For further study google asbetos or see this http://www.weitzlux.com/asbestoskill_734791.html

Contact your local municipal authority anonymously for their regulations on this issue.
If removing, use asbestos professionals.
We are going to put a new or secondhand (lead paint?) window in a fibreboard wall, we don't know if its asbestos, but to be on the safe side we won't cut the sheets. We will unscrew and remove them whole, wearing disposable overalls ,eye protection, mask and gloves. The window will have to fit the resultant space. Then we can get pros to remove the fibreboard, well wrapped.
As Curt said, the problems arise when asbestos is disturbed, such as drilling, cutting etc.

I would have it removed so that if/when you go to sell, you don't have to do it then.

Asbestos needed to be taken to the hazardous materials disposal site in your country for disposal.

HI -- If you clad it over then you will have to disclose that when selling the house . It might not sell because of it . Put the money into having it professionally re moved then you will sleep better .

Keep it wet, put it in plastic bags, wear a mask. It is very simple, just labor intensive.

You cannot do this job yourself. Asbestos causes cancer, with the effects showing up many years later. Professionals do this job, while you are not at home.

And the professionals wear hazmat suits, it's that dangerous. Breathe it and lung cancer is in your future.

Get quotes and then decide.

Not DIY job. Among other things, the asbestos abatement crew will double wrap the jobsite in plastic and obtain the necessary license to allow it be disposed of legally.

Because the image of your asbestos shows it has striations in it, there is a greater risk of particles flaking off and becoming airborne .. DEFINITELY go to your local authority and arrange to have it removed. You and your family will be seriously at risk. This is not something to be taken lightly and unfortunately it must be addressed.

After we bought our house and began to do some remodeling we found that our ceilings had about 5 percent asbestos. At the time we chose to clad over it with drywall because it would be less expensive. I wish now we had gone ahead and had it removed. The drywall in a few places is beginning to droop and we will have to address that issue soon. Though it is true that if it isn't disturbed then it is not a hazard, I still wonder about it being in my home. Without a doubt, hire a skilled professional and have it removed. I believe you will find it money well spent in the long run, and it will ease your mind both in the long and the short run.

I wish people were this serious about smoking, which is 5 times more hazardous as asbestos. By the way Asbestos is not regulated in single family homes/it is only dangerous if mishandled

My advice is...Re-clad over it. Not a DIY option. Cost you a fortune to remove. We have the same problem but decided we will modernise and put stucco over it. Will look better and cost much less than trying to remove the asbestos.

You can choose to leave it if you wish, but please check with your state environmental agency for a list of certified professionals. You can find some guidance here: http://www2.epa.gov/asbestos/protect-your-family#keepinmind

and here: http://www2.epa.gov/asbestos/state-asbestos-contacts

By cladding over you are only concealing the problem. It is irresponsible and only pushes the problem onto the next homeowner who may be put at health risk by not recognizing this as asbestos should they decide to do remodeling. Hire a professional that is well-trained in asbestos removal. It is expensive, but it is really your only option.

If you are forced to disclose the presence of asbestos if you sell then you probably realize that it will also lower the value of your home to potential buyers. So… no matter what, you now have a cost associated with your home. It shows up either when you sell…. or you face the cost now by having it professionally abated. You are stuck with having to face it so its more a question of when you want to deal with it. Now or later. Particularly since yours looks like it has been disturbed… i would probably just deal with it now, and call a pro.

When we remodeled and extended the kitchen in our 36 year old home, the flooring company insisted we have the existing flooring tested with the state lab for asbestos, which cost about $35. Didn't realize asbestos materials were still used up to the 80s. I don't remember how much asbestos was present, but we hired a professional to remove it. Since there were several layers of flooring, the bottom layer was the asbestos culprit. The cost was about $2600 to have hazmat suited guys saw 4 foot sections down to the bottom subfloor layer, wrap in plastic and haul it away. Then we had to have another layer of subfloor installed before our new wood floor. Don't know if we still have asbestos in the hallways, but if we decide to install tile there, we will try to remove just the top layers so as not to disturb anything.

We had new tile installed in our bathrooms before all this, but they never mentioned anything about asbestos.

