Remove glued on wooden paneling off asbestos sheeting

[SeanLing]

I want to remove 60s wooden paneling off sheet asbestos walls. The wooden panelling was glued to the wall so I need to remove it without damaging the surface and then remove the glue without sanding. Does anybody have any suggestions? I don't have the money to have the asbestos removed and the wall replaced with gyprock.

[Jason]

Welcome to Workshop @SeanLing. It's great to have you join the community. I hope you find plenty of useful information, inspiration and advice. 

I hope some Workshop members who have experience working with asbestos can assist you. Please don't proceed until you get expert advice. My understanding is that even scraping asbestos sheeting can be dangerous.

Here's a couple of resources that might be useful to you:

The handbook Asbestos – A guide for householders and the general public

Fact sheets about working safely with asbestos around the home.

All the best,

Jason

[Brad]

If it is stuck on with Liquid Nails or similar then heat and or Turps/mineral oil are the alternatives to sanding, heat will need scraping and any wet method would I think wreck the sheeting.

Heat and scrape is going to leave some glue behind and or damage the sheeting and will need something like skim coat before you paint it.

You could also think about using skim coat to cover the wood or Gyprock/blue board over the top.

If it was my place I would wait till I could afford to have it removed properly.

[SeanLing]

Hey Brad thanks for your advice. I don't think it's going to be an easy job but the paneling only goes halfway down the wall from the ceiling and looks terrible. Unfortunately all walls in the house were made from asbestos but thankfully they are in good nick. Most of the other walls that are panelled will stay that way and just be painted.

[Jason]

How did you go with removing the panelling @SeanLing? I hope you managed to get it off safely.

Jason

[SeanLing]

Hi Jason I'm looking at starting on it in the next 2 weeks. I will post some photos to let you know how it goes. I tried contacting the asbestos help lines but they can't really offer any assistance. They are only really interested in providing removal options which isn't an option if a lot of your house is made of the stuff. I can't say they were of any help at all.

[Jason]

Sorry to hear that @SeanLing. Please be careful and take every precaution. Perhaps other community members can provide some further advice for you.

Thanks for the update.

Jason