Vinyl Siding for Mansard Victorian? Or keep asbestos?

12 years ago

I'm trying to decide what to do with the asbestos siding on my house. Aside from a couple broken pieces, the asbestos siding should paint well, according to the painters I've spoken with. However, the siding also has these nails that are loose and slightly proud of the shingle. I wonder if these nails will look bad if I decide to just repaint.

Another option would be to encapsulate the asbestos in some kind of higher quality vinyl. I've look at the CertainTeed and Premium Pointe 360 websites, but I haven't seen any of these in person yet. I have seen some vinyl shakes on a neighbor's house that look incredibly realistic.

What would you do? Paint the asbestos? Encapsulate with vinyl?

Paint it. Painted asbestos will look great.

Paint it. Painted asbestos will look ok.

Vinyl siding with straight edges

Vinyl siding with cedar shakes/shingles

Other

Featured Answer

Jessica Mack

11 years ago

last modified: 11 years ago

From my experience, asbestos siding is brittle and therefore the nails will stand a little proud because if you try to get them even or accidentally miss when hammering you will shatter the tile. Unless the nail is sticking out a LOT, just ignore it. When you are ready to paint, make sure the surface is clean (you can hose it off with a sprayer and let it dry). If there is any bubbling, or loose paint, carefully scrape it off (wear protective gear for this part) and dispose of it carefully. Once you have the area prepped - clean and any loose or bubbling paint removed, and it is completely dry, then simply follow the directions on whatever paint you choose to use. Usually for outdoor applications they recommend checking the weather to make sure it won't rain and also to check the humidity since if it is too high your paint won't dry quickly. Also if it is too cold your paint won't adhere properly. Cold shouldn't be a problem at this time of year in the USA. You should get the trim, tight areas, and corners with a brush and you can use a roller to get the larger expanses of tile. This website seems to have a pretty good set of directions: http://www.asbestossiding.org/painting-asbestos-siding/

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Comments (23)

User
12 years ago
Do you live on the one side and rent out the other? I probably would not put too much money into it. I would just paint it.

It's unique. Kind of cool looking. I bet it will clean up nice.
Jessica Mack
12 years ago
last modified: 12 years ago
The house I grew up in has asbestos tiles like those and we've looked into having them replaced with siding after a car struck the house and broke one of the tiles. Although many companies make tiles out of other materials that look the same no one makes them the same size as the ones we had. So instead of replacing a single tile we'd have had to replace them all due to the difference in sizes. The cost was way beyond our means due to the whole asbestos removal aspect. But as long as we keep a good coat of paint on them to keep them sealed, they are safe and look fine. We ended up spackling the broken spot and painting over it. By the way, if you are repainting asbestos, wear protective gear if you have to brush or scrape any old paint that's bubbling/flaking.
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bungalowmo
12 years ago
last modified: 12 years ago
Vinyl is a big no-no in my book on any old house.

It's nasty when it's made, & it's even nastier if (God forbid) there was ever a fire. People think asbestos tile is bad....vinyl is worse!

I chose paint it!! :0)
hayleydaniels
12 years ago
bungalowmo is right about vinyl. My husband has been a firefighter for 30 years, and this is what he told me when I brought up vinyl siding: it's a petroleum product so it burns a lot hotter than a normal fire because the heat can't escape from the house as in a normal fire. A hotter fire is going to cause more damage. It also produces much deadly smoke because of being made out of petroleum so should you be caught in it, you're much more likely to die of smoke inhalation. He out and out refuses to even consider using it for those reasons, and I agree with him.
PRO
Old House Guy LLC
12 years ago
Asbestos will not make your house beautiful but it's better than plastic siding. The more layers you apply to your house will flatten and reverse the shadow lines making the building look bland if not weird. For appearance paint what you have. Stay away from the plastic. You may be interested in a video called "Blue Vinyl". People die from that stuff.
Lindsay
12 years ago
I am assuming the vinyl would end up over the top of the asbestos. This will create all kinds of potential for water damage around the edges, especially around your windows. Because it is a second layer, no matter how they try to seal it, water is likely to get in and you might not notice rot until it is too late.
User
12 years ago
Remove the siding properly and replace it with authentic shingles.
PRO
Linda
12 years ago
What is your budget? Ideally, you would remove the asbestos siding and (hopefully) uncover the original siding which could then be scraped and painted. But, I wouldn't spend a high percentage of my total budget to remove the asbestos. It looks just fine painted and even those nails won't be all that noticeable when painted.

