Is my plan to safely remove asbestos siding sound?

Question

After reading a some other questions I haven't found an answer similar enough for what I'm thinking about doing. So here goes.

Full disclosure up front. Before I even touch a single siding shingle, I'm going to check with local authorities to get the skinny on permits, disposal, and all that stuff. I know that alone may scotch my idea.

My house was built in 1920 and has asbestos siding all round. It's mostly in good shape, but frankly, I don't like the look of it. I want to replace it with hardiboard or some other type of cement fiber siding. I plan on doing this my self. Here is what I'm thinking about doing:

First, tyvek suits and a respirator mask and eye protection. I'm not going to take big risks on this project.
Second, carefully remove the asbestos shingles. They were just nailed on, and the majority of nail heads are raised enough to grab the nails without cracking or damaging the tiles. I'll be wetting the whole area down as I work to minimize dust. Third, once I remove a row on a wall, Hang cement fiber siding panels in place. Keep working row by row.

Anticipated problems: I'm by myself on this, so I won't be able to get a whole wall done at once. I'll be doing this mostly on weekends so It may take several months to complete. Given that amount of time, I don't want to just strip the house and leave it bare for a few seasons with only house wrap for protection. There isn't anything like insulation on the outside of the house, so I'm wondering how to do this right, but understanding my limitations on the time I can put in on this. Am I crazy? I'm pretty sure I'm missing something. Is there a better method and material that will serve with my time constraints. An alternative might be stucco.

Also considering putting something up over the top of the Asbestos Siding. Would this be possible or preferable.

Answer 1

WHAT...??? You can do this. You’re working on the outside of the house so you don’t need a tent or fans. (They have the fans going the wrong way anyway. If you were working inside the house, you want negative pressure not positive pressure. This is obviously not their forte.)

Keep it wet and try to do it without breaking it.

Stop by an asbestos abatement company and pick up a few disposal bags and find out how much it will cost you to have them dispose of your pieces of siding.

Answer 2

No.

Hire a licensed, EPA certified asbestos abatement company.

This is not a DIY job.

Asbestos exposure isn't like a disease or injury after which you heal. The risk is cumulative: the fibers stay in your lungs until you die of lung cancer or die of something else.

(Legal) disposal will be difficult, since your local landfill probably won't accept it. Instead, you'll need to hire a haz-mat disposal company.

Answer 3

I used to be a certified asbestos remover in Europe, where we have pretty stringent asbestos removal laws.

Usually it's only legal for a person to remove things alone under a certain quantity(3 big sheets of roofing for example) but at a certain volume or with certain materials(cloth, prone to breaking/turning to dust) you're required to hire a company who will do it per procedure.

Let's say you're somewhere where you will get a permit. You will need non tear holding bags marked with that the contents contain asbestos, this is not per se for you but for future generations that might find the bags and get warned about the contents.

Then, have non tear transparent bags that are also marked that they contain asbestos content

Then you need to cordon off the area where you'll be removing asbestos with asbestos marked tape and place signs that warn about the asbstos all around the area. Only asbestos removes in full asbestos removal gear may enter this area until the project is completed.

When you remove the tiles, if they have sharp corners you need to duct tape those corners so they won't pierce the bag side when the bag is lifted.
If the bag is pierced you must wrap it in a new bag.
If there is high risk of piercing you should start out with double bagging. Do not forget to duct tape sharp corners that could potentially pierce a bag wall.

When the bag is full enough but under the 20kg limit so it can be handled safely without back injury twist the top end close. Then use a zip tie or duct tape to close it up.
Snake it back so the rest of the plastic that's above the duct tape/zip tie is on the side of the duct tape then duct tape it again, making sure all exit openings are covered and no air can escape.
Put the bag carefully in the big asbestos bag to prevent tearing of already present bags, breaking of tiles, etc..

About the tiles, be very careful about removing the nails. If a tong even chips/chafes a tile a little bit when removing the nail you're releasing asbestos fibers into the wind through your entire downwind neighborhood.

You will need to clean the beams of any dust residue and you will need to drill out all the nail holes and gather the wood you drilled out as asbestos contaminated material.

If you have the possibility to cover the entire house with a tent, make sure you build a negative pressure tent, with an asbestos filter equipped fan, that sucks the air out of the tent so that if a hole appears in the tent, the negative pressure will prevent asbestos escaping.
When you are done for the day, cover the fan with the lid or plastic and duct tape it closed before turning the fan off.

Patch any holes immediately with duct tape that you also fixate with heavy duty spray can glue because duct tape on it's own is not adhesive enough on a plastic surface.

For the transporting asbestos out of the hazard zone you need to build a special sluice room where the bags can be washed down before being removed from the zone. Asbestos worker places bags into sluice and washes down bag. Worker closes sluice and worker from uitside opens sluice. Washes down bag again, and transports it to the big holder bag.

