Inside any old building that's falling apart, you need to be wearing a respirator with p100 cartridges, plain and simple. Why? Because you never know what you'll encounter and what you're being exposed to. But I can tell you these things:

It's almost guaranteed that you'll be exposed to friable asbestos, and you're kicking up the dust just by walking around. Asbestos pipe insulation is very recognizable and easy to spot, so learn what it looks like, and in any old abandonment its almost always torn up, crumbling and falling off the pipes. Asbestos is also a component of old floor and ceiling tiles, wall paneling, stippled ceilings, cement roofs, shingles, and much more. If any of those are crumbling to dust in an old building, there's a good chance that they're contributing asbestos fibers to the environment as well.

But even if there were no asbestos, there are plenty of other reasons to be wearing a respirator. There will be peeling paint and paint chips/dust everywhere, and you're almost certainly dealing with lead paint. That's another thing you don't want to be breathing for obvious reasons.

As has already been pointed out, both asbestos and lead are long-term concerns (although acute exposure can certainly produce undesirable health outcomes in the short term). However, there are also very immediate concerns, such as breathing mold spores (black mold is particularly bad, extremely common, and easy to spot; learn what it looks like), high concentrations of bird guano, PCBs, other chemical vapors/aerosols, and more.

Even if you're wearing a respirator, you'll still be exposed to these contaminants to some degree because they'll settle in your hair, clothes, etc. The point is to minimize it as much as is practicable.

Don't be an idiot. Wear a mask. You'll get used to it, you'll probably look even cooler (if you're concerned about that), and you'll breathe easier, as it were.

Wearing a respirator alone will get you no where .You need a suit that you take off long before you get to your car. If your one of those people that wear ONLY breathing protection YOU WILL CONTAMINATE YOUR CAR,DRAG THE ASBESTOS BACK TO YOUR HOME AND OR FAMILY AND SPREAD IT IN YOUR HOME. Buy a suit and wash down before taking it off and leave it by the building and then go to your car.

Posted by THWN2 Wearing a respirator alone will get you no where .You need a suit that you take off long before you get to your car. If your one of those people that wear ONLY breathing protection YOU WILL CONTAMINATE YOUR CAR,DRAG THE ASBESTOS BACK TO YOUR HOME AND OR FAMILY AND SPREAD IT IN YOUR HOME. Buy a suit and wash down before taking it off and leave it by the building and then go to your car.

Or, and hear me out, I keep my respirator in my pack and never actually wear it when exploring asbestos- laden buildings like literally every other explorer I've met. If we end up seeing a mass die-off of explorers in 30 years from mesothelioma I'd hate to be left out of the party after all.

Posted by THWN2 Wearing a respirator alone will get you no where .You need a suit that you take off long before you get to your car. If your one of those people that wear ONLY breathing protection YOU WILL CONTAMINATE YOUR CAR,DRAG THE ASBESTOS BACK TO YOUR HOME AND OR FAMILY AND SPREAD IT IN YOUR HOME. Buy a suit and wash down before taking it off and leave it by the building and then go to your car.

I was really hoping the pandemic would normalize wearing full body hazmat suits and gas masks in public, but no such luck.

Posted by EnvoyToTheMolePeople I was really hoping the pandemic would normalize wearing full body hazmat suits and gas masks in public, but no such luck.

I’m hoping masks in public stay a normalized thing.

I don’t wanna go all tinfoil hat on y’all, but facial recognition/a.i./public surveillance is getting craazy.

Posted by THWN2 Wearing a respirator alone will get you no where .You need a suit that you take off long before you get to your car. If your one of those people that wear ONLY breathing protection YOU WILL CONTAMINATE YOUR CAR,DRAG THE ASBESTOS BACK TO YOUR HOME AND OR FAMILY AND SPREAD IT IN YOUR HOME. Buy a suit and wash down before taking it off and leave it by the building and then go to your car.

Never even thought about this, thanks for pointing it out. However, most suits I looked at are (for obvious reasons) colors that really stick out and would make getting spotted at some places significantly easier. Any recommendations to mitigate that?

Posted by Anipad68 Never even thought about this, thanks for pointing it out. However, most suits I looked at are (for obvious reasons) colors that really stick out and would make getting spotted at some places significantly easier. Any recommendations to mitigate that?

Sticking out may work in your favor. Most people aren't going to try and stop a person in a full hazard suit and ask what they're up to.