Any contractor that offers asbestos removal services must be licensed and certified, with special training required by many states in order for any worker involved in the project to remove asbestos materials from homes. While homeowners can remove asbestos siding and other materials from their own homes without training or certification, any contractor or professional service offering to remove asbestos must be trained and certified. So the first place to start when evaluating asbestos removal services is to check that they are indeed properly licensed, certified, and trained to handle potentially dangerous materials such as asbestos.

When getting bids and evaluating removal services, don’t be shy about asking them what equipment they’ll be using. They should be using vacuum machines with very fine HEPA filters designed to suck up even the tiniest asbestos fibers from the air, and all workers should be outfitted with body suits and HEPA masks and filters. They should also have the proper sheeting and materials necessary to seal off various portions of your house, so that the area they’re working in that contains asbestos is isolated from the rest of the house, with no chance of fibers escaping to other portions of your home.

One last thing to look for is a bid that reflects the specialized nature of the work. Asbestos removal by professionals is very expensive, so expect to pay thousands of dollars for the service. The specialized equipment and training isn’t cheap, and that cost is reflected in what you’ll pay for qualified, licensed work done by asbestos remediation experts. While that’s not the happiest of news to hear, it does help you potentially screen out contractors to avoid, as someone that offers to remove asbestos from your home for $300 is someone to avoid, as they’re obviously not using the correct equipment and haven’t had the correct training.

But we know answers like that are useless and that you’re likely after a general “ballpark” guesstimate, as far as what to expect when replacing the siding on your home. The majority of siding replacement jobs are for new vinyl siding or new fiber cement siding, so below you’ll find our best guesstimate based on various sources as far as what to expect to replace the siding on your home.

Vinyl Siding

The average cost for vinyl siding replacement is around $4.50-$5.50/exterior sq. ft, so for a small-medium sized home with 2,000 exterior sq. ft., you’re looking at an average cost of $9,000-$11,000 to replace your old siding with new vinyl siding. That doesn’t include soffits or trim, so factor in slightly more if you have extensive soffits or trim that you want done as well.

Fiber Cement Siding

On average, replacing your old siding with fiber cement siding will typically run you about 10% more than vinyl siding, so for the same 2000 exterios sq. ft. house, expect to pay somewhere around $10,000-$13,000 to have your old siding replaced with fiber cement siding. That’s just for the installation, so add in more if you’re going to need your new fiber cement painted to a custom color.

As we said in the intro, those are really just ballpark guesstimates, so take them with a grain of salt. They do serve as a decent benchmark, though, to let you know whether bids or estimates you’ve gotten are ridiculously high (such as $20,000 for new siding on a 2-1 800 sq. ft. home) or even too low, as someone offering to to replace the siding on your 3,000 sq. ft. dream home for $4,000 (but wanting half of the money up front before starting) is obviously out to scam you, as that price is below even the cost of the siding for a job that size.

If you’re looking to replace a few of the asbestos shingles on your home, various manufacturers today make a fiber cement replacement product that looks exactly like older asbestos shingles, but obviously contain no potentially harmful asbestos. These fiber cement replacement shingles can also be safely cut, drilled, and sawn to your heart’s content, if you need to cut a hole for an exhaust or vent pipe, etc.

GAF provides its Weatherside line of absestos replacement siding, which comes in various sizes and profiles, and James Hardie has its own line of popular fiber cement shingle siding as well. Another possibility is to check underneath your house, as sometimes extra original siding shingles were stored underneath homes as it was being installed, so sometimes original shingles can be found there. Care must be taken when installing them, obviously, and they should never be cut or sawn, but if you’re lucky the solution to your problem might be underneath your own home.

Long story short, check your state and local guidelines. Don’t assume that disposing of asbestos siding will be extremely expensive and require tons of permits, but also don’t assume that you’ll be able to crat it off to the local landfill, either.

While you legally can remove asbestos siding from your own home in most states, whether you should or not is another question entirely. If you’re adequately prepared and take the necessary precautions, yes, you can safely remove asbestos siding yourself. If you aren’t prepared and don’t take the necessary precautions, there are serious health risks in attempting to remove asbestos siding yourself.

In general, though, homes with asbestos siding are viewed by most buyers and sellers as having a “problem”, much like a home with foundation issues. The general take on asbestos siding is that it’s dangerous and expensive to remove, so that often translates into a perceived lower value for a home that has asbestos cement siding, in the eyes of many home buyers and sellers.

That said, there are many buyers who won’t blink an eye at a home with asbestos siding and won’t consider it a negative at all. Unlike a home with foundation issues, asbestos siding isn’t always seen as a negative. The look of asbestos siding is also making a comeback of sorts, along with the revived interest in ranch-style homes, and some home-owners are choosing fiber cement siding (that looks exactly like older asbetos siding but contains no asbestos) when installing new siding.

One thing to keep in mind, too, is that sellers sometimes discount their asking price too much, because they overestimate the problem that asbestos siding presents. If you can purchase a home with asbestos siding at a steep discount, it might actually be worth more to you at the end of the day, if the cost to remove the siding or install new siding over the asbestos siding is smaller than the discount you received when purchasing the home.

Inhaling airborne asbestos fibers can cause cancer, and it doesn’t take years of exposure (such as working in mines or factories processing asbestos) to develop problems from asbestos. Inhaling airborne asbestos fibers is a significant, major health risk, so yes, asbestos can ve a very dangerous material, which is why it’s no longer used in building materials.

Asbestos siding itself, though, is rarely dangerous. If it’s intact and installed on exterior walls, it’s perfectly safe, and will remain so for decades and decades. It is only dangerous if the siding is broken into many small pieces, sawed, drilled, etc. Asbestos shingles are perfectly safe to handle, touch, and be in the presence of as long as they are intact and unbroken.

If the siding is largely intact and undamaged, it poses no health risk. Asbestos only poses a health risk when the fibers are violently disturbed (such as from breaking or sawing many asbestos siding shingles) and the fibers become airborne. In most cases, having asbestos cement siding on the exterior of your home poses no health risk whatsoever.

Asbestos is an issue that irrationally scares some people, though, much like mold, and the emotional impact should be considered, especially if you plan to sell your home anytime soon. A small percentage of buyers will be scared off by asbestos siding, so it’s something to consider as far as the resale value of your house, aside from the actual facts of whether or not asbestos siding poses a health risk.

If you use a professional contractor to remove asbestos siding from your home, it will be very expensive, as the work can only be done by a contractor with a special license in asbestos abatement. In most states, homeowners can remove asbestos siding themselves. With proper precautions and care, this is a safe, economic alternative if you decide to remove the asbestos siding yourself.

Another choice is to install new siding, but to leave the asbestos siding in place. This is commonly done with vinyl siding, with the new siding installed over the old asbestos siding, encapsulating it. Some care must be taken when doing this not to unduly disturb the asbestos siding, but this can easily be done by any professional siding company and won’t greatly increase the project cost of the new siding installation.