara Recovery Centre. As a women-owned business ourselves, we love More Than A Fad’s mission and enjoy supporting them.

You can thrift a variety of items from this store, but the Southside location is its biggest store that carries a lot of larger furniture items such as dressers, couches, mirrors, wall decor and filing cabinets. The items are not always Mid Century, but a fixer-upper piece can be fun to transform yourself!

Aside from furniture, More Than A Fad sells a lot of clothing—sometimes they even have a “fill your bag for $25” deal!

Brassy Beehive

Price range: $$$

Brassy Beehive sells Mid Century Modern & Vintage items in Edmonton. You can find high quality furniture, lighting, houseware, art, decor, toys, jewelry and more directly through their website or Instagram!

You can truly find anything you are looking for through Brassy Beehive. Though at the top of our pricing scale, the pieces this company sells are one-of-a-kind and will last a lifetime.

Facebook Marketplace

Price range: Open

The holy grail of secondhand shopping—Facebook Marketplace. We don’t even have to link it because we already know you all have a Facebook account!

The beauty of Facebook Marketplace is the algorithm. If you search “antique dresser” once, you will continue to see new posts of items with similar descriptions each day. Additionally, the algorithm easily learns what kind of products you would be likely to be interested in, and it even shows “Today’s Picks”—a curated selection of new items each day that you can shop through.