Asbestos Siding

bill6078

I'm siding my house with vinyl, however there is old asbestos siding on the kose currently with an old wood siding underneath that. Would you tear off all the old siding and start new or would you side right over the old asbestos siding.

go dart

that siding will be so britle by now it will break up when nailing the new. if possible remove it but dumping it may be a problem, check with your local landfill first then decide.

Sal616

more times than not you leave it, really depends on the condition of it though, here you have to have an abatement company remove it, and that is a pretty nice expense, special EPA approved dump and such too, but you have to do what is right for the long term, if you dont think siding can be properly installed over it, than yu should spend the extra $$$$ to have it removed, if not 98% of the time you "encapsulate " it (go over it).

Bob Kovacs

My whole subdivision (around 350 houses) was built in the 50's and every house had the asbestos shingles. When they get re-sided with vinyl, the contractors nail up fanfold insulation using just enough nails to keep it in place, and then run the siding over it. The nails crack the asbestos, but the pieces are retained by the fanfold, so they don't cause any problems. I'd say 95% of the houses have been vinyl sided, so it's obviously not causing any problems.

Bob

TimNJ

This goes back a few years. I did a major remodel on a house with asbestos on it and the HO wanted it gone. I called the DEP and they said call Dept of Community Affairs (regulates construction in NJ). They told me all I had to do was: lay plastic around the foundation of the house, take a hose and wet the siding as it was being removed, place in 6 mil bags, have approved hauler take it away. Approved hauler: drop off dumpster, line dumpster with 2 layers of plastic, place bags in dumpster, when finished fold plastic over and tape with a label with the address of where it came from.
I asked the dumpster guy where he takes it thinking it was going to some special dump. Nope, just to the regular dump. They dump asbestos first so all the other garbage covers it right away.
My union friend had to take asbestos abatement classes and he told me that siding only has about 5% asbestos in it.
Call your state, if the regulations haven't changed that much from above, I would get rid of it now while it is still easy to do.