Is It Required To Replace Asbestos Siding

A common remodeling practice is to install new vinyl or aluminum siding over cement asbestos shingle siding as well as over many other older siding materials when the old siding has become damaged leaky or cosmetically ugly.

Is it required to replace asbestos siding.

As long as this material is not disturbed it can stay on the walls of your house for a long period of time. If your asbestos siding is largely in excellent condition and you decide to keep it you may only a few pieces that are chipped or broken to replace. There is no legal requirement to do so nor is there significant real estate benefit. Installing vinyl siding will require disturbing the asbestos by nailing into it.

Cement asbestos siding tiles do not need to be removed simply because they contain asbestos. It is not reasonable to repair most roofs or siding that have suffered significant deterioration or damage. When asbestos siding is in good shape and you don t mind maintaining it. Both the epa and the vinyl siding institute recommend not disturbing asbestos if at all possible.

Cutting sanding or breaking asbestos cement tiles poses a distinct health hazard. The decision to repair and replace any siding that contains asbestos always carries a certain amount of risk with care required to not disturb and make friable any asbestos fibers. Asbestos siding was first introduced into the us in the early 1900 s by austrian engineer ludwid hatschek. It is available in a variety of sizes and shapes to match many of the old siding shingles installed over the last 60 years.

From about the 1920 s until the 1970 s hundreds of thousands if not millions of homes were built using asbestos cement siding. Weatherside fiber cement siding is the one and only solution for replacing or repairing old asbestos siding shingles. If you re looking to replace a few of the asbestos shingles on your home various manufacturers today make a fiber cement replacement product that looks exactly like older asbestos shingles. Asbestos siding does not rut burn or contracts.

Asbestos fibers can also settle on your clothing if you do break and disturb the material leading to the possible contamination of your home and anyone living in it if you bring the fibers inside. Unless asbestos siding is disturbed it doesn t pose a significant health hazard and does not need to be removed. When there is desire to remove it but there is no money to do it. A typical procedure is to install furring strips on the existing wall avoiding breaking the existing siding.

Then installing new material is 30 per hour plus the price of siding. Average cost to replace asbestos siding the average cost to remove dispose and replace 1 500 square feet of asbestos siding is between 11 000 and 24 000. In many cases it s possible to buy replacement asbestos siding manufactured to look like older asbestos siding shingles.