Cut Hole In Asbestos Siding

Mark the cut line with a pencil and straightedge.

Cut hole in asbestos siding. Cutting asbestos shingles is a no no because it s so hazardous. The house was built in the 1920s but i have no idea how old the siding is. Smooth off jagged edges with a sharp carpenter s rasp to keep asbestos particle sizes as large as possible. If you absolutely have to cut it do not use power tools.

But here s how you do it. Cut asbestos cement corrugated roofing material with a pair of heavy dolphin nosed tin snips. Wet the surface down and use the tin snips to cut and break off small sections at a time. The adjustable hole cutters from hole pro have tungsten carbide blades and i have cut 7 holes in asbestos and fiber cement board hardie certainteed etc using this hole cutter and a 18 volt cordless drill.

Asbestos siding as it is on a house is perfectly safe. Asbestos dust which is what would be created by sawing it is the dangerous part. For a hole cutter the minimum to get is a carbide tipped hole saw and best for lots of holes are the hole cutters with tungsten carbide teeth. Note however that if either thermal system insulation tsi or asbestos containing surfacing materials are subject to disturbance by any drilling cutting abrading sanding chipping breaking or sawing then the additional engineering control of isolating the class iii work area is always required per 1926 1101 g 9 iii.