It seems a silly question but “Is asbestos siding dangerous?” is an important topic to discuss.
The general impression of asbestos has changed over time so that many people now wrongly assuming that it is a highly dangerous, toxic substance that must be immediately removed.
Asbestos is only dangerous when cut, sawn, or broken into small enough pieces so that asbestos fibers are sent into the air.
If asbestos remains intact in siding, insulation, popcorn ceilings, or other materials it poses no risk and is not dangerous.
Is Asbestos Siding Dangerous Checklist
If you answer yes to any of the follow questions, you could be at risk due to asbestos siding on your home:
- Is asbestos siding on your home being actively cut, drilled, or broken into very small pieces?
- Are entire sections of siding (not just a siding shingle here and there) breaking, cracking, and disintegrating?
- Do you plan to remove existing asbestos siding and replace with new siding?
Those are the only common situations in which asbestos siding poses any real danger. If it is intact and in good condition, siding can be safely painted or new replacement siding can be installed over the old asbestos siding.
Safely Removing Asbestos Siding
If you do decide to remove asbestos siding from your home, the answer to is asbestos siding dangerous isn’t necessarily yes.
The real safety issue with asbestos is when large amounts of it are removed indoors and proper protocol and equipment is not used to capture and collect all asbestos fibers released.
Asbestos siding is far less dangerous due to the fact that it installed outside and very few fibers are released, even when siding shingles crack and break.
Care and proper procedures should always be taken during removal and disposal but in general asbestos siding ranks very low on the list of materials that contain asbestos as far as danger and health risks.