First let me comment that when it's time to sell, by law you must declare knowledge of asbestos in the house, or feel the possible wrath of a very serious lawsuit later on if it's discovered!
Does it look like a cast for broken limbs....put on the pipes?
If you decide to remove:
If so removing it, is not that difficult or dangerous if you wear a respirator, and throw-away tyvek jump suit. Just tape the legs & sleeves tight to boots and gloves.
Many years ago I helped dismantle our families commercial laundry, built by my great Grandfather in 1892, originally had coal powered steam engine. All the pipes were for high pressure-high heat steam.
Had insulation over pipes about 2in thick wrapped in asbestos. Knowing how it went on, helps to remove it: First the pipe is sleeved in a clamshell batt insulator which came in 3 ft sections. A wrap of some specialty tape went on to hold the sections together around the pipe.
After all that was in place, rolls of asbestos, about 6-8in wide and 1/32 thick, were cut into strips. I believe the material was fortified with plaster of paris,[something gets hard after drying] The long strips were soaked in water, the wrapped around the insulated batts. I remember all this as a kid, watching my father repair the pipes & still have a roll of the stuff around somewhere.
So in actuality only the surface covering was asbestos in our case anyhow, cutting a section will tell. It's real obvious if the type we had. I also removed same thing from boiler room and pipes in house built in WW 1 era.
Using pump up sprayer,[type used for gardening & found at HD] Wet the covering with water, and split it with box cutters & pry it off pipes. Keep it wet while opening and removing from pipes & wash residue off. Discard the gunk into plastic garbage bag lined,[double them] trash cans. Keep it damp/wet to prevent any dust during removal,that's where the danger lies...dust in the air.
Now days you probably will have to dispose of everything in haz-mat drums, last I checked they went for 255.00 per 55gal drum. How you actually dispose of it......is up to you and your local codes...what's allowed in your landfill etc.
If you do go the removal route PM me for more details.
Be care full if you try to "encapsulate" it with fiberglass. It may or may not be legally permitted. I would check before I wasted the time & money to do so. Know any real estate salespersons,it would be wise to check the rules with them first. Finding an old time Plumber with knowledge of boilers may be another avenue for info.
I also was a licensed for lead removal , that's just as bad or worse to deal with. If it is legal to encapsulate, I would check for the many venues to do so. Might be cheaper to get modern day wrapping used for casts or there may be a specialty product out there....I'll google it later
Good luck with this one.
Edit....here ya go, that didn't take long Google is your friend!!! Looks to be much cheaper than fiberglass/epoxy route.
https://www.google.com/?gws_rd=ssl#q=encapsulate+asbestos+pipes
https://www.buyinsulationproductstore.com/rewettable-canvas-pipe-lagging/
