Last reviewed October 31, 2026.
The siding crew pries back a corner of the old aluminum and finds a second skin underneath: flat, brittle, gray shingles. The foreman stops the job. Nobody touches those until they are tested.
That pause is correct. It is also the first step in a New York State process most homeowners have never heard of.
You cannot tell by looking
Asbestos went into a long list of building products, and federal and state health agencies both put roofing and siding shingles on it. The EPA’s Learn About Asbestos page, updated July 2026, names “roofing and siding shingles” where asbestos can turn up, along with asbestos cement products. The NYS Department of Health’s homeowner page (revised October 2023) carries the same item.
Neither agency lets you settle it by eye. The EPA says you generally can’t tell whether a material contains asbestos simply by looking at it, unless it is labeled. The Department of Health says the only way to know definitively is to have samples analyzed.
Skip the do-it-yourself sample, too. The EPA says taking samples yourself is not recommended and points homeowners to a trained, accredited professional.
The Department of Labor’s homeowner sheet (P229, January 2026) offers one shortcut. It lists transite, or cement, siding among materials assumed to contain asbestos because of their manufacturing and sampling history. It still repeats that sampling and analysis are the only certain test.
Leaving sound shingles in place
If nothing is going to disturb them, both levels of government say the same thing: leave them alone. The EPA, in guidance updated June 2026, says material in good condition that will not be disturbed should be left alone, and that you do not need testing if materials aren’t damaged and won’t be disturbed. Its list of don’ts includes sawing, sanding, scraping or drilling asbestos material.
The Department of Labor’s P224 fact sheet (February 2024) says the state rule does not require owners to inspect for or remove asbestos already in their buildings. The obligations start when work is planned.
What Industrial Code Rule 56 requires before removal
New York’s asbestos rule is Industrial Code Rule 56 (12 NYCRR Part 56), enforced by the Department of Labor. Its January 2026 sheet for building permit applicants (P231) sets out three points that matter on a roofing or siding job:
- A survey comes first. An asbestos survey has to be done before interior and exterior renovation, remodeling, repair and demolition work, by a certified New York State Asbestos Inspector.
- Only licensed asbestos contractors remove it. The sheet names roofing contractors among the trades that may not disturb or remove asbestos materials without an asbestos handling license. Removal is done by licensed asbestos contractors using certified workers.
- The permit office gets a copy. Section 56-5.1(g) has one copy of the survey results sent to the local government office that issues the permit for the work.
Bigger jobs add a deadline. For a large asbestos project, section 56-3.4 requires the abatement contractor’s written notice to reach the department’s Asbestos Control Bureau at least 10 calendar days before the abatement phase begins.
P224 scales the notification fee by size: none under 160 square feet, then $200, $400 and $1,000, up to $2,000 for 1,000 square feet or more.
If a roofer or siding installer hits suspect material that the survey missed, section 56-1.4 says to stop work in that area until a licensed asbestos contractor deals with it.
The owner-occupant exemption
Rule 56 carves out one exception. Under P229, an owner may do the abatement personally only when the house is a single-family dwelling that the owner lives in or will live in, and the owner alone does the work.
Corporations, contractors and flippers who plan to sell or rent do not count as owners here. The department’s 2009 Rule 56 guidance adds that the exemption does not apply once the owner hires a contractor. Even for owners who qualify, the department recommends hiring licensed asbestos contractors.
Hauling and disposal are a separate matter. They fall under the NYS Department of Environmental Conservation and the landfill, not the Department of Labor.
Babylon’s asbestos certificate and town paperwork
Some town permit forms stack their own asbestos paperwork on top of the state rule. The Town of Babylon’s building permit application lists an “Asbestos Certificate” in its requirements box, and its fee line is labeled for construction or asbestos removal cost.
The form does not say what the certificate must contain, so ask the Building Division before filing. Our Babylon permit guide walks through the rest of that application, and the Long Island roofing permits hub links every town and village guide.
Covering asbestos with new siding or a new roof
On a roof, the code settles it. Section R908.4 of the 2025 Residential Code of New York State lists existing slate, clay, cement or asbestos-cement tile among the conditions where a roof recover is not allowed.
The same section leaves one door open: a complete and separate roofing system, such as standing-seam metal that carries the roof loads straight to the structure, can go on without removing the old covering. For an ordinary shingle reroof, though, asbestos-cement shingles come off first. That means a survey and a licensed abatement crew. The roof replacement page covers the rest of a tear-off.
Siding is murkier on paper. The Department of Labor’s Rule 56 guidance, a 2009 document that is still posted, says overlaying intact non-friable asbestos material using an adhesive or leveling compound is not an asbestos project unless the material is disturbed, and that any penetration of it counts as a disturbance.
A new siding system fastened through the old shingles would land on the disturbance side of that line. The same guidance says the crew doing the overlay must be told where the asbestos is. Get the survey before deciding, and ask the asbestos inspector which approach fits your wall.
What abatement costs on Long Island
Local prices are hard to find in print. Siding Long Island (Selective Remodeling) says on its site that asbestos abatement adds a flat $3,500 to $6,500 for a certified removal partner, and that removing old aluminum or asbestos shingle siding adds $1.50 to $3.00 a square foot. Its September 2026 vinyl cost guide repeats the $3,500 to $6,500 range and says removal takes a licensed abatement contractor.
We found no Long Island abatement firm or roofer publishing a price for asbestos roof shingles. The siding cost guide puts those add-ons beside full siding prices.
Before signing anything, check that each quote names who does the survey and who does the removal, and whether the state notification fee is included.