Removal is very expensive because it needs to be done by professionals who can control how it is broken down. If it is in decent condition (not crumbling) there is nothing wrong with leaving it where it is. The majority of homes built before 1978 have it somewhere. Encapsulation is always a viable option, although if you are really concerned talk to asbestos professionals about having them do the encapsulation, this would be a less expensive option and you would have a measure of assurance that it is properly sealed. All in all, it is not a "bad" product, it is durable and fire retardant, and when in a stable matrix does not pose a hazard. The problems that occur with asbestos are when it is disturbed and it becomes friable, usually when non-professionals try to remove it. Generally having it in your home is not a hazard, especially in this application. 99.9% of people who suffer from asbestos related illness are those who work with it regularly where it is in friable/airborne form (miners - it's a natural mineral, factory workers producing materials that contain asbestos and construction/demolition contractors who don't know what they are doing).

Agree with the others - it is not a do it yourself job. Before deciding, get quotes from local licensed removers. It needs to be both removed properly and disposed of properly. No one will force you to remove it so talk freely with your local building codes department if you need to do so. As for remove/clad it depends on what type of building you have (that looks more like a school) and what the long term uses are. Now that you've discovered it, if you are in the US you will have to disclose at selling since you found it so long term in terms of health and resale value removal might be best.

I have not read every post here, but those that I have read are all over the place. First of all find out what the rules are in your area. Either by contacting the municipality offices directly or talk to a contractor that you can trust and that knows what the rules are. For example, in my area a homeowner can do the removal themselves and just place it in the trash for pick up. I'm in NY the most regulated state in the US except CA. Don't blow this thing out of proportion.

If you start knocking out that wall, the particles will go everywhere, creating a real health hazard. Get lots and lots of information before calling in a reputable professional to do anything. Make sure all of your registers for heat/air conditioning are properly covered so particles don't go into them. I was shocked when a knuckle-headed contractor took off the register covers so that all the dust he created (not aspestos) went into them. Needless to say, I was vacuuming that for days and then had to do extra work to make sure the tiny particles didn't get blown throughout the house.

We have asbestos in our 32 year old vinyl sheet flooring and are having an abatement crew come out tomorrow to remove it. There is nothing that we can lay over it, and we decided that rather than take a chance, we just wanted to be done with it. Yes, it's very expensive and inconvenient. Our old flooring covers all 3 exits from our house, will take 2 days so we will have to leave. We'll be glad when it's over.

We had ours removed by Alliance Environmental Group, Inc. The asbestos was at the attic, encapsulating the air ducts. Asbestos abatement is not cheap but we wouldn't have it any other way but removed professionally.

I said clad it over initially, and i stand by it bc that's exactly what i would do), but lefty47 brings up a good point...In selling the house you need (legally or morally ) to disclose to the home buyers any pitfalls

We had asbestos in our flat and my advice would be find out what type of asbestos it is. Generally if it is in good condition (no chips, holes or frayed bits) and you won't need to disturb it (e.g drill into it) then it is safe to leave it. But be warned some types of asbestos are particularly unsafe as they are easily damaged and give off a lot more fibres.

In our case we had some asbestos cement board removed as it was in a situation which we needed to work on. We also have some artex in some of the ceilings (which generally contains a small amount of asbestos in) but we are just skimming over this.

Hope this helps...

Do Not play around with any idea other than calling in the professional's and having it removed, check for other places in your home that might have it. I know it is expensive, but so is Cancer, not worth your life or that of your loved ones. ..........Your renovation can wait, and when you do it, you won't have to worry about asbestos. If you watch HGTV, they deal with it ASAP always.........

We don't know for sure if we have asbestos (or lead paint) in our house (built in 1949), but when we remodeled our kitchen and master bath last year (which included wall removal), we hired a general contractor who was also asbestos and lead paint certified.

He treated the demo work under the assumption that there WAS asbestos and/or lead paint, and therefore took the necessary precautions when removing walls, etc. This was included in his bid in the "demo" section.

Most homes "of a certain age" have asbestos. Even if you don't know for sure you have asbestos, it's better to be safe than sorry and assume the worst at the beginning (rather than find yourself with a big $ addition to budget once demo starts if asbestos is found once demo begins).

