How Do You Know If There Is Asbestos In Siding

You can t drive screws and nails through them without pre drilling.

How do you know if there is asbestos in siding. How do you know if it s even asbestos siding. These materials are known as fiber cement siding and they contain no asbestos. If your siding is in good condition and intact the asbestos poses a relatively low health risk to your home and the environment. Check the manufacturer and product name on the insulation label and do a web search to find out if it contains asbestos.

You just simply carefully take off the old damaged shingle and put the new one in it s place. If you are handy you can do it yourself there are many videos online. If your siding fits either of these descriptions you should consider having it tested. I send 1 pieces to western analytics and for only 30 they ll send me a report detailing if there is asbestos and if so what kind and how much.

If you find that you do in fact have asbestos in your exterior siding there are several things you can do to make your home safe. Let the siding dry then prime and paint with the best exterior latex you can find. Cementitious siding installed after 1973 is very unlikely to contain asbestos. Asbestos shingles are relatively strong but brittle.

These shingles are generally 12 by 24 inches and the bottom tends to have a wave like pattern though that is not always the case. There are always the usual suspects but the surest way to tell is to grab a small chunk and have it tested. Gaf and other manufacturers make asbestos free shingles that match the old ones. The date of the building or material can also tell you a lot about asbestos risk.

Identifying asbestos siding the only way to be sure if your siding has asbestos in it is to collect a sample and send it to an accredited testing lab. Covering old asbestos shingles with new siding may seem like an option too but it s not easy to do safely. There is no legal requirement to do so nor is there significant real estate benefit. Testing your siding for asbestos.

Asbestos wasn t always added to cement siding and there s no way to tell from a visual test or physical inspection on site if siding really does have asbestos in it. Buildings made between the 1940s and the 1980s are very likely to have used asbestos materials. The first option is to do nothing.