I definitely agree with above - no vinyl siding on an old house! It isn't right and will never look right.

For the few places with damage, you can use Bondo - car body filler - to fill in the holes. But, you have to do it right the first time since you can't just sand it off without potentially damaging the asbestos. Sometimes you need to let the filler harden a bit so you can shape it without it being a gooey mess.
new_homeowner
Original Author
12 years ago
Why is vinyl siding such a big no-no?

Don't they make really nice, incredibly realistic vinyl siding these days?
bgfuqua
12 years ago
no vinyl - it cheapens your house,
PRO
Construction Guaranteed
12 years ago
You can easily replace the loose, broken or missing tiles with new replacement tiles. The simple answer is to use an elastomeric paint that has superior qualities and durability. Some companies offer lifetime warranties on their materials.
Jessica Mack
12 years ago
Construction Guaranteed - you can only replace the broken tiles if they make a modern tile in the same size as the originals. My parents got quotes from 5 different companies to repair the damage done by that car in the photo above. Not one of the companies could find a source that carried modern tiles in the same size as the originals. There weren't even any that made a larger tile which could be cut down to size. Now given, this was 3 years ago and maybe someone has something on the market now that wasn't available then. But the bottom line was that they all told us our choice was basically to remove everything from that side of the house and replace it with a modern siding that would not exactly match the other three sides of the house.
PRO
Old House Guy LLC
12 years ago
My friend bought an old house. He himself removed the asbestos. Under that he found cedar shakes that were installed during the 1920's. He removed them. Under that was the original clapboard from 1838. Only a few boards had to be replaced. That wood is like iron. The house looks awesome now. Some vinyl info: http://www.oldhouseguy.com/vinyl-siding
bungalowmo
12 years ago
Old House Guy....I probably like your friend! hehe

I guess I'm just a purist when it comes to old houses. There was a post here I read recently re something about changing up an old house. Don't recall who it was that replied, but these words ring true:
Just as in the medical oath..."above all, do no harm". (or something like that!)

I'm just a firm believer in preservation....if it's original, and not beyond repair, leave it be! Fixing & restoring is one thing, ripping out is a sin.
new_homeowner
Original Author
12 years ago
I'm not sure if I can afford the upkeep of wooden siding...And to remove asbestos, I would need to give the state 10 days notice, which I don't have because I need the work finished within the next 2 weeks. I've heard a few stories of people finding beautiful wood siding underneath their asbestos, but I haven't heard of anyone finding rotted, unsalvageable siding underneath asbestos. Which scenario do you think would be more likely to happen if I remove the asbestos?

Here are some pictures of other houses with asbestos. How do you think they look?

ASBESTOS siding:
new_homeowner
Original Author
12 years ago
Here are houses with either vinyl or wood siding. Can you tell which are vinyl? Do find them cheap looking or ugly?
new_homeowner
Original Author
12 years ago
Ok, I've decided against vinyl...

How should I go about repainting it? Are there any authoritative AND comprehensive resources on how to repair and repaint asbestos? Google hasn't been helpful. Most of the results are on how to safely remove and dispose of asbestos, but very few websites on how to care for and maintain asbestos.

What should I do about the nails that stick out? Are they supposed to stick out a little bit to avoid damaging the siding?
PRO
LeMaster Architects
11 years ago
Have you considered fiber cement siding/shingles in lieu of vinyl? CertainTeed makes those as well.
new_homeowner thanked LeMaster Architects
kylen2350
11 years ago
NO VINYL please. If anything think about HardieBoard. My former family home has asbestos shingles. It is 97 yrs old and was shingled back in the 60's. Painted white since then and looks great.
new_homeowner thanked kylen2350
Karen Newcomb
8 years ago
last modified: 8 years ago
GAF makes new replacement tiles in several sizes. Order at Home Depot and some other places,
007_bond
5 years ago
Hi new_homeowner! This thread is old, but what did you end up doing?

I am pretty sure we have the exact same asbestos shingles (size, pattern and color) on our house. Even the corner metal trim has same color as on your house.

BTW - I think the house has huge potential - love the mansard roof and style!
decoenthusiaste
5 years ago
Home Depot can special order fiber cement siding that replicates the old asbestos pattern/style.