Asbestos....

It's been a long pain-in-the-ass journey, but the asbestos siding is off.
I started removing it back in September, then got the Stop Work notice.   I was told by the building department in our ensuing conversation that I couldn't remove any asbestos material myself.   After many calls to the DEP, the EPA, and WV Department of something or other, I finally found out that this is true - by law all asbestos abatement in WV must be done my a licensed abatement contractor.   However, there is a waiver that homeowners can apply for that allows them to do the work themselves if they own and occupy the dwelling.   I applied anyway by submitting the required application in addition to a long statement explaining why I couldn't occupy the house until after the siding was removed the the walls re-framed for the new windows and doors.   I mailed it into them on November 13th - a Friday.   Weeks went by.  After the first 3 weeks I began making weekly calls to three different people at the Dept. who are involved with granting the permits.  Two of them never once returned my calls, the third kept saying he didn't know when I would get an answer.    Exactly six weeks after submitting my application I received this in my mailbox...

It took them six weeks to tell me that.
So, unwilling to take "no" for an answer, especially after a month and a half,  I went down to make a personal visit to Mr. Curtis.   I had to maneuver through a security guard and two receptionists to get to him.  I got into his office and said "What will it take to persuade you to let me do this?"    He pulled out my file.  I explained again everything that I had written in my original application.  I don't think he had ever actually read it.  He said he would reconsider my request.  
One week later I found this in my mailbox....

SUCCESS!
I took my waiver downtown to the building department and got my permit.
This past weekend, donning my fashionable HAZ-MAT suit, respirator, and pink vinyl shower cap to keep the asbestos out of my hair and the rain off my glasses, I got to work.   Three days later it's off, waiting to be double packed in special, very expensive asbestos disposal bags and hauled to a far-off landfill. 

Before:

After:

Soon the lead-paint covered original 100 year-old clapboards will come off as well....