Asbestos and Kitchen Remodels in Clark County

Asbestos is the question most likely to add a step to a kitchen remodel before demolition starts. In Clark County it is governed by two sets of rules at once: the local air agency's, which protect the public, and the state's, which protect workers. Both put the first responsibility on the property owner. This page sets out what they require as of October 2026.

Where asbestos turns up in kitchens

The EPA's list of places asbestos may be found includes several that sit in or next to a kitchen:

• "Vinyl floor tiles and the backing on vinyl sheet flooring and adhesives"
• "Textured paint and patching compounds used on walls and ceilings"
• "Walls and floors around wood-burning stoves protected with asbestos paper, millboard, or cement sheets"
• "Hot water and steam pipes coated with asbestos material or covered with an asbestos blanket or tape"
• "Attic and wall insulation produced containing vermiculite"

The Southwest Clean Air Agency (SWCAA) publishes removal guides for popcorn ceilings and sheet vinyl flooring, which tells you which materials come up most often locally. In a kitchen the usual suspects are layers of old sheet vinyl or tile under the current floor, the adhesive beneath them, and textured ceilings.

The EPA is direct about flooring: "Don't sand or try to level asbestos flooring or its backing." That matters for anyone planning a new floor, and it is covered from the flooring side in kitchen flooring options.

The Southwest Clean Air Agency rule

SWCAA 476-040(1)(a) states the duty: "Prior to performing any renovation activity, the property owner or the owner's agent must determine whether there are suspect asbestos-containing materials in the work area." Renovation means "the modification of any existing building, vessel, structure, component, or portion thereof, not including demolition", which includes a kitchen remodel.

If suspect material may be disturbed, the owner has two choices:

1. "Treat the suspect asbestos-containing material as presumed asbestos-containing material and handle it as asbestos-containing material", or
2. "Have an asbestos inspection conducted by an AHERA accredited building inspector".

The rule adds: "Only an AHERA accredited building inspector may determine, by performing an asbestos inspection, that a material is not a suspect asbestos-containing material." A contractor's opinion, or yours, does not clear a material.

There is no year after which a house is exempt. SWCAA 476-030(30) lists suspect materials, among them flooring material, mastics and textures, "regardless of year installed". Homes of any age fall under the rule, though older ones are more likely to have several layers to check. Our guide to kitchens by Vancouver home era describes what different decades of local housing tend to contain.

The state rule that sits alongside it

Washington's worker-protection law reaches the same result by a different route. RCW 49.26.013(1) requires an owner or owner's agent who authorizes a "construction, renovation, remodeling, maintenance, repair, or demolition project" with a reasonable possibility of disturbing asbestos to have "a good faith inspection" performed by an accredited inspector. The inspection is not required if the owner "is reasonably certain that asbestos will not be disturbed or assumes that asbestos will be disturbed" and takes maximum precautions.

L&I's guidance to homeowners is blunt: "As a homeowner, building owner, or a property manager acting as the owner's agent you are responsible for conducting a good faith inspection and providing the information to your contractor." It continues: "Work should not start until the copy of the inspection results has been provided. If a good faith inspection is not provided prior to the work starting, both the contractor and the property owner may be cited."

Who may inspect and who may remove

"Owner-occupant" is defined narrowly in SWCAA 476-030(24): an owner who "permanently or seasonally occupies a single-family housing unit both prior to and after an asbestos project". It excludes any building "that is leased, used as a rental, or for commercial purposes". Once you hire a contractor for the remodel, the owner-occupant exception by its terms no longer applies to that work.

On the state side, RCW 49.26.120 bars anyone from contracting with or permitting a person to remove or encapsulate asbestos unless it is done by a certified asbestos worker under a certified supervisor. A certified asbestos contractor must be registered under chapter 18.27 RCW and certified by L&I, which publishes a list of certified abatement contractors. A general remodeler is not automatically an abatement contractor. Registration itself is checked as described in how to verify a contractor in Washington.

L&I says a homeowner working in their own non-commercial residence is "exempt from general survey requirements", but adds: "you must still provide relevant information to contractors and other workers you bring in." SWCAA's requirements for owner-occupants still apply in Clark County, so read the two together. The wider limits on owner work are in DIY kitchen remodeling in Washington.

What it means for your schedule

The sequence is fixed even though the durations vary:

1. Survey. An AHERA accredited building inspector samples the suspect materials the remodel will disturb, and a lab analyzes them. This should happen during design, well before the demolition date.
2. If nothing is found, no Notice of Intent is needed. An "asbestos project" under SWCAA 476-030(7) is one that disturbs asbestos-containing or presumed asbestos-containing material. The report is posted on site and work proceeds.
3. If asbestos is found or presumed, "A SWCAA approved Notice of Intent to Remove Asbestos is required for all asbestos projects". The notification period is "10 days following submittal of a complete notification", and the project "may commence on the day following the notification period."
4. Removal. Material is kept "adequately wet", with no visible emissions, and sealed in leak-tight containers (SWCAA 476-060(1)).
5. Demolition and the rest of the remodel start after abatement is complete.

The 10-day period is the part homeowners do not expect. A positive result discovered the week before demolition pushes the start date, which is why the survey belongs early. Where it sits among the other phases is shown in how long a kitchen remodel takes.

What it means for cost

There are three possible cost items: the survey and lab analysis, SWCAA's notification fee, and abatement by a certified contractor if material has to come out. We have not verified SWCAA's current fee amounts. They are set in the agency's Consolidated Fee Schedule, so confirm the figure with SWCAA. Survey and abatement prices depend on how many materials are sampled and how much has to be removed, and we do not publish figures for them. Ask for these as separate line items when you compare kitchen remodel estimates, and check whether each bid assumes a clean survey.

Disposal is handled separately from ordinary remodel debris. See kitchen demolition debris and recycling in Clark County.

Planning with a contractor

Raise asbestos at the first meeting, and expect any contractor to ask for the survey report before work begins. JDI Construction handles permits and project management for the homeowner. To start that conversation, see our Vancouver kitchen remodeling page.