My house was reroofed 40 odd years ago and has asbestos soffits. They have been painted with the pink masonry paint as used on the walls. They have a tendency to flake over time (? masonry paint not appropriate), but not everywhere.
I am currently painting the fascia, and am wondering whether it would be better to:
Paint with masonry paint again over the existing paint after scraping off the flaky bits.
Paint with masonry paint after sanding off all the old masonry paint off first (yes, I know, very carefully, with full protection) and ? using stabilising solution.
Paint over the masonry paint with white primer, undercoat and gloss over the existing masonry paint after scraping off the flaky bits.
Paint over the masonry paint with white primer, undercoat and gloss after sanding off the old masonry paint off first and ? using stabilising solution.
Soffits have a tendency to peel no matter which paint you use, although I'm not sure why as they always seem to me to be the most protected part - they usually start to peel before the fascias for some reason.....I had a theory that it could have possibly been the heat radiating out from the walls on hot days and rising up to the eaves, but having just finished painting a hipped semi with 3 sides of soffits, 1 North facing, 1 West and 1 South, and they had all peeled in fairly equal proportions, so that theory has gone out of the window.
Personally I'd go for undercoat and gloss, and try and do them every 5 years or so
I can not see why anyone would want to scrape/sand the surface of Chrysotile asbestos fibre soffit cement board - it is perfectly safe stuff in terms of wet sheet removal, but not so safe when treated in such an abrasive manner :-)
Soffit boards are often black with mould around house vents, I suspect humid air exiting the house and condensing on their surface.
Conventional undercoat & gloss tend to act like a plastic bag if one side is porous to moisture, they will bubble & flake.
You basically want a white stain which is highly permeable. Prehaps Sikkens onol undercoat on its own would do, it is white, MVP, overcoatable. I would not use the top-coats because whilst they are overcoatable every 5-12yrs (depending on which one) after about 4 overcoats you need to restore to original surface. They do "wear" by chalking rather than flaking. That is probably so far into the future it does not matter, but you want a paint that can breathe because soffit boards do suffer moisture loading from the other side.
removing sheets of it when it's wet, in that it can't dust up because it's wet.
That said it's mostly a load of bollocks, a few people died of lung cancer after working in asbestos factories for 50 years but many more didn't, nowadays no one will go within 50 yards of it unless they're wearing a radiation suit, breathing apparatus and 11 pairs of gloves
an enormous toll of people have died from it sadly, and continue to. But the paranoia over DIY asbestos removal is out of all proportion to the miniscule risk, the level of exposure from one rigidly encapsulated asbestos sheets removal per decade is very far removed from that from working in an asbestos factory for a lifetime with no safe practices or respiratory protection.
really? In mines and factories and a few other individuals exposed to e.g. a lot of brake dust.
I cant think of a single case of someone who has been exposed domestically, dying.
I would be interested to see ANY references..
Ah. a mere google away
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am enormous toll of people.
and continue to.
barely. teh peak is certainly passed.
Note also less than 4% of detahs associated with asbestos. How odd, that all those women living in those absestos loaded homes, haven't died of itl.
Could it be, ahem, that the deaths are only from tehiose who are continually and heavily exposed to it in mines, factories and industrial environments?
Surely not. Its such a wicked evil substance merely looking at it can kill you.
So you were given a government site reference, which states both in words and graphically that the rate of death is rising, but you claim otherwise with no basis offered for your view. Hello Dennis
Part of the problem arises because what is popularly called asbestos is divided into two distinct mineral types. Chrysotile, or white asbestos, has already been mentioned, and is actually a form of serpentine. The other type is crocidolite or blue (sometimes brown) asbestos, a member of the amphibole group of minerals. They have completely different crystal structures and chemical properties.
Chrysotile asbestos forms relatively short fibres, was commonly used in asbestos-cement products, and AIUI dissolves fairly quickly (like
12 months) when inhaled into the lungs. It does not persist and is probably no worse than any other inhaled dust (which does not mean it's totally benign; all dusts are potentially harmful to a degree). Crocidolite asbestos has much longer fibres, was commonly used in thermal lagging, bulk insulation and fire-proof fabric. It does not dissolve when inhaled into the lungs, and its long persistence eventually results in the asbestos-related cancer, mesothelioma. It's nasty stuff.
A problem with asbestos-cement products was that after WW2 and on into the 1950's, some blue asbestos was also used in their manufacture, but only laboratory analysis can identify which type, white or blue, is present. Presumably to be on the safe side, it was decided to classify all asbestos-cement products as if they contained blue asbestos and treat them accordingly. If the OP's soffits were replaced with asbestos-cement some 40-odd years ago, say in the 1970's, I would think it pretty unlikely they contain blue asbestos.
I've never tried it, but why not cautiously pressure wash your soffits? I say 'cautiously', because I can imagine a powerful pressure washer used close up could cut into asbestos-cement sheet. Any loose paint will be shifted and you won't be creating dust, harmful or otherwise. Just wash away all the debris afterwards.
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