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First of all it is worth really checking it is a cement asbestos roof. It is very hard to tell the difference between asbestos fibre cement roof sheets and non-asbestos fibre cement roof sheets. Often we visit customers who have been told by qualified building surveyors or very experienced roofers/builders there is asbestos present when it turns out there is not. In our industry asbestos cement was widely used in roof sheets until about 1991 after which a good alternative to asbestos cement was found. It did not become illegal until 1999 but most garage manufacturers stopped using it around 1991. We have been working with Cement garage roofs since about 1971 and have long experience of both types. We would generally suggest getting the material sampled and tested if there is any doubt as to whether or not it contains asbestos. We can help and advise on this if you decide to get the removal and replacement done by us.

In the event that it is decided you have a cement asbestos roof there are a number of ways various companies may suggest you deal with it. In most cases the option they will suggest will be the one they prefer to offer you irrespective of what is the best option for you. The three main options are as follows:

• REMOVAL and REPLACEMENT
• OVERCLADDING
• COATING/PAINTING

We tend to recommend REMOVAL and REPLACEMENT of asbestos cement but we feel we should explain our reasoning behind this, which is as follows:

• WHY REMOVE AND REPLACE

o The job is done once and the cement asbestos problem is gone
o It’s cheaper in the long run because you have done the job properly once and don’t need to worry about the cost of doing it again.
o There is a huge range of roofing materials to choose from.
o Long term safety: You don’t need to worry about the asbestos cement roof sheets any more.
o The alternatives may cause more damage to the old asbestos cement roof sheets. In our experience the roof may leak more after over-cladding or coating/painting than it did before the work was done.
o SPEED: As a result of really good planning and organization most of our asbestos cement roof sheet removal and replacement jobs are completed within one day so the disruption is kept to a minimum.

• PRICE:

In the short term over-cladding or coating/painting may be cheaper, however they still leave you with asbestos cement sheets on your garage roof. This will still appear on a home report or survey of your property. This may leave you with a choice of getting the roof replaced properly before selling the property or selling at a reduced price to reflect the cost of the buyer having to do this. So you save money at the beginning but end up with the disturbance of doing the job twice and paying twice.

• SAFETY:

You may have concerns about the risks to you and to others due to the asbestos cement roof sheets. If the cement asbestos sheeting is in good condition (not leaking, not flaking, not cracked or showing any signs of damage) then you are probably not at a significant risk from it. On the other hand if the asbestos cement roof sheets are flaky or damaged or you feel some work needs done on them then we feel the right answer is to replace them. Remember that all cement asbestos sheets are now probably over 17 years old and will be showing signs of old age now or in the near future. Over cladding or coating/painting may not slow the ageing process down much and they will continue to deteriorate.

• WHY NOT OVERCLAD?

o The British standards code of practice for buildings and roofs in the west/central mainland Scotland require them to be designed and built to withstand wind gusts in excess of 100 miles per hour. In order to do this any over-cladding must have so many anchors/bolts/fixings down into the beams below the cement asbestos roof sheets that there will be a considerable amount of drilling of the existing asbestos cement roof sheets. This creates a risk since over-cladding contractors often say you don’t need to empty your garage and with all this drilling you may contaminate the contents with asbestos fibres. This is now more dangerous than before you had any work done.
o If not enough fixings are made down through the cement asbestos sheets then the next 100 mile an hour gust (Last two were Boxing day 1998 and 3rd January 2012) will see your over-clad roof come off with bits of the old cement asbestos roof spread across your garden (and possibly some of your neighbours’ gardens too).
o Over cladding is really just postponing the day you will need to tackle removal and replacement of the asbestos cement roof sheets.

• WHY NOT COAT or PAINT?

Very often we are asked to look at cement asbestos roofs that have been coated or painted before. The problems reported are usually two fold:

o Although the roof leaked a bit less immediately after the coating was applied it is now leaking worse than before. This is usually because the coating has now flaked off in places allowing the water in below the coating but the rest of the coating is still fairly intact so the water can’t get out and works its way through the old cement asbestos sheets.

o Condensation in the winter can be a problem with any single skin roof in winter. Asbestos cement roof sheets are designed to be a wee bit porous allowing the sheets to breathe. This allows some damp air from inside the garage to get out through the sheets and reduce condensation. Once the sheets are coated or painted this cannot happen any more and an increase in condensation in the winter is inevitable. Many customers we speak to with old over painted cement asbestos roof sheets report this.

 

o Coating or painting is often described as a “safer” option. This is often not the case as in order to get the coating to stick the existing cement asbestos sheets need to be scraped to remove moss and thoroughly cleaned down. This very often produces a great deal of loose tiny asbestos fibres which, if they are not captured as they are produced can cause a bigger safety problem for you than any of the other options. This waste then needs proper disposal under the SEPA rules and will need notification to the Health and Safety Executive under the asbestos regulations.

