LESLIE: Mike in Hawaii, living my dream; welcome to The Money Pit. How can we help you today?
MIKE: I’m a real estate broker and I have a property on the market and it was built in 1954.
TOM: OK.
MIKE: And it has a shingle siding that, from what the owner tells me, Tom, is that it’s about 18 percent asbestos.
TOM: OK.
MIKE: What other materials could there be in the siding?
TOM: Well, it’s nothing to worry about here, Mike. What you have is something called cement asbestos siding; very common in the 50s; incredibly durable stuff because it’s not organic; holds paint very, very well and not an environmental risk unless you break it into a million pieces and release it into the air. Because it’s in a cement binder, it’s not a problem.
LESLIE: Mm-hmm, because it’s encased.
TOM: Most people end up replacing it because they don’t like the look of it, but there’s no asbestos exposure risk issue associated with cement asbestos shingle siding.
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