Handling asbestos siding

A client has asked me to install a new window in his old house, and the house is sided with what I believe to be asbestos siding.
I am concerned about handling this stuff, considering its asbestos content. I’ll have to remove a lot of the siding to frame the window, and then cut it to re-apply.
Just how dangerous is this product? Is there a safe way to cut it? Is a simple face mask adequate protection for me and my crew?
Thanks for any and all advice!
Bill
Replies
It is fragile and has to handled with care. The asbestos is usually bound in the concrete and not a direct risk. (Asbestos is hazardous when it is "friable": i.e. breaks off microscopic particles.)
Don't abrade it.
Use a good quality respirator, don't wear your work clothes indoors.
Check with local authorities for any locally applicable laws.
See, e.g., http://www.epa.gov/opptintr/chemtype.htm#asbestos
Edited 10/7/2002 9:03:54 AM ET by Bob Walker
Bob's right, Bill. I've worked with it a lot. It's really a good
siding as long as it's not disturbed. It holds paint very well.
Replacement siding is still available at the lumber yard here in Georgia. My town has hundreds of 1955 vintage homes that still have this siding. You'll break about half of the pieces replacing a window. I've had good luck with a hacksaw blade slid in behind the lower course to cut the nails behind the panel.
There's a monster shear available at the rental yards to cut the stuff. It also has a hole punch built in. For a window job, I'd
probably try to find replacement sheets - the new stuff doesn't have asbestos - and cut it with a masonry blade. Still need a good respirator. A little acrylic bonding primer, and you're good to go.
Good luck. Greg.
It's not potassium cyanide or Sarin. Just wear a dust mask and vacumn your self off for a simple small job like this. Normal procedure for any dusty product.
Excellence is its own reward!
Thanks for your input. My limited knowledge of this product is consistent with your opinion.
I'll tell the client that I'll remove it, carefully, but won't re-install it. I don't like the idea of cutting the stuff, because this is definitely going to produce a lot of dust.
We'll find another siding product that's safe.
There's a lot of this siding hanging on houses in Southern Ontario. Is there a product on the market that has the same appearance?
Bill
If you are going to be doing much of this, get a shear. I've got one and it only cost me 38bucks - several years back.
Yes, as was mentioned earlier in the thread, there is a company making cement look-a-likes. I think it is Celotex or Certainteed.
No need for the family to worry, unless they are looking over your shoulder. You will make minimal dust removeing them, most of it heavy enough to fall to the ground. It is the fine stuff, when aspirated, that finds its wqay into lung tissue. There, it causes scar tissue that hardens the lungs and can lead to other health problems. Most of the time, this is with continual exposure, not from having a window replaced. Remove the adjacent siding before you take the window out to keep fine dust from entering the living space.
I worked around it for years. I do have minor respiratory problems but they are unrelated to asbestos, according to my doctors. .
Excellence is its own reward!
It causes cancer... that is why the EPA has specific guide lines for it`s handleing... but if you must here are a few pointers....
1.dust suits like painters use,,, with gloves,,,and head cover... tape all seams, 2.. a particulate dust mask, and eye protection... after handleing the product. you must wash down in a comtaminated to clean area..which consists of a 2 barrier plastic shower down area and a clean dry down area.... the contaminated water must be contained and disposed of properly...as well as the contaminated clothing and filters...but while you are working with the stuff you must have a double protected enclosed enviornment with a mister spraying water ,to weigh down the particles that become airborn.... these are just a few pointers.... the best one...Leave It Alone...Mark
Put it in context.
Those are all recommendations for handling it in its friable state when it make sdust that might be inhaled. If it were that dangerous, It would already have been removed from all these buildings..
Excellence is its own reward!
And quit smoking. Inhaling asbestos is statistically a lot more dangerous if you smoke than if you don't.
I love junk science! Let me see...smoking increases the risk of asbestos related injury? Or is it that smokers tend to take less interest in their health in general which leads to the higher incidence rates of cancer, mesotheleoma, etc.?
Mike O.
"Tobacco smokers who have been exposed to asbestos have a "far greater-than-additive" risk for lung cancer than do nonsmokers who have been exposed, meaning the risk is greater than the individual risks from asbestos and smoking added together."
http://www.atsdr.cdc.gov/asbestos/asbestos_effects.html
I won't say government agencies never engage in junk science, but the CDC seems to have a better reputation than, e.g. the EPA.
Edited 10/13/2002 12:28:44 PM ET by Uncle Dunc
Agreed...I was just making the point that you can't always believe what you hear, see or read. Neither of those carcinogens (toxins in tobacco or asbestos) are good for you...combined, they seem logically worse.
Now, if you want to talk about the relationship between lottery playing and myocardial infarctions....
Mike O.
Short version,
cig smoke impairs the body's attempts to heal itself with regeneration of healthy tissue. More scar tissue forms around fibres and is more likely to calcify. .
Excellence is its own reward!
How about smoke particles adhering to the small asbestos fibriles and increasing the ability of the lungs to collect theM? Granted, there is a minimum size that the hairs in the nose & other filtering devices can cull out, and the dangerous asbestos fibrils are a lot smaller than that. 200 microns is the mean effective diameter, or some such nonsense, I think. However, get too small, and they may not stick around - they would be ejected on the exhale. Add smoke particles, and they may just become optimum size. And more "sticky." The dangerous fibriles are long, skinny rods w/ frizzy ends. They apparently hit the walls and bore in like drill bits.
DonThe GlassMasterworks - If it scratches, I etch it!
I would also be very leery of having anyone who worked for you doing anything with it. You can get into lots of workers comp, and OSHA problems when employee's are involved.
If you are anything other than a one man show, leave it for someone else.