Due to the extent asbestos was used in the construction industry during the 20th century, asbestos can be found in a multitude of products, from fake snow to insulation. Non-asbestos roofing materials were slowly introduced during the 1990s, but some garage roofs have been in place for decades, fitted well before the use of non-asbestos products.
It’s vital you remove any asbestos from your property, including asbestos cement tile/roofing. There are a few different types of asbestos, and it’s often difficult to distinguish between them – but in garage roofs, it’s often the case that asbestos is mixed together with cement.
There are a few signs to look for which will indicate if your garage roof contains asbestos, such as:
Inspect the joints
Asbestos sheets are connected together with aluminium runners, fixed in place with small nails. This is often glued together with adhesive too, so be careful around these work areas to avoid asbestos contamination.
Look at the surface pattern
Asbestos based materials have a recognisable texture, made up of small dents and grey in colour. Harsh weather will expose more of the asbestos, but asbestos cement tiles are very hard-wearing and it takes decades to show any wear, but if your garage roof contains asbestos, it was likely installed in the 1980s.
Why removing an asbestos garage roof is dangerous
It’s likely that all of us have been exposed to asbestos at some point in our lives, but we cannot measure how damaging the occasional exposure is to our health. We recommend hiring a professional asbestos removal company to extract and dispose of suspected asbestos materials, but we’ve got a few tips on how to stay safe in the meantime:
- Close all windows and doors in your house
- Do not use any power tools when attempting to remove and dispose of the slats, as it will disturb the asbestos and release fibres into the air
- Don’t drop any garage roof slats on the ground, place them gently down in good condition
- Wrap the garage roof slats in plastic (or other waste sheets material) to reduce the number of fibres released when moving them onto a removal vehicle
- Protect your entire body in the interest of health and safety by wearing gloves, hats, overalls, goggles and a dust mask
A trained professional will have relevant and recent training (surrounding removing asbestos cement), as they are required by law to undertake an awareness course every year.
Here at Down To Earth Demolition, we are fully certified and insured to carry out asbestos removals all at a competitive price, throughout the Midlands. No job is too big or too small for our dedicated team of professionals who, with 30 years of combined experience, can manage hazardous waste projects from start to finish. For more information on any of our services, please get in touch with a member of our team today.