When done with the project wash the insides of the tent and all surfaces carefully with a wet cloth. Be liberal with water. Make sure all dust is gone. Throw the towels and buckets away as asbestos contaminated materials.

Any tools you used and do not plan to use for other asbestos projects need to be disposed off as asbestos material. If you plan to reuse them you need to seal them in an airtight container that you close off with duct tape.

Wrap up the fan inlet so it cannot release asbestos fibers.

Have a testing labratory come by to test your tent. If they give the ok clear, wrap up the tent and pack it up as asbestos containing material.

Make sure you closed up your asbestos containing white bags carefully with liberal use of duct tape and heavy duty spray can glue to make sure no air can escape.

Bring the bags to a asbestos deposit point(usually a big hole in the ground specially reserved for asbestos dumping)

Also, hire a asbestos changing cabin that has three sections.

1. Dressing room. This is where you undress from your normal clothes and put on throwaway clothes(underwear, t-shirt, socks)

2. Showers. This is where you thouroughly shower every inch of your body when done.

3. Suit zone. This is where you don your asbestos removal kit. A fresh white asbestos removal coverall. A face breathing mask with asbestos filters(Don't skimp on the filters otherwise you can just go in without mask) and asbestos removal work boots with iron noses, work gloves. Tape off with duct tape all the edges between suit and face mask, tape off between suit and gloves, tape off between suit and boots. No air may enter. Tape up your zipper too, all the way. When you're done for the day, in this cabin too,take off the suit and put it in an asbestos removal bag, DO NOT REMOVE YOUR FACE MASK OR PUMP during this procedure. Take off the gloves and put it in the bag, take off your clothes and put it in the bag. You should be naked now except for the air pump. Turn off the air pump, keep the mask on.
   Go to the shower cabin and wet yourself and the outside face mask and pump thoroughly.
   Screw the filter cap from the pump and wet the filter thoughtfully so it's soaked. Remove from the filter and throw it in the asbestos bag in the previous room.
   Remove mask and was the inside of the mask and the edges thoroughly, wash away any traces of dust.
   Hang up pump and mask to dry, wash yourself throughly, under nails, hair, ears, genitals, between toes, everywhere with soap and water for 5 minutes.
   Dry yourself off, Dry pump and mask with towel, dry shower with towel, throw towel into asbestos waste bag.

Now for my real advice: Pay someone the price of 10k-20k or so to remove the stuff for you in a safe way, saving you the above hassle, saving you from risking your health, and having it done in 2-3 days.

Answer 4

The asbestos shingles on a 1920’s house were typically applied over the original wood siding in the 50’s or 60’s. Thus, there is more than likely excellent existing siding hiding beneath. There is a small tool specially made for removing nails - five bucks at the hardware store. The siding to be removed has been painted many times and this coating minimizes risk. Asbestos siding itself is far less risky than insulation and blown-on coatings. Wear a mask, hose it down and remove the shingles. There is a market for the shingles for those wanting to repair theirs. Inquire with your municipality about hazardous waste disposal. In this matter I would ask forgiveness rather than permission. I have done this successfully with two houses I own in an historic 1920’ neighborhood.

Answer 5

Be as safe as possible and be as fast as possible.

If it is legal to do it then:

• Do not do it by yourself. Ask a couple friends to help you.
• Do it all at once, no unnecessary breaks.
• All of you wear appropriate protection. Do not hesitate to ask the specialist. No free skin.
• Use some soft and tough guard between the pliers and the tile.
• Paint the tiles to seal them. Try to avoid the nails, so the paint is not scratched or borken during the work with the tile.
• Keep them in water.
• Dispose them where they shall be disposed and carry them in the water.
• Ask friends to help you with new siding.

With 3 friends you are about to do this task in one weekend. By yourself it will take much more time.

Answer 6

Aside from the legality issue, there is a flaw in your plan. You cannot remove one row of shingles and then apply a new row. Shingles don't work like that. You have to do a section at a time. Shingles are overlapped from bottom to top so as to shed water. Let's say they're 12 inch shingles. You would start on the bottom and attach a row of shingles (or at least a partial row if you are doing a section only). Then you go up one row and attach a second, offsetting the seams between each shingles by 6 inches. The second row covers the nails used to attach the first row.

Also, you will almost certainly want to wrap the wall in either Tyvek or tar paper to protect from moisture. This barrier needs to be done in as large as pieces as possible to minimize seams and thus prevent leaks.

So to do this right, you really need to do a full section of a wall at a time.

Not sure where you live but most states have very strict laws on asbestos disposal which is why often the shingles (and also asbestos tile) is just thrown away in a regular construction debris dumpster. You might want to look into this aspect of the problem before you decide whether to do it, or at least whether to do it on the up and up.