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Boy do I need help. As a 25 year resident of Phoenix, Az, I’m about to move to nothern Michigan where I’ve bought a 75 year old farmhouse. Its walls are covered with asbestos shingles. Can anyone direct me to material that tells me how to remove / dispose of these? I would like to put vinyl siding on and have been told that the asbestos needs to come off first.
Also, I pretty well understand how houses are built in the sun-belt, but have a lot to learn up here. Any particularly good books to recommend? Issues new to me range from snow load and ice dams on the roof to leaks in the basement.
Thanks for any help. This looks like a pretty useful site from some of the letters I’ve been reading.
Frank
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In Wisconsin a homeowner may remove his own asbestos shingles, and, at least in our area, the waste service will carry them off with no special treatment other than plastic bagging. Since asbestos is dangerous only when friable (breathable, I guess this means), you should have to do no more than wet down the shingles before prying them off, so as to prevent flying particles. The usual precautions with clothing and respirator as you'd take with other toxic materials would apply here as well. This has been a topic on this board before, and a search should turn up more information. Your state's environmental protection department should also be able to help you at
*Frank - I worked for a few years on a military base remodeling old buildings that had asbestos shingles. We were always taking them off and putting them on around windows/doors etc. Easiest way to remove them is to use a real stiff putty knife and hammer. Reach under the shingle with the knife and tap on the handle to cut the nails. Then the whole shingle will slide down without breaking and exposing you to any more dust than necessary.Barry gives good advice about wetting them down to limit airborne fibers.You still should be really carefull though. Consider some type of outdoor shower to rinse off, and I would even change cloths before coming in the house. Those fibers are bad news. - jb
*Opinions vary as to how dangerous the stuff is. A study of the wives of affected asbestos workers found they had no higher rate of ailments -- the theory is that they would have been exposed to chronic low levels of asbestos from washing the workers' clothes. So MAYBE the EPA went overboard saying the acceptable exposure is about zero.Please very careful! One tiny word of lawyerly caution -- inquire of the local gov't procedures without letting them know who you are at first. Some areas went really bonkers over asbestos and will make your life difficult if they know you plan to abate it. We have intect asbestos vinyl tile (the old package says "the luxurious beauty of vinyl backed by the durability of asbestos." uh-huh.) in the basement that I'm just going to floor over and forget about.I thought you could just side over it? the less it is disturbed the better. And old asbestos shingles -- there are a bunch around here -- seem to just turns to dust at the touch.
*Andrew,It's very dificult to nail siding nails through asbestos shingles, they break into pieces and fall into the panels below or just bend the nails and cause lots of yelling and screaming.With the usual questions about why didn't we just take this s**t off.Vince
*just a quick note----here in west michigan I have torn off many roofs that had asbestos roof shingles. We have had no problems with the disposal of the waste. The waste haulers we called said that this type of material was not considered to be a danger we could just go ahead and load it into the dumpsters with no real concern. The shingles do not give off much dust at all--wetting them down is a good precaution though. Pick a nice quiet day with no wind and you should not have any problems at all. Good luck in your move.
*Thanks! (These problems even with a gun?) i have become progressively less frightened of the material the more i know. A couple of years ago I was VERY concerned about the asbestos in the basement, now I've forgotten about it. the asbestos on the ductwork had to go though!If a complete tear-off is called for, it must depress the value of the house significantly. We took a pass on as asbestos-sided house around the corner.
*Andrew,Frank's post talks about vinyl and I don't shoot it to the wall.It has to be nailed loose to let it move.If you used wood I still wouldn't shoot it over the hard asbestos, same problems as hand nailing only more dangerous with possible ricohetting and breakage.I don't think removing it would depress the value at all,just the opposite.Vince
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Boy do I need help. As a 25 year resident of Phoenix, Az, I'm about to move to nothern Michigan where I've bought a 75 year old farmhouse. Its walls are covered with asbestos shingles. Can anyone direct me to material that tells me how to remove / dispose of these? I would like to put vinyl siding on and have been told that the asbestos needs to come off first.
Also, I pretty well understand how houses are built in the sun-belt, but have a lot to learn up here. Any particularly good books to recommend? Issues new to me range from snow load and ice dams on the roof to leaks in the basement.
Thanks for any help. This looks like a pretty useful site from some of the letters I've been reading.
Frank