Yes, if you ever plan to sell, taking care of the asbestos siding now is the best time to do it. And you’re not doing windows without addressing the siding. You could probably do the new siding, asbestos remediation, windows, and roofing for 40-60K if the siding is in good shape and doesn’t crumble when you touch it. If it’s in poor shape, all bets are off.

If you plan to live there, and ever want to do something like create a habitable second floor, or a master suite, skip doing anything at all and plan a teardown. It will be cheaper.

We never advocate for covering things up. It is always best to do things the right way. This is better for the home and the homeowner! By removing all the old materials you can also assess the structure. Then if needed you may make repairs or upgrades.

To get a sense of the investment you may need take a look at the "Cost vs. Value" report. This is not to give you an exact but will give you an average cost. Just remember there are many factors that will cause job costs to fluctuate.

Best wishes!

Asbestos is not dangerous unless broken so that the fibers escape into the air. I also inherited such a house. Siding was painted again (another layer to seal the material) and the few missing ones near the foundation were replaced with new reproduction ones of cement (special ordered through Home Depot.) I also replaced windows and removed an awning like yours with no damage to the siding. I later sold the house as it was and it is still standing, asbestos and all.

Got a reasonable estimate to remove asbestos and replace with high quality siding for 25k. I'm going to go for it eventually but its good to know that the current siding is ok for the time being. Thanks all!

Many places these days actually prefer you don’t remove asbestos if it’s safe to leave in situ. So you should be sure you’re getting good LOCAL information. (I believe it’s due to a combination of the difficulty of properly isolating the asbestos dust, especially on large projects, and also landfill/disposal concerns.)

@webbms This is why 95% of people leave asbestos siding on and go over it with siding. Looking at your house, you have 5k for siding and 20k for asbestos removal.

As the house sale goes, you don't have to worry about it. They sell houses with asbestos all the time and asbestos siding is never an issue, the only time asbestos comes up is when located inside the house, like around pipes in the basement, tiles, etc that is when it becomes a concern.

Good luck

I am so appreciative for the feedback. The siding is Hardie which is meant to look like wood--so that my be part of the higher cost. I have other estimates coming so I need to evaluate this price against regular types of siding, or just keeping the asbestos long term. I'm really conflicted. The neighbor hood is C+... beautiful lot, great neighbors, but definitely a community struck by tough times. I want a lovely home, but need to spend dollars wisely. Thanks for the advice.

Replacing asbestos with ANY siding will be expensive and like GN Builders said, 95% of the cost is removal of the asbestos, not the cost of the new siding. We have asbestos siding that is *original* to our recently purchased 1949 Craftsman home, and we'll never remove it. It's virtually indestructible, fire retardant, holds paint far better than anything else (probably hasn't been painted in 20 years and you can hardly tell) and will last another 200 years. The only thing that could touch it here in FL would be a hurricane, but we'll take that risk. As for resale value, people sell homes with asbestos siding every day.

PS: Your house is beautiful!