[Closed] Removal of leaky asbestos garage roof - advice sought

I'm in the same boat, but in the Midlands. Best I've found so far is a grand for the roof to be removed. Looked at getting an asbestos skip to remove it myself and that's 700 on its own.

Then there's the cost of a new roof, I'm going to do it myself using timber/ply/felt but I reccon that's going to cost about £300 in materials

I think photo's of both would enlighten my day.... 🙂

As long as you give the roof a thorough soaking prior to removal and wear the apropriate dust mask I wouldn't think you would be any more at risk than riding past various bits of dumped asbestos in highway verges we no doubt have all experienced?

Hmmm, I was hoping for a figure of round about £500 max. Think I'll have to investigate the DIY route, but I'm not sure how I'd get it to the tip, I don't think strapping it to the roof rack, even if it's all bagged up, is a sensible option?!

Another option I had suggested to me was to build a new roof around and above the existing one, what do you think to that idea?

I'm not fused about taking it off. It's getting rid of it is the problem, our local tip will only let you take 1 sheet in your life time.

I've been thinking similar thoughts about encapsulating the asbestos . if I can find a corrugated roof sheet that has the same profile it could be attached on top of the asbestos . the inside could then be insulated and ply lined.

I'd treat this as my last resort to be honest as it wouldn't be as good as a new roof

dvatcmark - Member

I'm not fused about taking it off. It's getting rid of it is the problem, our local tip will only let you take 1 sheet in your life time.

Have you checked with your council directly? Some will collect a certain amount each year in addition to what the [s]dump[/s] recycling centre will take. My will take 40KG/yr as long as it is double bagged in proper asbestos bags.

Not in my area annoyingly , be worthwhile checking this out op

Kirklees council's website say I need to give the [s]tip[/s] recycling centre 24 hours notice if I want to dispose of asbestos there. I've seen the big enclosed asbestos skip they've got there. There's no mention on their website about collection or a limit of how much I can dispose of.

Probably have to hire a van or flat-bed truck I suppose, then the costs of all the PPE and plastic sheeting start to add up, still a lot less than a grand I suppose.

After further research I've found the following HSE guidance, and given what it says on page 2, I'm going to put a new roof on top and leave the current one in situ.

I found the source of the leak and have put a bit of plywood on top weighted down with a large stone. I believe that's what's known in the trade as a bodge.

Cheers for the advice.

As above, ring the council or the tip direct, they may well have a covered skip for this purpose. They will probably want it properly wrapped in plastic sheets and taped up etc.

I've got a big barn with the same roofing. Luckily we had storm damage to it back in November (actual real tornado content) and the insurance company are now talking about replacing the whole roof as it might be easier/cheaper than trying to repair sections of it.

So throw some stones through it and make a claim!
[that was a joke]

[i]After further research I've found the following HSE guidance, and given what it says on page 2, I'm going to put a new roof on top and leave the current one in situ.[/i]

I wouldn't do that if I were you. Ooh no, most definitely not!

When you come to sell your property and the sale is all going through nicely, the buyers surveyor will spot it and the shit will hit the fan! I know its not dangerous, but that is not what a buyer will be thinking...they just see the word and that is where it starts!

Do not just cover the asbestos over, it's a ticking bomb to scare of potential purchasers when you come to sell.

Our council tip will take them double wrapped if you can get them there, subject to x number of visits in y period of time, which we couldn't organise without breaking the panels up to get in a car/van, which kind of defeats the object!

Derbyshire Rubber Roofing replaced our asbestos roof. They just took the panels off (they were intact, just leaking) and double wrapped them for us while we found a way to get rid of them, and MrsMC found a local demolition firm who took the lot away for a couple of hundred pounds, I think, as they were already off and wrapped. I can get more details when she gets in from work if required.

Right I'm glad I checked back in on this thread!

I wonder now, since my surveyor didn't mention it when I bought the house in 2000, if maybe it's not asbestos at all?

MoreCash, if you could get more details that would be much appreciated, ta.

