Asbestos Siding that looks GOOD!!!

9 years ago

My house has old asbestos shingle siding that is ugly but in excellent condition. I want increase the curb appeal of my property, and my choices are to:

A. Repaint the asbestos shingles with a high quality paint

B. Cover the asbestos siding with something like vinyl or JamesHardie cement board siding

I would prefer to repaint the asbestos. The problem is, I don't know how it will look afterwards. I tried searching for pics online, but all I can find are pictures of ugly old houses in the process of having asbestos removed or covered. I can't seem to find any nice looking houses with rehabilitated/repainted asbestos shingles.

Any ideas? Thanks!

Featured Answer

kareneliza10

8 years ago

last modified: 8 years ago

I wonder what you decided to do? That's a lovely house you have pictured with the cement fiber siding.

We have an asbestos house and are currently working on an extensive "curb appeal" project (I'll post before/during/after pics when we get to "after" -- we are on "during" right now) so I have looked into the asbestos thing a LOT, so I can share here what I've learned/done.

I have champagne taste on a beer budget! After considerations, we decided to keep that old asbestos. Yes, its true, as you cited - its durable, strong, very fire resistant. But did anyone tell you it takes paint EXTREMELY well?? Better than wood! Way better! Because its very stable, and does not contract and expand. Friends painted their asbestos-sided starter-home a lovely muted turquoise over 15 years ago, and it's JUST as perfect a finish now as it was then! Yes! So it takes paint GREAT. Pick well, because you WON'T have to paint again!

One aesthetic problem with the asbestos siding is that you can't (at least: not easily, not without risking compromising the siding) add nice details like side trim on the house, like I wish I could. The old asbestos siding comes with its own particular not-pretty not-decorative necessary trim pieces. So the structure just is what it is. In our case, at least we don't have really, really ugly asbestos. It looks like plain wider clapboard. I've seen some UGLY fake brick, and fake wavy cedar shake, that is just un-redeemable, IMO.

We plan to paint someday but we just found that we can put that project on the back burner. We are currently cleaning off the scourge of black algae (big problem in woodsy CT) from our roof and now we are doing the siding and we find the old asbestos siding is coming out looking BRAND NEW! Like a brand new paint job! Since the color is a nice plain parchment, I can live with it for now.

So meanwhile we are amping up what else we can. Our modest New England 100-year old colonial is plain and basic. We are adding a portico and enclosing a ghastly 3-season porch addition. We are just beginning this project. When that is complete, we will tackle the sad eaves and trim, using satin Fine Paints of Europe paint, after badly needed repairs, and proper sanding, puttying and priming. Hopefully the building projects go well and we can get to that before winter.

With all this to do, its nice to know we can put off painting the siding for awhile, since it cleaned up AWESOME and perfect. We can take the time to pick the perfect color. Asbestos really is hardy!

I'll post pics when we are done. We have a long haul right now as we do our own work, so, not till fall probably.

Comments (9)

SaltiDawg
9 years ago
Some of the major paint brands have on-line apps and programs that allow you to look at homes similar in style to yours and paste their various colors onto them.

I am partial to Sherwin-Williams products. Their program even lets you upload a foto of YOUR home and then paste candidate color choices for comparison.

I would then urge you to only purchase a sample can or cans and try a say 4' X 4' section and allow to dry... do this in shady areas and also full sun areas.

Here is a link that might be useful: Sherwin-Williams Visualizer
User
9 years ago
Good looking asbestos shingles is a contradiction in terms.

You can put a good looking paint on asbestos shingles, but you can't make them look good. That's a personal opinion, but it is like painting oak trim/furniture. The result simply becomes painted oak---looks terrible.

Depending on where you live, asbestos shingles can be removed DIY. You would need a special dumpster and plastic to line along the house to minimize contamination.

Asbestos is only dangerous when friable---meaning the fibers are air borne. The shingles were made with materials that keep the asbestos locked in the material as long as a bit of care is taken to minimize breakage.

Installing another siding on top of the shingles is not a good idea.
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User
9 years ago
It's a better investment to rid the house of that siding than it is to put in that new kitchen! Do it right, and you only have to do the project once. Get rid of the siding. It's over then and you can put integral colored Hardie in it's place and not have to fuss with it again.
KitchenMonkey
Original Author
9 years ago
How much does vinyl siding typically cost on a 2500 SF home?

The reason why I don't want to get rid of it is because several contractors and inspectors have advised me to not to disturb it. Either paint it with a high quality paint or encapsulate it, they say.

I've been told that there are many advantages to asbestos shingles. It's supposed to be extremely weather-resistant, fire resistant, and hold very, very well. My only concern is that it won't look nice.

I've seen some very nice houses with James Hardie fiber cement siding. If I decide to repaint, do you think my repainted asbestos will look as good as these?

[Traditional Exterior[(https://www.houzz.com/photos/traditional-exterior-home-ideas-phbr1-bp~t_736~s_2107) by Holland General Contractors Troxel Custom Homes
live_wire_oak
9 years ago
Post a pic of what it looks like now.
kfgriffin
5 years ago
Been 3 years and no pics...
SaltiDawg
5 years ago
That probably helped, ya think?
Michelle Snider-Smith
4 years ago
Pictures??