Ripping it out is definitely not the cheapest solution, unless you’re removing it, or dumping it illegally.

You’re not allowed to rip out more than 10 square metres without a licence. You have to wet it down, and try not to break it when removing it. You have to double wrap it in thick builder’s plastic and tape up all the joins. You have to have a special skip that’s lined with plastic, or take it to an approved tip. It costs at least $500 per tonne if you take it there yourself. If you want to remove more than 10 metres squared, then the course to get a license costs over $700. You need to suit up in disposable cover-alls, including disposable overshoes. You need to wear a respirator, and even the best only catch 99% of fibres, so there’s still a remote chance that you’ll suck in a fibre and die of mesothelioma at some time in the distant future.

There are people being diagnosed today with asbestosis who’s only contact with it was as a baby when their parents were renovating their home. Of course you’d have to be unlucky, but the stuff is dangerous.

To get professionals to remove it from inside costs at least $50 per metre square. A double bedroom might have 40 square metres. That’s $2,000 just for one room. Then after it’s removed it’s advisable to get professional air and surface testing done to make sure the house hasn’t been contaminated with asbestos fibres during the removal process. Outside is an easier process since there’s no contamination of the inside. Some American states insist that the entire house is covered by a tent before you start. It may get that tough here in future.

There’s a chance that if you tape and set the joints it will hold, but I reckon it would crack. If there’s gloss paint on the walls, then I doubt the plaster will stick unless you sand it first, but the last thing I would do is sand an asbestos wall unless you really want to breathe asbestos dust.

As a builder, my advice is to just replace the cover strips and paint it, or go over the top of it with plasterboard.

But wear a good, well fitting respirator when nailing/screwing through it to fix the plasterboard. One with canisters, not just a cheap paper mask. And be very careful when removing any, or breaking it out of the way. Never use power tools that will cause dust on it (grinders, drills, etc)

If Dean Collins can ‘rip it out cheap’, then he must be doing it cowboy style and dumping it late at night somewhere, where it becomes someone else’s expensive problem to get rid of.

Not all internal joint strip covered sheeting is asbestos though. In fact most of the time it’s only found in bathrooms. Usually the sheeting is masonite. That’s a relatively harmless composite timber product. That can’t be taped and set because it expands and contracts seasonally, and the joints will definitely crack. It’s easy to get rid of though, you could even burn it in a bonfire (if fires are allowed in your shire) or a woodburner.