A few years back, on getting home from work I let the dogs out into the back garden and they went absolutely mental. When I went outside two scrotes were trying to make their escape across my neighbour's shed. One of the little ****ers went straight through! I called the police, etc etc... and the neighbour got a new shed roof, replacing the one that looked to be the same material as mine (houses and garages built at different times by different builders before anyone asks). Why couldn't they have run over mine???

It may well be it may well not. The only way to be 100% sure is to get it tested. If it comes back as not then it was money very well spent as you can just chuck it in a skip. If it comes back as positive at least you know you've invested in the right kit. FFP3 dust mask or higher, paper suit if you really want to go belt and braces. Cut bolts from beneath and slide sheets down roof from inside.

We bought our house last year and the survey made no mention of the asbestos roof on the garage. I knew about it from viewing so it wasn't a surprise.

Should it have been detailed out of interest?

http://www.aic.org.uk/FAQAC.html

I did fall through my astbestos garage roof while cleaning it last year. After I'd dusted myself down I took a piece for testing and luckily, it turned out to be concrete. Take a small piece for sample testing, I used somewhere near Spen Sports centre.

Headfirst.
I'm going through the same plan here in Halifax
I have a price from Clayton garages at bradford and another from grimston.
I don't have the prices to hand and I am just heading out but can update you later with the figures.
From recollection, it wasn't far off a grand but it's one of those, i could probably do it, but do I want the hassle jobs. Especially if it goes wrong.

Further news to follow.

Mugboo and rockhopper, your posts are very interesting!

Mugboo, from google would that be All Clear solutions?

Rockhopper, I eagerly await your further news...

Not to minimise the health problems that it can cause, but the supposed dangers of asbestos in the domestic setting are greatly exaggerated. It's people who work(ed) with the stuff on a daily basis who are at risk. There must be millions of old houses stuffed with it still, in various forms.

dig deep hole in garden and bury it.

a customer i had ,had the same problem, he rang the ouncil, they sent out clipboard man, who gave him lots of info leaflets etc and a large bill for removal.

Update from the Chancellor who says that the actual roof replacement (Derbyshire Rubber Roofing, google brings them up) did the removal and new roof for £1800 - it's a bigger than average single garage.

The actual asbestos removal cost £150, using a company that she found following a link on the Erewash council website, which I can't now find, sorry

Back again.
Prices from one of the people, menu style.
Install verge boards, £110.
Backboard &gutter, £85.00
Remove asbestos roof, £200.
Install full length galvanised sheets, £575
Drips top, £110.
Thermal boards, £180
Breathable membrane, £100.

Competitors price is £650 to remove and replace with full length steel roof sheets, new wall plate, gutter, fall pipe and barge boards. +£280 to insulate with 25mm kingspan. This is a price from 2012 and I am waiting for an up todate quote. But applying the rate of inflation, I reckon the above will be around £700 for the basic work and maybe £300 for insulation, so a grand?

If you need any more info then feel free to drop me an email.

Hope this helps.

That's the place headfirst.

When I told my dad about it, he said he smashed up our old astbestos one when I was a boy & stuck it in a skip. That was 40 years ago and he's still going strong. No mask, no nothing...

My local authority came and removed my Asbestos roof sheets that I had double wrapped and charged £80 . We had official paperwork that showed that they were being taken to a bigger local tip ! Who knows what they do with them then which makes the whole thing seem a bit false ?

They go to landfill. Simple as that.

Thread hijack...

My new house's garage has panels in the ceiling that could be asbestos - they're greyish with a slight shine to them, a bit like fibreglass or similar. In a couple of places where screws have been driven through, the panels are damaged (eg corners broken off).

What's the best thing to do to check whether it's asbestos and if so, remove it?

As stated previously on this thread, unless you're grinding up the stuff and inhaling daily it's very unlikely you'll have any health issues.

I had some specialist chums come round and take mine off, and they just cut the bolts securing the roof and bagged it up in see through polythene (can't remember how thick it needs to be?), duct taped so it's airtight to keep the HSE folk happy. No dust created, no broken sheets, easy money (or beer in this case!).

