Asbestos Shingles

Started by Kristen, August 03, 2005, 04:21:48 PM

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Kristen

We're interested in buying this piece of land down the street from us and we're pretty sure the owner will sell it to us for $5,000. Trouble is we're not sure if it's worth it. There's a condemned house on it that has asbestos shingles. Now I've read that they have to be removed by a contractor but is that also the case if you're just tearing the whole house down? And around how much would it cost for a contractor to take it down?

Bouncer

In my state the homeowner can take the shingles off themselves. You have to use certain containers and make a appointment with the landfill. If you use a contractor it going to cost a pretty penny.
Kevin


jdew

I think Kevin is right.  Asbestos removal can be done by the homeowner, and roofing/siding materials are not categorized the same as other types of asbestos such as pipe insulation.

How do you know it has asbestos shingles?  Are they falling apart and spewing fibers?   If not and I were doing it, and I didn't absolutely know they were asbestos I think they would be heading to the landfill normally - as most other asbestos shingles do.  But that's just me.

Amanda_931

#3
Having a plan to get the shingles off the property is pretty important.  Piles of shingles, with roofing nails popping up everywhere, is quite rightly considered a hazard.  Pros might rent a dumpster, finally run round the yard with a magnet on a handle.  But when I got some people to do a complete roof job on my Nashville house--strip off the old ones (some--oops--five layers deep), redo a rafter or two, put on new roof sheathing, paper, then, finally, shingle, the cleanup via dumpster was more than either of us could afford, one of my neighbors was able to do that part for very little, just him and his (bigger than mine) truck.  A year or so after that, they started requiring permits for that kind of work.  May have been too many people nonchalanting the cleanup job--or trying for five layers of roofing.

Also, if you are thinking about buying this condemned house because people are telling you "all it needs is shingles!" may I suggest that you call in a professional home inspector.

That sounds remarkably like the house equivalent of a 12-year-old car I saw advertised once.  "Perfect shape, all it needs is a block."

Not!

glenn-k

#4
The asbestos thing is probably not as big a deal as if you worked in it all the time -especially cemented into shingles.  The BLM lets people ride dirt bikes here in a big asbestos area and I've  never heard of any problems.  I'm sure there are probably a few bureaucratic hoops to jump through if you look for them though.


Amanda_931

Are we talking siding or roofing here?

Sorry I ranted on roofing if it's siding.