A lot of Mesa ranch homes from the 1950s through the early 1980s still wear original cement-asbestos siding. From the street it just looks like old hardboard. Gray, slightly wavy, sometimes painted over a dozen times.
While those boards sit intact, the fibers are usually locked in the cement. The problem is not the wall you have been living with. It is the Saturday "siding refresh" that breaks it.
EA Restoration is based in Mesa. We handle asbestos abatement along with water, fire, and mold work across the East Valley. We already wrote a broader guide to asbestos in older Arizona homes. This one is only the siding.
What that siding actually is
People call it transite, cement board, or "the original siding." In a lot of pre-1980 Mesa houses it is asbestos-cement: Portland cement mixed with asbestos fiber, formed into clapboard or shingle panels.
It is typically non-friable when it is whole. You can walk past it for decades. The fibers go airborne when the board is cut, sanded, snapped, drilled, or power-washed hard enough to pit the surface.
You cannot tell by looking. Painted fiber-cement from the last twenty years can mimic it. The only honest first step is a bulk sample before anyone puts a blade into the wall.
When you can leave it alone
Leave it if:
- The boards are sound, not crumbling or turning to powder
- You are not planning to strip, replace, or heavily sand the exterior
- Paint is peeling in spots, but the cement itself is still hard
- No one is about to hang a patio, cut in a window, or demo a wall behind it
In that case, a careful paint job over intact siding is often the better move. Encapsulating paint is not a removal. It is a way to keep a still-stable material still.
Do not power-wash it on a high setting "to see what is under there." Do not snap a board off to take to the hardware store. That is how a quiet wall becomes a fiber release.
When removal is the right call
Call for removal if you are doing any of these:
- A re-side, addition, or window package that has to cut the existing boards
- Storm or fire damage that cracked or blew off panels (board-up first, then test, then abate)
- Siding that is actually crumbling, spongy, or turning to grit in your hand
- A sale or refinance where the inspector flagged suspect cement siding and the buyer wants it gone
- A water leak behind the siding. We already covered hidden water in walls. Cutting those boards without a test is how a leak job becomes an asbestos job.
If monsoon wind or a fire opened the envelope, board-up comes first so the house is closed. Then we sample. Then we remove what has to come off. Do not throw broken panels in a household dumpster.
What licensed siding abatement looks like here
This is not a siding crew with extra bags.
- Sample the boards and any mastic or underlayment that will be disturbed. Lab result before the first cut.
- File the required notices when the job meets the threshold. In Maricopa County that usually runs through the county air quality process, not a city permit counter.
- Set containment, wet the material, and take the boards off whole as much as possible. No dry snapping. No grinders.
- Double-bag, label, and haul to a facility that is allowed to take asbestos. Not the regular construction landfill.
- Air clearance before anyone starts the new siding or the rebuild.
That last piece matters. Construction after abatement is a different chapter. You do not hang new Hardie over a dusty, untested wall.
Homeowners sometimes get told they can DIY their own primary residence. That does not make it a good idea, and it does not make illegal disposal legal. Broken transite in a Mesa alley is still a release.
What not to do this weekend
Do not:
- Sand or scrape "just the paint"
- Score boards with a circular saw to "make them fit the dumpster"
- Pressure-wash until the surface fuzzes
- Mix suspect boards with regular demo debris
- Start a bathroom or garage addition that cuts the exterior before anyone samples
If you already broke a few panels, stop. Close the windows on that wall. Do not sweep dry dust. Call before you bag it.
Call before you cut the first board
If you have original cement siding on a Mesa, Gilbert, Chandler, or Tempe house and you are about to re-side, add on, or throw damaged boards away, call EA Restoration at 480-636-6619. We are licensed, bonded, and insured. We will tell you if the siding can stay, if it needs to come off, and we will not sell you a whole-house abatement for three cracked panels.
Mesa asbestos siding FAQs
East Valley homeowners looking at original cement siding
Related Posts
When a Mesa Home Needs 24/7 Emergency Restoration
A burst pipe, kitchen fire, or monsoon leak at 1 a.m. in Mesa does not wait for office hours. Here is how to tell if you need a night crew, and what to do before anyone arrives.
When a Mesa Home Needs Board-Up After Fire, Storm, or Break-In
After a fire, monsoon, or break-in, an open Mesa house takes more damage by the hour. Here is when board-up is the right next step, what it includes, and what insurance usually wants documented.