The hard, brittle, shingle siding and roofing that was used on many homes before 1980 often contained asbestos and should be tested before being disturbed or removed.
If asbestos is found to be present, the following safety precautions should be taken if the siding or roofing is disturbed or removed. Asbestos remediation contractors are available to handle the safe removal of asbestos material.
When removing asbestos siding or roofing from your home:
Watch this video to find out more.
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Danny Lipford: Now, this is a very brittle type of material I’ve worked with it a lot over the years. And if you try to install vinyl sidings over this, it breaks up, falls down, and can make the siding look so bad once it’s all done.
So, what we’re going to do is to remove all of the siding all the way back to the original sheathing. Then we’re going to pump insulation in these outside walls, because with an older house like this, that has no insulation in the outside walls at all. Then we’ll be installing a housewrap over that for even more insulation value.
Now, it’s kind of misty out here right now which really plays to our favor. Because this siding contains a bit of asbestos, and part of the precautions in removing asbestos is to keep it nice and damp. That’s because the greatest danger of this material comes from breathing the dust.
So, once they’ve suited up in protective gear, they’ll soak the wall with a solution of water and liquid soap to keep it damp—suppressing the dust. As the pieces come off the wall, they’re soaked again before they are bagged and taped, so that they can be disposed off safely.