Simple DIY, just need to confirm your disposal options (or dig a big hole...).

thanks for that 🙂

Here's a related question, scrotes of the carravan variety stole the lead flashing off our garrage, they were built in the 60's and the roof is the "cement, maybe asbestos" type stuff. It's just direclty resting on and screwed/bolted to joists running accross (perpendicular to the corugation) the garrage.

Quote from a roofer was £300 to re do it with rubber flashing, which seems to be £50 flashing and £250 labour absd on the cost of similar stuff from B&Q.

I've got 2 6mm 8ft x 1.5ft plywood planks than can be glued to make one stiff one, would those be enough to spread my weight? Rather irritatingly the walls are single skin brick and starting to collapse at the top so I cant just climb those!

Thread hijack...

My new house's garage has panels in the ceiling that could be asbestos - they're greyish with a slight shine to them, a bit like fibreglass or similar. In a couple of places where screws have been driven through, the panels are damaged (eg corners broken off).

What's the best thing to do to check whether it's asbestos and if so, remove it?

Find a testing company - either local and they'll send someone to take samples, or online and you can get a "kit" and instructions telling you how to get a sample to send away. Then it goes to a testing lab and you get a report.

If it's an integral garage and the house was built before the 90s, then it's possible it's Asbestos Insulating Board. This stuff's pretty lethal compared to the garage roofs of this thread and it has very specific rules about its handling and removal. As with (most) asbestos, it it isn;t damaged then advice is generally to leave it alone.

How do I know this? My integral garage has an AIB ceiling. I'm going to have various work done to my house next year, and I'll be sitting down when I get the quote for its removal (am expecting several thousand £).

Yep, built before the 90s ('75). Like I said previously there are some small bits of damage where things have been screwed into it.

What does it look like then?

What does it look like then?

Mine's been painted over. But if I didn't know, I'd guess it was plasterboard.

Deffo worth getting it tested to give you peace of mind.

AIB is naughty. It is hse notifiable and licensed only removal. As a "rule" tho if there are shiny flecks in the boarding it could be something more modern such as supalux.
Be careful if taking a sample.
And some of the advice above is bobbins, asbestosis and the like is similar to smoking, it kills some people it doesn't kill others.

When I was about 14 I built a steam-powered model boat and because my dad had some lying around, I lined the engine compartment with thin asbestos cement sheet, which I cut up and filed to shape wearing no mask. I'm still alive 44 years later.

We've done our own 1930s garage roof and our neighbour's, both asbestos cement corrugated sheet. You have to book the poly wrapping sheet out of the local dump, remove the sheets while spraying them liberally with water to suppress dust then wrap them up and book them back in at the dump, where you put them in a special skip. Pretty simple really and free of charge.

It cost me about £400 to have a 2.5 x 5 metre shed roof professionally removed (Newcastle) they also spotted and removed a length of asbestos guttering.

If you broke down the costs it would have probably been at least £150 for the labour, £100 for the expertise £100 for the disposal and £100 for peace of mind (especially for Mrs. oliverd). As the roof was going to have to go anyway testing would have been a waste of cash.

What was surprising was when they had to break up some of the panels to get them into the bags/the van there was much less dust than it'd expect I'd be pretty confident to do a DIY job now, especially on a rainy day, but our council won't take any Asbestos whatsoever so this was the best solution for us.

Asbestos Insulating Board (mentioned above) and Asbestos Cement Sheet are very, very different things.

Just as an update, mine has been done.
The two lads did the job in an hour and a half. Now, I'm not saying that is a good thing and I'm waiting for the first downpour to see if it is sealed as I have my doubts about how the roof edges have been finished off.
Of greater concern (albeit unfounded, apparently) is that they just pulled the sheets off the roof. Some broke up, some didn't. They were then tossed into the back of the flat bed truck.
No masks, no overalls, no vacuuming.
When I asked if the sheets needed to be bagged, they said not, as they were grade 2 so only 5% asbestos content and they didn't make much dust. They invited me to speak to the office and I did. They said it was grade 1, only 1% and it's only the dust that can cause a problem.
Anyway, I'll leave this post archived as evidence of their work should I develop some disease in the future, as a result of sweeping out the garage off all the mud and moss left behind.
I hate the feeling of being sold a slick sales patter and not being convinced it's been delivered.

