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How to paint asbestos shower panels?

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?

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MitchellMc

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

MJS

I do quite like the look of those wet area panels.

These existing panels do have screw heads poking out of them. Do you see that being a problem? I imagine I won't be able to get the new panels flush against the existing ones.

MitchellMc

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

Tony12

I realise this is now 4 months ago and the job is probably done. It should be noted, however, that a residence with laminated asbestos panels like these (a James Hardie product known as Tilux - springtime) is also likely to have other asbestos containing material (ACM) in its structure. This might include wall and ceiling panels, battens covering the sheet joints where they butt together and soffit panels in the roof eaves, to name a few.

In this image there is a reasonable chance the other walls are ACM, as well as underneath the ceramic tiles. Covering ACM is cheaper and easier, but it transfers the legacy problem to another day, when at some stage, it will need to be safely and lawfully removed and disposed of.

Inadequate renovations which attempt to encapsulate ACM can lead to even more expensive repairs and asbestos removal. This is a consideration for anyone renovating an investment property for the purpose of renting out. If not encapsulated in a sound manner, the tenants may be exposed to asbestos should damage or disrepair result in the future.

Licensed asbestos removal, while not always cheap, is the safer option. In some circumstances there are also tax incentives available for asbestos removal in an investment property: Tax ruling: asbestos removal and tax deductions | Asbestos and Silica Safety and Eradication Agency

JacobZ

Hi @Tony12,

A warm welcome to the Bunnings Workshop community, it is wonderful to have you join us.

Any information we can add for future readers is always welcome and your insight and expertise will surely be valued in our community.

Thank you for sharing.

Jacob

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