In process of buying a new house. Waiting for solicitors doing their thing.

Took a mate round the other day who is an asbestos surveyer, to look at Garage roof, which to me was clearly asbestos. I wouldn’t be asking seller to do anything about this, as it’s clear as to what it is, and in my opinion moaning about said roof would be moaning that you don’t like the kitchen. Not particularly harmful and HSE guidelines actually recommend leaving in place.

Rest of the house was clear but inside the garage there were 10 large sheets of stored asbestos, possibly leftover from the roof. It’s apparently not allowed/illegal/banned to store asbestos if not serving a purpose. The quotation from contractor provided to remove and dispose of the roof is fine with us, but it’s the £260 removal fee for the stored asbestos that’s a bit annoying.

Should I suck it up and consider it an insignificant amount considering the overall house price? Or should I ask for the vendor to cover it as it is something they shouldn’t be storing? It’s the possibly delay on completion that this may cause that bothers me, I’m thinking I should just hurry things along, get the keys, and pay the £260 myself. Does stw agree?

1) If you pay you know it’s been done properly and the area cleaned properly afterwards

2) If the vendor does it they may decide to just break it up and double bag it up themselves and take to the tip. you then have a garage full of fibres.

I think I’d suck up the £260 for peace of mind, tbh.

Sounds like a bargain to me! By new house I assume you mean new to you and not actually a new build?

How large are the sheets?

Buy house, sell sheets, profit! 😀

Oh, hold on… 😉

You could just take the asbestos to the tip yourself. That’s what we did recently with a smaller quantity that was lying around. Double wrapped and pre-arranged with the appropriate tip of course (only a handful will take it, round here at least).

By new house I assume you mean new to you and not actually a new build?

Clearly not as any kind of asbestos has been banned from building since 1999.

Firstly, depending on how old it is it’s almost certainly not the dangerous type of asbestos, but you can’t easily be sure so it all has to be treated as though it is.

You won’t need to damage the sheets to move them so you could damp them down to stop any dust and take them to the tip yourself perhaps with something over your mouth as belt and braces. So the stored stuff just isn’t a problem.

The roof *is* a problem because it will break and release fibres as they remove it but you’re happy to pay for that.

…but yeah, offer £260 less on the house. Why not? He can either drop price or remove them himself or say no. If he removes them himself and drops fibres everywhere then that’ll be cleaned up by your garage roof guys guys when they do their work.

Fair one re. Asking him to do it himself – may just go drag it all out and shove it in a trailer. Didn’t think about that mess, nightmare!

There are a couple of small bits of asbestos cement pipe, maybe old boiler flue stored next to the garage. I’ll dispose of those myself (legally and responsibly!) as comparatively safe, but the sheets in the garage are apparently damaged and creating dust where the corners have cracked off etc. so I feel like just getting somebody else to do it!

And yes, new to me but 1900 build. Rest of house is ok, thankfully, some horror stories online! Ha

Check your local council’s website to see what they say about accepting asbestos sheets at their waste and recycling centres. They may have a charging structure which would make the £260 good value (providing you can be confident that the contractor does a good/careful job of removing them without breaking them and leaving behind fibres).

Equally, if there is no charge for a private householder to dispose of that number of sheets, it might be something you could do yourself without any great risk. There is various guidance online (check the HSE website), but the key to it is not to damage or break it up and spread fibres in the air or get them on your clothes (disposable gloves and a coverall which you should similarly double bag and dispose of when done). Wetting the sheets down, e.g. with a water spray, will help reduce the risk further.

You should also consider what the sheets are resting on: if they are just resting on a joist, that may mean you can just lift them at one end as you slide the bag over them, with minimal disturbance. If you would need to move them significantly to bag them, then I would leave it to the pros. Also, if the sheets are resting on, for example, an old bit of carpet, then that will likely have fibres in it where it is in contact with the sheets and need to be disposed of (again the sort complication which would possibly make me want to leave it to the pros).

It’s apparently not allowed/illegal/banned to store asbestos if not serving a purpose.

Shop the vendor to the fuzz then lower your offer on the house as the address in now blighted by being the notorious haunt of monstrous criminal

the sheets in the garage are apparently damaged and creating dust where the corners have cracked off etc.

I think you need to consider whether this means that the garage is already significantly contaminated with loose fibres. If so, that is a much bigger issue than just removing the sheets: proper decontamination of the garage would be expensive.

proper decontamination of the garage would be expensive.

I assume this will have to happen when the roofers have finished?

Is it not written into the sale contract that all rubbish etc will be removed from the garage?

When we bought our house, the 1930s vintage tin shack of a garage was full of crap that we insisted on being removed.

As above it should be in the contract that he removes all rubbish from the house at its sale.
Our seller was out the country and had a garage clearance company come round as his cost.