Need your help houzeers. My Uncle is renovating the basement for us. He didn't think the tile was asbestos. I got it tested. It's 3% chrysotile. The stairs still have tile and the bar still has tile. There is dust everywhere. Construction dust mixed with asbestos dust. I called an abatement company.. It's $6950 for the basement and to wet wipe the laundryroom and the furnace room and to change out the air. The area is around 1500 square feet in one room and 300 square feet in the laundry and boiler room. The basement freezer, the furnace and the pipes and whatnot all need to be wiped down. is this reasonable? I mean, I dont have the money to do this, but I will have to if I ever want to wash clothes again...

Queen you should start a new thread with this question. Otherwise very few people will see your post here.

Asbestos tile is one of the least dangerous exposures. If they tested the air I am sure that it would not have any elevated levels of asbestos... also dust samples would prove the same.
Have another company test a couple samples and you will see. Personally, I would clean area with Mild soapy water and after cleaning is done , put a good coat of wax on floor tile. By the way... steel wood is about the worst thing to use on floor tile, It will release the asbestos fibers from the vinyl matrix Note Chysotile is rare, and very rare in tile. Mostly used in Hi-temp gaskets.

Thank you @kivi and @stonis8. I had a second company do an eval and they quoted $3500! And this second company said what you did: that this particular tile isn't a huge issue and that it might be a waste of money to go so high end with the cleanup. I didn't expect to hear that. Guy was like "get a hepa vac and get it mopped wet" and throw it all away. and, don't sand the floor. that's it. from gloom and doom to eh, get a mop and some paper towels. wowzers.

Nice...glad it was good news for you.

Definitely your local municipality dept, where they have professionals to remove it the right way. You really want to get rid of it and not clad over it. It is a health hazard. It needs professionals, as you don't want the fibers in the asbestos to disperse everywhere, the lungs cannot filter the fibers thus, the danger.

I would have it removed.
-Angeline, GKB

In my original post I was not told that the tile was loose missing some tiles. still not a hazardous job. this can be a hard job though and a knowledgeable person will make a difference.

I just wanted to send a testimonial to your website about PerfectPrimer.com

"What a godsend to find Perfect Primer! Now I can just cover the asbestos black mastic on my floor and proceed with new flooring, so easy!!! Prior to finding Perfect Primer I was calling asbestos removal companies and facing spending thousands of dollars to remove the mastic.

What a relief, thank you Perfect Primer!!!"

Thanks again for all your help!!!

Gretchen Mathews

so it means there is no need for asbestos encapsulation. This sealing product is enough for asbestos containment????

you really need to be specific because every job is different. could be y or n

There are two types of asbestos. One type covers hot water pipes in the basement. This type is usually wrapped around the pipes and covered with a white paper/covering. If disturbed, it becomes airborne. This is the dangerous stuff that you should leave alone or have a professional deal with.

The other type, is in wall board and shingles and is relatively harmless as long as it is not sanded, or carelessly demolished it by smashing it with hammers.

Before you do anything, the best thing to do with an asbestos shingle is to to take one to an environmental lab and have them analyze it. For $30, they'll give you a certification as to it's make up.

Removing asbestos tile is relatively easy. After lightly hosing off the siding, use a pair of flat tipped needle nose pliers, push in on either side of the small nail head, pinch the nail head and PULL IT STRAIGHT OUT. That is the secret. Do not use a claw hammer or a lever action approach because you'll break them. You want them whole. Tiles are heavy and awkward so take your time.

Were gloves, a long sleeve shirt, long pants, a dust mask and eye protection. You'll need heavy mil garbage bags and in my locale the max weight per doubled wrapped and taped bundle is 35 lbs.

Again, the first thing to is contact a lab. After you get the lab results, call the trash agency for other regulations. They are still considered hazardous waste. If you are really careful and end up with a lot of non-broken tiles (which you should) you may be able to sell them. There is a market for them.

People installed asbestos tile for two main reason. They were marketed for wooden structures as weather and fire protection and as a low cost siding that never ever had to be painted. When you take off the tile, you maybe surprised to see old wooden siding that only needs a good paint job.

Good Luck