[quote=UCGal]
I agree it’s not a bad DIY job – but do you want to risk asbestosis if there is asbestis in it? I don’t. But the risk is relatively easily mitigated with filter masks and containment of the debris from the rest of the house.

Also there’s the fact that it is illegal to put asbestos in the regular landfill.
[/quote]
Boy I’m really gonna get torched for this one, but: If you don’t have any reason to believe there is any asbestos in your ceiling scrapings, just put the stuff in trash bags in your regular curbside pickup. It’ll go to a landfill where it will be buried under a mountain of other trash and dirt and no one will ever, ever get asbestosis from it.

A whiff of asbestos particles will not give you asbestosis, just like smoking a few cigarettes will not give you lung cancer. Truth be told, both might kill you, but both are low probability. Work with asbestos or smoke regularly and you are taking a real chance. It’s hard to imagine just how many people worked regularly with asbestos for many years, sanding and scraping the stuff daily. The stuff ain’t cyanide. Personally I would rather risk a day’s worth of exposure to asbestos than go through the headaches and expense of hiring an asbestos mitigation contractor. But everyone chooses their own risk.

I speed regularly, but I don’t smoke, and I wear ear plugs when sawing tile. I also use a wet saw, and it sickens me to see hardscape contractors using dry diamond saws to cut concrete bricks. You know how much nice, fine silica dust is thrown into the air from a dry diamond saw? Silicosis, anyone? Cough, cough.