We hope that this has been helpful and if you have any questions on any of the information given above please contact us on 01505 850501 or 0800 212023

We carry out garage roof removal and replacement throughout West/Central mainland Scotland. If you feel you would like a free site survey and quotation for your garage roof you can get in touch with us as follows:

Tel: 01505 850501
Freephone 0800 212023
E mail [email protected]

The information provided here reflects our opinions based on our experience over years of dealing with this type of roofing and feedback provided by customers who have had experience of over-cladding and coating/painting of cement asbestos roof sheets. For more information you are encouraged to look at the HSE web site at: http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/essentials/

Copyright : D Welsh Builders. 1 Neilston Road, Uplawmoor, Glasgow. G78 4AB. October 2018.

Virtually every garage we manufacture and build is designed to suit our individual customers colour preferences and with all the choices we are able to offer why not let you imagination go a wee bit wild.

We offer pretty well any colour of roughcast wall panels. The main range we use is from rowebb on the following web page:

http://www.rowebb.com/product-category/render/decarock-drydash-aggregates/

We offer a wide range of roof sheet colours from Cladco Glasgow which are shown here

https://www.cladco.co.uk/choice-coatings

The doors are from Hormann and the main colour range there is shown on page 20 of their brochure which you can see on

https://www.hormann.co.uk/fileadmin/_country/kataloge/pdf/84131_Series2000_230117_EN.pdf

Below are some pictures of our garages with various colour combinations.

This project was completed earlier this year in Bishopbriggs.

GARAGE: The garage is a large two car garage with extra workshop space at the side. It is traditionally built in blockwork with a painted cement render finish on the outside of the walls to match the house. The roof is colour coordinated to the house roof and clad in insulated roof sheets giving a damp free garage in the winter. The doors are both high security insulated doors

DRIVEWAY: The substantial driveway and patio were built in MARSHALLS paviours and slabs. Linear drainage channels were incorporated to ensure proper drainage.

FRONT STEPS: Formed to match the new driveway using MARSHALLS products.

FENCE: A durable treated timber fence was erected along the boundary at the rear and one side.

PLANNING PERMISSION: Local authority approvals were obtained by us for the garage, the driveway and fence.

This garage was given a completely new lease of life.

ROOF: We removed the existing ASBESTOS CEMENT roof and replaced this with a new insulated roof helping to minimise the effect of condensation during the winter. Complete with new LOW MAINTENANCE plasticoated fascias and gutter.

WALLS: We removed all the existing roughcast and re-roughcast the entire garage.

WINDOW AND DOOR: a new LOW MAINTENANCE uPVC window was fitted and the existing door was serviced.

This Garage was built recently for a customer in Ballochmyle.

BASE:- The base is a steel reinforced concrete base with a built in damp proof membrane. The base was carefully built to exactly the right size for the new garage helping to ensure a watertight junction between the walls and the base.

WALLS:- The walls are built using our precast concrete panel system manufactured with exactly the same finish as was used on the house walls.

ROOF:- This is tiled using the same “Redland” roof tiles used on the house and white uPVC fascia to match the house. The front and rear gables are finished in Golden Oak uPVC weatherboarding to match the windows on the house. Even the gutters and downpipes exactly match the ones on the house

DOOR:- The main door is an electrically operated high security sectional door finished in Golden Oak to match the doors of the house. The personal door is a uPVC door to match the house.

DRIVEWAY:- We extended the driveway to match the existing and built in a linear drain connected to the existing system

If you feel you need a carefully designed garage to match your house without the cost and delays that go with getting one traditionally built please contact us.

On his job our customer found that the two doors on his garage were too narrow for his car. The solution was as follows:

This job needed a building warrant so we got our structural engineer to produce a design and obtain the necessary building warrant approval from the local authority.

The original doors were removed and the roof and door beams were carefully propped inside the garage all as detailed by the structural engineer.

We were then able to remove the middle column following this we removed the beams and brickwork above the doors. The floor was then reinstated.

The opening was prepared and the new galvanized steel structural beam (from Birtley Beams) was carefully installed and built in place.

Once the beam was ready we rebuilt the facing brickwork above the beam and reinstated the roof soffit.

Approximately a week after fitting the beam we then very carefully removed the roof props

This allowed us to supply and fit the new door. This is a white Hormann electrically operated Georgian style door with vision windows. The door is 16’0” wide by 7’0” high and gives ample room for two cars to park inside the garage.

After completion of the work we obtained a completion certificate for the work from he local authority.