I assume this will have to happen when the roofers have finished?

Will it? I would look closely at what the contractor’s quote actually says it includes. I suspect most such work does not entail a subsequent full decontamination of the area beneath the roof, because it should not release significant quantities of fibres. The fact that the OP is annoyed by the £260 quote to remove the extra sheets, suggests that the quote to remove the roof is not that large an amount.

The OP said his mate is an asbestos surveyor. How skilled/competent is he? An asbestos surveyor may be someone who has just been on a basic course to learn how to do a Type 1 or 2 survey, and may not be competent to make the necessary investigations and assess whether a full decontamination of already released fibres is necessary.

Firstly, depending on how old it is it’s almost certainly not the dangerous type of asbestos, but you can’t easily be sure so it all has to be treated as though it is.

All asbestos is dangerous. The nature of its use and how its bound can make it less dangerous, but its still dangerous.

I’d be getting a formal quote and then deducting the value from the offer on the house

I’d be getting a formal quote and then deducting the value from the offer on the house

This, that way you arrange the removal and are happy it’s done correctly, but they pay for it.

All asbestos is dangerous.

Thanks for that correction. A quick google suggests that the evidence that Chrysotile is harmless is deeply suspicious (funded by people who sell it!) and if it wasn’t how would you explain the builders etc who get asbestos-related diseases when most exposure is to Chrysotile asbestos.

Will it?

I think we have to assume so becasue paying to remove the roof sheets but leave the dust behind would be bat-poo mental. If that’s the plan don’t buy the house, full stop.

2 options for me-

Reduce offer to cover cost, or pay for it yourself.

Would definitely get rid of the spare sheets and get new roof at same time.

Longer term, possibly worth demolition and rebuild of garage, of course.

If anyone is worried about having an asbestos garage/shed whatever the costs to remove aren’t too bad.

Our double garage was built from white asbestos (chrysotile) in concrete had this tested for £25, not just the roof either the whole damn double garage (steel frame, concrete/asbestos sheets) this was a low level worry for me for years, it recently got taken down as part of house refurb.

We bought the next level safety gear (ie a bit better than strictly needed for health and safety reasons) bags (double bagged) and “asbestos hazard” tape to tape up the bags – can’t exactly remember the cost for this say about £150.

Say a days labour for two workers (won’t take a day, our labourer did it on his own in a a morning, but he was an absolute beast) £300.

Got a company to pick the asbestos up for £400 or £500.

Years of low level stress solved for about £1k. Obviously replacing the garage will cost a bit more.

£260 sounds ok.

I think we have to assume so becasue paying to remove the roof sheets but leave the dust behind would be bat-poo mental.

This is the guidance on removing corrugated asbesto cement sheets, and it does not include anything more than a clean up with damp rags.

If the damaged sheets are asbestos insulation board and lots of fibres from them are already dispersed, then it may not be so simple.

Its not part of the house so seller should be removing it. If they don’t (i.e. its still there after completion) then you reclaim the costs from them.

This is the guidance on removing corrugated asbesto cement sheets, and it does not include anything more than a clean up with damp rags.

Many thanks for that link. It does say “cleaned properly”. I’d hope that included hoovering residual dust up, but I accept the document doesn’t specifically require it.

If the pros take the safe stuff and leave the dangerous stuff behind I’m starting to think this is a job for the home owner. Better to risk a day of breathing through a mask doing a proper clean up that breath left over dust every time you go in the garage.

Thanks for all the advice, lots to chew over.

Price of garage roof removal is £425. More than the sheets, but it’s my choice to have it removed so not resentful over that. HSE guidelines actually say to leave in place.

It’s the stored sheets that were the annoyance. I’m in process of finding out how the pros intend gettin rid of them, and how clean/safe/decontaminated the garage will be afterwards. I suppose to be extra safe I can leave it unroofed for a couple of weeks, or is that a bit silly?

Also going to check up with Solicitors regarding the removal of rubbish/contract issue and see if I have grounds there.

Thanks all

If the pros take the safe stuff and leave the dangerous stuff behind I’m starting to think this is a job for the home owner. Better to risk a day of breathing through a mask doing a proper clean up that breath left over dust every time you go in the garage.

Which is why I asked about the competence level of the OP’s mate who is an asbestos surveyor. The person undertaking the investigations and making the assessment should be the one to determine what needs to be done by the asbestos removal contractor, including what removal and clean up protocols (including in the worst cases erecting a negative pressure tent in which to do the work and bringing a decontamination unit on site for the workers). I would not leave it to the asbestos contractor to decide what procedures were required. Equally, if I were an asbestos removal contractor, I would similarly want to know that the surveyor was competent and had made the necessary investigations, as opposed to turning up on site, starting work, and finding that the job is much more hazardous than advised by the surveyor.