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Hi everyone.
I've bought a house for my mother-in-law that was built in the mid 70's. I'm doing lots of works to freshen the property up but I'm a bit stumped on how to tackle the bathroom. The shower has these large asbestos panels (Spotted blue in the photo) that I'd like to paint white, but I'm struggling to find a paint that's suitable. I had assumed any oil based paint would suffice but I'm now seeing bathroom specific paints but they all seem to require sanding, which I can't do due to the asbestos in the panels.
I've been advised I can tile over them, but I have absolutely no idea how to do that and I'm very short on time as I have two weeks to paint the whole house and complete several other large works. I live interstate and am driving up during the school holidays to get everything done.
Any suggestions on what product might be best in this scenario?
Welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community @MJS. It's sensational to have you join us, and many thanks for your question about asbestos panels.
Have you considered installing a wet area panel directly over the asbestos panel? Provided the asbestos sheet is free from soap and grim, a wet area silicone should do a good job at adhering the new sheet to it. Obviously, you would have better adhesion if you scuff up the surface, but that's not possible with asbestos.
The other option for painting might be to move away from the specialised paints and use standard bathroom paint. For this, you'd need a priming fluid such as ESP. However, as you won't be mechanically adhering the products through a scuffed surface, you'd need to be careful not to scratch the surface when done with anything sharp.
Given the presence of these sheets, it's important to know that asbestos is likely present in the rest of the home, too. So, I'd recommend having the home assessed to identify asbestos locations and taking necessary precautions to protect yourself and others. Access resources from the Asbestos Safety and Eradication Agency for guidance on safe practices.
Please let me know if you have any questions.
Mitchell
That depends on how high the screw threads are @MJS. You've also got the joining trim height to consider. By cutting the silicone or Sikaflex 11FC nozzle back quite far, you should be able to lay down a sufficiently wide and tall bead of silicone so that regardless of the screw heads penetrating, a connection will be made.
Mitchell