As a "rule" tho if there are shiny flecks in the boarding it could be something more modern such as supalux.

Mine has shiny flecks. Recently confirmed as Chrysotile and Amosite eg the nasty stuff. The first guy round to quote said that the shiny flecks are the asbestos fibres...

When I asked if the sheets needed to be bagged, they said not, as they were grade 2 so only 5% asbestos content and they didn't make much dust.

Well, interestingly, the house across the road with a very similar garage had there's done a few months ago, by a firm that quoted me and did state they took all the precautions, bagged waste, sealed skip etc.
When they did the work, only one of them was wearing the PPE and the owner didn't need to clear the garage out at all, rammed with clutter.
So either it wasn't a risk and the PPE is just for show, to ramp up the price and make the work look prohibitively dangerous, or they have left her with her garage contents contaminated with asbestos fibres. I can't see how it can be so dangerous as to warrant PPE yet no effort made whatsoever to decontaminate the site and contents.

When I had my garage roof re-done, the contractor removed and bagged the old roof, which he said I should take to the tip to save costs.

It weighed a tonne. We struggled it into a mate's estate car, repeatedly tearing the wrapping.

We drove to the tip.

We struggled each sheet out of the car (more tearing), and hoisted it into a giant bin marked "ASBESTOS DEATH PERIL HORROR".

As each raggedly-wrapped sheet crashed down into the ASBESTOS DEATH PERIL HORROR bin, a huge cloud of dust rose into the air.

We did that about 8 times.

Then we dusted ourselves down, went home and made wills.

🙂

So either it wasn't a risk and the PPE is just for show, to ramp up the price and make the work look prohibitively dangerous,

Or the guys that did it are pillocks.

Not pillocks.....indeed, when the boss of said firm quoted me and I suggested it was more than his competitors, he specifically suggested that they knew what they were doing, with 40+ years experience between them. Unlike his competitors, who would send, and I quote, " a 22 year old with a baseball cap and tattoos on the hands and neck".

Guy who came round to quote for removal said garage would need to be fully cleared and then they would do air sampling when complete to confirm that there was no asbestos in the air.

That sounds to me like the right way to go about it.

Don't say that...I need to put my bikes back in. 😥

Employ a "specialist" and they will use the paranoia about asbestos to screw you. It's only asbestos cement sheet.

We did ours and our single Mum neighbour's 1940s garage roofs. You have to get the special plastic sheeting from the local dump and sign it out. Buy a couple of rolls of sticky tape. Then wearing a mask, soak everything with a hose and cut the heads off the nails with an angle grinder, removing the sheets whole, well wetted, and wrapping them in the sheet. Take them back to the dump and put them in the special container, from where they will be taken and dumped in a landfill then crushed by a big tractor with knobbly metal wheels. Ha ha.

A consistent requirement seems to be bagging it up but this wasn't done.
Mmmmm.

Our LA will provide the bags and arrange collection of the sheets for £120.

This is what we will be doing with ours come spring using suitable masks and common sense.

Mmmmm indeed,

I suspect your sheeting is currently adornig a field gateway somewhere not million miles from your abode.

I wouldn't even risk taking it off myself.

Then theres the what happens after it leaves my ownership.

Personally I'd get it professionally removed. I'm sure your council would fine you heavily if they found out otherwise???

Don't confuse the roofing sheets and internal linings.

Our garage has an internal lining. I had my own sample lab tested independent of any removal contractor and it was amosite insulation board (the bad stuff). I also believe it sheds tons of fibres if broken (and the stuff is nailed on so it isn't going to be clean removal).

14 day HSE notification before it can be touched

Fine as it is (painted) but after living with it for 17 years it is finally coming out next week as just can't do any building work around it.

