Yes, in many cases: Colorado requires asbestos testing by a certified inspector before any demolition or renovation that disturbs more than a set amount of material, regardless of how old the building is. When a fire or water loss means tearing out and rebuilding, asbestos testing frequently comes first.
The detail that catches business owners off guard is that a required abatement carries a mandatory ten working day notification period before the work can begin. That waiting period sits directly in front of the reopening date, and it cannot be skipped by moving faster.
If a loss has closed your business, call 303-816-0068. American Restoration answers 24/7 across Lakewood and the mountain communities.
What Colorado Regulation 8 requires
Colorado Air Quality Control Commission Regulation 8, Part B sets the requirements for asbestos testing and abatement, and it is enforced by the state health department.
The Colorado Department of Public Health and Environment administers the rule. Its guidance is direct: an asbestos inspection must be conducted by a certified asbestos building inspector prior to renovation or demolition activities that meet regulatory requirements, and the only way to know whether a material contains asbestos is to have it tested by an accredited laboratory (cdphe.colorado.gov/apcd/asbestos).
American Restoration is a restoration contractor rather than an asbestos consultant or abatement contractor. The testing and any abatement are performed by separately certified parties. What follows is the general shape of the requirement, so a business owner understands why this step appears and what it does to the timeline.
Why building age does not exempt you
A common assumption is that only old buildings need asbestos testing. Colorado does not work that way.
The state’s position is that age does not grant an exemption. Asbestos still turns up in modern materials, including some imported drywall, joint compound, and floor tiles, so a newer building is not automatically clear. The narrow exception is a building constructed after October 12, 1988, for which the architect or engineer signs and submits documentation that no asbestos materials were specified or used, and CDPHE describes that exception as extremely rare.
For practical purposes, a commercial property facing demolition or significant renovation after a loss should expect that asbestos testing applies, rather than assuming the building’s age exempts it.
Asbestos testing trigger levels for commercial buildings
Asbestos testing and abatement become mandatory when the amount of suspect material disturbed exceeds set thresholds, and the thresholds for commercial buildings are specific.
For public and commercial buildings, the trigger levels are 260 linear feet on pipes, 160 square feet on other surfaces, or the volume equivalent of a drum. Below those amounts the abatement rules may not be triggered, though inspection is still commonly required as part of the permit process. Above them, certified abatement is required before the material is disturbed.
Those numbers reach quickly on a real commercial loss. A fire or a Category 3 water event that requires removing the lower drywall across several rooms, or stripping flooring across a retail floor, can pass 160 square feet of suspect surface material without difficulty. This is why asbestos testing is a routine early step on commercial restoration rather than a rare one.
The ten day waiting period
When abatement is required, a mandatory notification period stands in front of it, and this is the part that most affects a reopening timeline.
Where asbestos-containing material has to be removed, a Colorado-certified General Abatement Contractor must submit a notification and permit application to CDPHE, along with the fee, and a ten working day notification period is required before the work can commence. Ten working days is two calendar weeks before abatement even starts, and demolition and reconstruction wait behind the abatement.
For a business, that is potentially two weeks of the reopening timeline consumed by a regulatory clock that no amount of urgency shortens. Knowing it exists from day one is what allows the rest of the project to be planned around it, rather than discovering it after the demolition was supposed to begin. Whether you need a permit to reopen covers how this fits the larger reopening gate.
Why fire and water losses trigger it
Restoration disturbs building materials by its nature, which is exactly what the regulation is written around.
A fire loss means removing charred and smoke-damaged materials and rebuilding. A significant water or sewage loss means removing saturated drywall, flooring, and insulation. Both disturb the materials most likely to contain asbestos in an older building: floor tile and mastic, joint compound, pipe insulation, and certain ceiling materials. Because restoration demolition disturbs these materials above the trigger thresholds routinely, asbestos testing before that demolition is the norm on commercial jobs, not the exception.
This is also why testing has to happen before removal begins, not after. Disturbing asbestos-containing material without abatement spreads fibers and turns a manageable job into a contaminated one, which is the outcome the regulation exists to prevent.
Who performs the testing and abatement
Both the asbestos testing and any abatement are done by separately certified parties, not by the restoration contractor.
The inspection is performed by a CDPHE-certified asbestos building inspector, who collects samples and has them analyzed by an accredited laboratory. If abatement is required, it is performed by a Colorado-certified General Abatement Contractor working under the notification and permit process above. The restoration contractor coordinates around these steps and resumes once the space is cleared.
That separation is a protection for the business owner. The party testing for asbestos has no stake in the demolition scope, and the abatement is handled by specialists under state permit.
What a business owner should do
Assume asbestos testing applies, get it started early, and plan the reopening timeline around the notification period.
Raise asbestos testing at the assessment stage, before any demolition is scheduled. Expect that a commercial loss requiring significant removal will trigger it. Build the ten working day notification window into the reopening timeline from the start, so it is a planned step rather than a surprise delay. Keep the testing and any abatement documentation with the project records, because it is part of what the permit process and the insurance claim will reference.
American Restoration coordinates the restoration around the required testing and abatement, so the regulatory steps and the physical work are sequenced rather than colliding.
The bottom line
Colorado Regulation 8 requires asbestos testing by a certified inspector before demolition or renovation that exceeds the trigger levels, regardless of building age, and required abatement carries a ten working day notification period that sits directly in front of reopening.
On a commercial loss that means testing is an early, routine step, and the smartest thing an owner can do is plan for it from day one. If a loss has closed a business in Lakewood, Morrison, Evergreen, Conifer, Pine, Bailey, Kittredge, or Littleton, call 303-816-0068.
