My house was built in 1840. I just bought it last year. Presently, the roof has ugly asbestos tiles on it (mid 1970's?). Had the roofer come out to replace a few cracked tiles earlier this year. I have no water in my attic, and there's nothing wrong with the roof apart from those few cracked tiles.
Here's the thing-
The ugly asbestos tiles are layered over a cedar shake roof. I know this because my attic ceiling is the cedar shingles.
I would LOVE to have a cedar shake roof on this house. Is it worth trying to salvage the underlying cedar shake roof? Or is that just too expensive/too great an undertaking?
I realize that asebestos abatement is costly, but if the tiles don't break when the are removed, then I can't see how the asbestos would be an issue.... especially where it's not abatement inside a building.
I am assuming that those few tiles that were cracked (5-6 of them)probably caused leaks onto the cedar shake roof. Should I be concerned about rot from that water?
I don't have an attic fan so my attic gets very hot- does the heat damage the cedar shingles? (attic fan is on my "to do" list still)
Thanks for your replies and input!
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- is this cedar shake roof worth saving?
first - you don't have a cedar shake roof under the asbestos. Sjhakes are hand split and too rugged and uneven to have been overlaid with brittle asbestos.
What you have is likely cedar shingles. They would have been overlaid most likely because they were leaking and worn out as a performing roof. second choice might be that the owner was paranoid about fire and that is why the asbesos was chosen.
you will need to strip both roofs down to the skip sheathing and install new cedars. Having a contractor do it will be exopensive because of the liability connected to asbestos.
but here is a little secret for you. A HO can dispose of asbestos simply by double bagging it in black lastic contractors bags and labeling them asbestos. most landfills and recycle centers accept them that way.
A niosh 100 dust mask is wise, as is misting to keep dust down. You are right that if they are not broken, there will be minimal dust. unbroken there m,ay even be a market for them for repair and replacement.
while the diseases connected to asbestos are misereable killers, they are little for you to worry about. It takes several years of daily exposure in combination with ciogarette smoke to develope a propensity. The shipyard workers who developed disease were all smokers. The ones who worked with asbestos but did not smoke did not have problems yet to this day. there is a great deal of mmis-information and assumptions scaring people about asbestos.
I have worked around it a greaat deal, am 54 yo and no problems and no fears
Excellence is its own reward!
What you have is likely cedar shingles. They would have been overlaid most likely because they were leaking and worn out as a performing roof. second choice might be that the owner was paranoid about fire and that is why the asbesos was chosen.
you will need to strip both roofs down to the skip sheathing and install new cedars. Having a contractor do it will be exopensive because of the liability connected to asbestos.
but here is a little secret for you. A HO can dispose of asbestos simply by double bagging it in black lastic contractors bags and labeling them asbestos. most landfills and recycle centers accept them that way.
A niosh 100 dust mask is wise, as is misting to keep dust down. You are right that if they are not broken, there will be minimal dust. unbroken there m,ay even be a market for them for repair and replacement.
while the diseases connected to asbestos are misereable killers, they are little for you to worry about. It takes several years of daily exposure in combination with ciogarette smoke to develope a propensity. The shipyard workers who developed disease were all smokers. The ones who worked with asbestos but did not smoke did not have problems yet to this day. there is a great deal of mmis-information and assumptions scaring people about asbestos.
I have worked around it a greaat deal, am 54 yo and no problems and no fears
Excellence is its own reward!
