first it was bikes outside your front door and now sick wine bottles near yours! 
You can forget about collecting an insurance settlement for the bottles being a total loss due to being covered in asbestos dust. Their response will be the same as mine: wash the bottles off.
Absolutely wear a mask and gloves while doing it, and wear crappy clothes that you’re ok with throwing out if you want to. But your insurance company will laugh their asses off at you if you submit a claim because your bottles have asbestos dust on them. You’ve had more exposure to asbestos dust over the decades of tear downs in Chicago than you’re going to get washing your bottles off.
I seriously doubt that a reputable insurer, such as Chubb, would recommend that action in response to a bonafide claim, especially in writing. Mishandling or storing items potentially contaminated with a known hazardous material can affect insurability, especially if the items are brought home before certified remediation.
My issue is not the asbestos. It’s that they’re Rob’s bottles
Be prepared to found a pile of Divvy bikes outside your apartment door.
YIKES! Really sorry to hear this, Rob. Scary and infuriating all at once.
Joanne and Umberto from your place came to mine (the other StrongBox location on Orleans which is now called Chicago Northside Storage) after the sale. I’ll bet they’re glad they aren’t there anymore. Nice people.
Be careful whatever you do!
Great to hear, Debbie! Everybody like JoAnne and Humberto.
This whole thing has my head spinning.
Glad to hear that Joanne ended up at the Orleans location. I stored at the Strongbox on Irving for years and she was a delight to work with. She really took pride in that place, and was always helpful. We moved out of town shortly after the sale to LockUp, and the place was never quite the same without her.
Sorry to hear that this has happened to everyone storing at Irving Park. It really sucks. Is LockUp management being at all communicative?
It was probably the special brownies.
I have a hard time believing that asbestos dust laying on the surface of an item would be considered permanently and irrevocably contaminated. If that were true, then every building that had asbestos insulation would have to be demolished and replaced.
Exactly John.
Nobody said anything of that sort about permanent damage.
Says the guy advocating an insurance claim for total loss.
I would prefer to file that claim than to assume the personal effort of remediation.
Missing the point - so you clean the bottles - then you have to clean the racks, boxes, floors, walls and ceiling. And then you need to be certain that the vents and entire HVAC system have been cleaned properly. And then you have to make sure that everybody else’s bottles, etc have been cleaned, or else the threat of fugitive dust exists, which will re-contaminate all of the above.
Not impossible to clean everything, but some de minimis risk exists. Not a risk I would want to take - or pay for the cleanup either.
Exactly.
You are likey both correct and incorrect. The bottles can likely be remediated (cleaned). However, asbestos is dangerous when it is friable (dry, loose, crumbly, dust, etc) and potentially airborne. Buildings containing asbestos may be fine if it is properly managed. Often asbestos is encapsulated in place or otherwise made non-friable and managed rather than removed.
If multiple, unaffiliated, and perhaps conflicting parties are involved in the site AND content remediations, each one may not feel assured that such remediations will be sufficiently thorough to eliminate all except de minimus risk.
If the remediations are poorly supervised and incompletely done, remnant asbestos may cause recurrent contamination events----perhaps to the same bottles. Hence, an insurer might find that is throwing good money after bad, and that paying a total-loss claim and disavowing any recovery claim on the bottles are the cheapest resolution.
For that reason, a total-loss claim is not equivalent to permanent bottle damage.
By the way, this was their initial notification to all customers the day after they were closed—
As you know, we are in the midst of a significant renovation to upgrade the Lock Up Self Storage property located at 1650 W Irving Park Road. When finished, the facility will have enhanced lighting, a new modern elevator, all new heating and cooling equipment and the hallways and common areas will be fully carpeted. Hopefully the work already completed has enhanced your experience.
Earlier this week, when removing a small amount of old pipe related to the abandoned furnace system, our contractor noticed that the insulation around the piping looked questionable. We called in an environmental specialist, who indicated the insulation contained some contaminants.
In an abundance of caution, we called in an environmental remediation firm to clean up any debris. We are closing the facility to customer access until we receive the “all-clear” that any debris has been removed and the area has been properly cleaned.
We apologize for any inconvenience. Our staff will remain on site to help in any way possible. While the timing of re-opening remains uncertain, we have been advised that parts of the building should be available again by mid-late next week.
And following was my reply—
Did you enlist the services of a qualified asbestos remediation firm to take care of this situation? Did they check every square inch of the wine storage area? You have a drafty old facility, and dust can travel anywhere inside or outside the structure. In that the other floors are not yet open, I would be concerned that dust could travel down from these other areas.
I do not see how the lower floors could be safe at this time.
Do you have written certification of complete asbestos remediation from The City of Chicago Building Department that we all could see?
And their reply yesterday—
The City has inspected our basement and first floor and has approved such floors to be opened. Our 2nd floor, as well, as our 3rd floor are closed at this time to undergo an environmental test in which the City will return to inspect prior to opening both floors.
We apologize for any inconvenience
We will be emailing all our tenants when we are notified as to when 2nd and 3rd floor are open.
As I am not insured, this will be most ugly, I fear.
As you know, we are in the midst of a significant renovation to upgrade the Lock Up Self Storage property located at 1650 W Irving Park Road. When finished, the facility will have enhanced lighting, a new modern elevator, all new heating and cooling equipment and the hallways and common areas will be fully carpeted. Hopefully the work already completed has enhanced your experience.
Earlier this week, when removing a small amount of old pipe related to the abandoned furnace system, our contractor noticed that the insulation around the piping looked questionable. We called in an environmental specialist, who indicated the insulation contained some contaminants.
In an abundance of caution, > we called in an environmental remediation firm to clean up any debris. We are closing the facility to customer access until we receive the “all-clear” that any debris has been removed and the area has been properly cleaned.
We apologize for any inconvenience. > Our staff will remain on site to help in any way possible. > While the timing of re-opening remains uncertain, we have been advised that parts of the building should be available again by mid-late next week.
The two red-highlighted statements are inconsistent.