Asbestos Siding

[Donald Hruska]

I'm looking at potentially submitting an offer on a multifamily home in Chicago. It is a two story building - I do not have exact square footage. It has what appears to be asbestos siding - I am not under contract, and this has not been definitively tested. There appears to be a bit of cracking going on, as well as some deterioration where the siding meets the eaves and the roof. I'm assuming it would need some attention in the next few years. What are my options here? After some research it seems that the consensus is to not remove asbestos siding, but to spot touch up and paint or completely cover with new siding, because removal is very costly. Does anyone know what ballpark prices I'd be looking at for either of these options? As an aside - some reconfiguration of windows would be beneficial for reworking the layout of the interior of the units. I'm figuring that the proper time to do this would be when making these changes to the siding. Do you think it'd be possible to cut new window openings in asbestos siding without completely removing all the siding? A lot of questions in here - thanks for reading!