Looking at a house that appears to have asbestos cement siding. I'm wondering if this is something I can do myself with care. I've read the following.
Disturb as little as possible.
Don't Crack tiles
Wear a suit and respirator
Use a vacuum with HEPA filter when needed
Wrap the tiles in plastic and tape.
Lay plastic on the ground
I wondering if I follow all these rules if I can do it myself. As i understand it, you can also cover the siding, but some claim that nailing through can be worse than removing.
Best Answer
This is not rocket science. Some keys:
Keep area wet.
Make sure that you are wearing a proper mask and cover up.
Make sure that no one else is near the area.
Make sure to bag them properly.
Make sure you vacuum all loose particles with vac plus hepa filter.
Make sure you bring materials to proper place. For instance 6-7 years ago I was doing a home and the only hazardous waste facility nearby was charging me an outrageous price per bag. To the point where I might as well paid 8k to have someone do it. Well obviously the remediation and waste companies were in cahoots. But I have had to travel a good 75-100 miles to dump waste and I have seen laws around this sort of practice. But you are talking about a very high revenue and highly regulated industry. And most of the regulations are almost meaningless as they aren't actually geared to do anything to someone who doesn't follow them, they just want to make sure you paid to be "trained" to follow them.
Note: Several remediation companies in my area will no longer do work for me. After charging me a ton of money for removal of things like asbestos or lead paint I would go on my state's website to find that they didn't follow the very basic rules the state outlined. So I gave them the choice between me sending them to the state or not paying and they chose me not pay. Just saying there is a need to do this stuff right but it is an obnoxious industry. It would be very easy for the state to say - here are the gloves, clothing, mask, plastic for the tent, whatever you need for each situation and then a person could decide to do it or not. Most of the remediation people we get are contractors that passed a two day class or have been with the company less than 6 months. So yes anyone can do this if you follow guidelines and rules. Here is the website for Missouri asbestos removal. Other states have similar sites - some better some worse.