There is one very professional local contractor that does all local council work at schools etc. 1 day on site is costing £1100 + VAT 🙁

That needs completely clear garage and door removed. They do the full airlock, negative pressure etc (to stop fibres going into our adjoining house) and an indepent inspector to test outgoing air for fibre content before they can remove the airlock. Sounds like the longest part of the job is cleanup (garage walls etc) once removed. HSE can and do spot check them that they do the job properly.

globalti has the right idea, wet is and sheet it with either bags or big poly sheets and tape. Don't smash it up to get it in a bag. Its not a had job, just be careful and logical but do wear the correct mask and coveralls.

Did the chaps that took it away leave you any paperwork? That will tell you where they are taking it (part 4 of section A to be precise). If you didn't get anything like that, you may find it in a local hedge bottom.

I'm busy verifying the removal of some asbestos impacted soils at the moment, and the above has made for some interesting reading to say the least! I'd recommend that if you're worried at all speak to your local Environmental Health Officer who should be able to give you some advice, also the HSE website has some good articles and FAQs: [url= http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/index.htm ]linky[/url]

EDIT: Just a note on wetting things, ideally this should be with a 'wetting agent' - pure water doesn't actually work as well, so you should add a small amount of washing liquid. Also, be aware that your footwear may also be contaminated, it's not just a case of throwing away your suit at the end.

Same for me as mick_r (whereabouts are you based - your quote is a fair bit cheaper than the one I've had - £1.7k - single garage - ceiling and around the up and over door)

skiprat - Member
globalti has the right idea, wet is and sheet it with either bags or big poly sheets and tape. Don't smash it up to get it in a bag. Its not a had job, just be careful and logical but do wear the correct mask and coveralls.

Did the chaps that took it away leave you any paperwork? That will tell you where they are taking it (part 4 of section A to be precise). If you didn't get anything like that, you may find it in a local hedge bottom.

No...I think I might need to call EHO now tbh.
The other company did say they'd issue a disposal certificate.
It's not as if the contractor was some random bloke, this was a bona fide company, or so I thought.

Rockhopper70 I would be worried where it ended up whats left behind that you cant see.

if it helps for a simple test i used scopes lab www.scopesaasl.co.uk - I took a diy(*) sample of suspect roofing and sent it double bagged with £25 cash and a covering letter - certified result was back in 3 days (negative in my case)

* involved a scuba mask and snorkel, i made sure my wife wasn't in so she couldn't take photos before you ask

I wonder, and this is just a wonder, if it was asbestos cement at all.
The quote refers to the sheets as asbestos cement sheets, but the invoice simply refers to roof sheets.
So, have the used a scare tactic to get the work, and then covered their arse with the EHO, by referring to at as roof sheets on the invoice? Suggesting something really quite inert.
How they know that I'm not sure as I am not aware that they tested a sample.

This is doing my head in now...and I'm reluctant to reinstate the clutter in the garage!

hora - Member
Rockhopper70 I would be worried where it ended up whats left behind that you cant see.

...not helping........ 😕

For peace of mind you can hire HEPA vacuums for sucking up loose fibres, and then giving everything a coat of paint/liquid DPM should significantly reduce the risk of any stray fibres floating about the place.

I have a company that removes and replaces industrial roofing and cladding, including asbestos.
Depending on which type of asbestos, it may or may not be very harmful.
The problem you have is most companies get charged a minimum rate for dispossal so its easier to keep it on if posible.
The cheapest way is to oversheet by using a spacer bar and a new plastisol top sheet, if you want any more advise feel free to get i touch at info at elevationcladding.co.uk

Hope this helps,

Fraser

I spoke to the EHO on Friday. She couldnt do a great deal to enforce how this company worked but did suggest that I might not want to go into the garage and start sweeping up all the mess left.
They did suggest that I report the company to the HSE for being a little cavalier, shall we say, with the health and safety of their employees. That might be opening a can of worms for myself!
So, today, I'll be making contact with specialist cleaners and see what it might cost to clean the garage.
The installer is yet to respond to my written questions about their method of working and disposal.