What’s next for Punta Gorda hotel with asbestos?

Donald Woods comes to Gilchrist Park to watch the boats, but he sits next to hotel rooms and an asbestos-filled restaurant.

“It’s bad for you to breathe in,” Woods said.

The owner of the Punta Gorda Waterfront Hotel and Suites and Hurricane Charley’s Raw Bar and Grill has chosen Pece of Mind Environmental to remove the mineral.

• RELATED: Asbestos delays Punta Gorda hotel demolition

What does that removal look like?

“Everything that we do has to be done wet,” said Adam Bowling, president of ACME Asbestos Abatement and Remediation. “The wetter it is, the less chances that the person working with the material or the people in the general area are going to be exposed to these airborne fibers that are floating around from the asbestos being disturbed.”

The water contains a surfactant to make it more effective against the small asbestos fibers.

Air filters are also frequently changed throughout the building.

“We probably do five to ten changes per hour to filter out any of the particles that are floating around in the air,” Bowling said.

So, how do workers keep asbestos from spreading?

They have a dirty room, a shower room and a clean room.

The dirty room is for workers to change clothes and store their tools.

The shower room is a transitionary room for workers, and the clean room is where workers can go after they have cleared out the asbestos in another room.

Asbestos contractors are also required to seal up all windows with six mil plastic.

The owner of the hotel and restaurant is responsible for the asbestos until it gets to the landfill where the landfill then becomes responsible.

“As we move that material, everything gets bagged up into six mil bags, double bagged, labeled and sent to the landfill,” Bowling said. “They have to place it in a special hole and bury it right away.”

This is easing Woods’ mind so he can stay nearby and watch the boats.

“I guess as long as you get a contractor to do it the right way, and it’s not outside spreading around or whatever,” said Woods. “It should be good to go.”

Bowling also said if the asbestos abatement is done correctly, people don’t have to be concerned.

Owners do not have to check for asbestos in their buildings regularly.

They are only required when they are remodeling or demolishing their building.

WINK News reached out to the Florida Department of Environmental Protection and Pece of Mind Environmental to find out their process for asbestos abatement.

We have not heard back yet.