Paint Asbestos Siding

It’s not difficult at all to paint asbestos siding, as one of its benefits is that paint easily adheres to it and there’s none of the scraping and caulking necessary when dealing with painting wood siding or other materials. That said, you’ll still need to take some precautions if you decide to paint your asbestos siding.

The biggest concern is that you should avoid powerwashing asbestos siding, as it can chip or damage the siding and release dangerous asbestos fibers into the air. This means that you’ll have to take some extra time cleaning and prepping the siding before painting, as far as relying on more old fashioned methods to clean it such as a garden hose, sponges, and good old fashioned elbow grease.

Once the surface is prepped and cleaned, there’s really no difference when it comes to painting asbestos siding than any similar fiber cement or Hardiboard siding. The choice is yours as far as whether you want to spray or roll the paint on (although rolling can sometimes be difficult due to the grooves and texture in the asbestos siding), and the coverage is about the same as far as how much paint you’ll need.

If your decision is whether to paint or replace, keep in mind that it’s almost always more affordable to keep and paint old asbestos siding, as removal can be very expensive (not to mention the cost of installing new siding once the old siding is removed and disposed of). Regardless of the type of siding involved, painting is always a more affordable option as replacing siding on a home is one of the more expensive home remodeling jobs that one can tackle.