On 16 Apr, 23:06, "yogi" wrote:
The paint on my garage is flaking and pealing and needs to be removed
before I re-paint the asbestos cement panels. Are there any particular
precautions I should take or methods of paint removal that I should
avoid (e.g. sanding, scraping, burning off or nitromorse) and any
particular paint I need to use when repainting? Any advice would be
appreciated. Thanks.

The problem with asbestos is the fibres and only arises when they are
able to get 'free' from material. On the whole this makes 'bonded
asbestos' (which is what you have) fairly safe PROVIDED you don't
break/drill/cut it etc.

Sanding and scraping would therefore both be bad ideas, sanding in
particular since it gives rise to airborne dust in large volume. At
least with burning you are unlikely to set anything on fire! however
this usually still requires scraping to get the paint off.

It would be better to try and consolidate the current paint and then
paint over it without removal. Maybe you could try painting on a
bonding coat of diluted PVA first.

If you really must get the paint off (again advice would be not to)
then scraping is better than sanding and you should hire/buy a good
quality face mask. You also have the problem of cleaning up the
scrapings which you should think about beforehand. It really is best
avoided, try the bonding route first.

Fash