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Asbestos Roof

Were in the process of buying a detached bungalow with a detached single garage. The property was on the market for £230,000, they accepted an offer of £220,000.
We’ve just had the survey report back , it has highlighted that it is an ‘asbestos roofed concrete garage’ and pointed out that some repairs to the roof covering and walls are necessary to prevent decay and deterioration and repairs to it should be undertaken by a licence contractor. Cost could be high.
I’m at a lost has to what to do, any advice?

Comments

  • brummybloke
    brummybloke Posts: 1,518
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    Forumite
    onestop wrote: »
    Were in the process of buying a detached bungalow with a detached single garage. The property was on the market for £230,000, they accepted an offer of £220,000.
    We’ve just had the survey report back , it has highlighted that it is an ‘asbestos roofed concrete garage’ and pointed out that some repairs to the roof covering and walls are necessary to prevent decay and deterioration and repairs to it should be undertaken by a licence contractor. Cost could be high.
    I’m at a lost has to what to do, any advice?

    my house has an outbuilding with the same dreaded roof, i have had no problems for the last 9 years or so, there was mention of corroded roofing in my home buyers surveyers report, there wasnt any. in my case i think they just mentioned it to cover themselves and to highlight any potential costs IF you had it removed or repaired.

    that type of material ( im an expert in nothing by the way), im reasonably sure is 'safe' in solid state, only when it gets smashed into dusts or small particles, does it present any kind of risk.

    and if it aint broke, dont fix it.
    what is the plural of moose?


    slags
  • hearts
    hearts Posts: 1,191 Forumite
    Ther are 2 different types of Asbestos. 1 is highly dangerous the other is not. Thats the range of my knowledge. ;-)
  • Dunstan_2
    Dunstan_2 Posts: 35 Forumite
    We had an asbestos roof on our garage when we moved in, which was damaged and leaking. Got a company to come and take the asbestos away and put a new roof on. Cost about £500 if I remember correctly.
  • nelly_2
    nelly_2 Posts: 17,863
    First Post Combo Breaker
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    Carefully take it off and throw it over next doors garden in the middle of the night.

    Then in the morning knock on their door and say 'oh did you hear them howling winds last night?'
  • brummybloke
    brummybloke Posts: 1,518
    First Anniversary Combo Breaker First Post
    Forumite
    nelly wrote: »
    Carefully take it off and throw it over next doors garden in the middle of the night.

    Then in the morning knock on their door and say 'oh did you hear them howling winds last night?'


    been a while since i was on here, you havnt changed.

    pure evil, and amusing.:beer:
    what is the plural of moose?


    slags
  • Canucklehead
    Canucklehead Posts: 6,254 Forumite
    onestop wrote: »
    Were in the process of buying a detached bungalow with a detached single garage. The property was on the market for £230,000, they accepted an offer of £220,000.
    We’ve just had the survey report back , it has highlighted that it is an ‘asbestos roofed concrete garage’ and pointed out that some repairs to the roof covering and walls are necessary to prevent decay and deterioration and repairs to it should be undertaken by a licence contractor. Cost could be high.
    I’m at a lost has to what to do, any advice?

    Good morning: We had issues with asbestos in a previous home and my OH has had to deal with asbestos removal in a professional capacity (plumbing and heating) If you want to remove asbestos from a property lots of advice is available on the HSE website... http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/essentials/index.htm Call up a licensed contractor (link on HSE site) and see if you can get a ball park figure, perhaps negotiate a price reduction with the vendor.

    HTH

    Canucklehead
    Ask to see CIPHE (Chartered Institute of Plumbing & Heating Engineering)
  • tbs624
    tbs624 Posts: 10,816 Forumite
    onestop wrote: »
    We’ve just had the survey report back , it has highlighted that it is an ‘asbestos roofed concrete garage’ and pointed out that some repairs to the roof covering and walls are necessary to prevent decay and deterioration and repairs to it should be undertaken by a licence contractor. Cost could be high.
    I’m at a lost has to what to do, any advice?

    There are three types of asbestos - blue, brown and white. Your garage roof is likely to come under white asbestos cement products, which have the lowest risk factor. Is it corrugated?

    Any property built before the mid-1980s, when alternatives to this product became available, is likely to have some sort of asbestos somewhere.You don't have to get rid of the roof if it is in good condition - just make sure no-one drills into it and monitor it for damage. Your surveyor has to highlight the presence of asbestos to cover his own back

    If you go onto your own Council's website & search "asbestos", you'll get an advice sheet. You do not need a licensed contractor for this job, although it must be someone "competent" and you have to follow guidelines including, among other things, spraying it to keep it damp, double-bagging it, and disposing of it at the appropriate Council site which is able to cater for asbestos. There are unfortunately a lot of "cowboys" who will seek to charge you a fortune for disposal but someone has already given you an HSE webpage to check out.
  • margaretclare
    margaretclare Posts: 10,789 Forumite
    tbs624's post above is helpful and factual. Some of the earlier ones are not.

    Many of the bungalows around here that were built 1920s-1930s have asbestos-tiled roofs. Ours was built in 1932. The other half of the semi changed hands about 8 years ago and the buyers' building society insisted that the roof was completely re-done before they'd issue a mortgage. So the sellers had to do that, or lose the sale.

    On the other side, next door's has changed hands about 3 times since then and is on the market again for £220K. It still has its original asbestos roof.

    We had our roof completely re-done in May 2006 - reason: the asbestos tiles were slipping, it was possible to see daylight between them on looking up through the loft. These type of tiles were used for lightness and cheapness at the time and are nailed together - with the passing of years and the weather, the old nails had corroded and were giving way.

    We wouldn't have touched the roof as long as it gave no trouble, but seeing daylight between the tiles, we realised that it wouldn't stand another winter. We're surrounded by people in the building trade around here and one of them gave us the contact details of a reputable roofing firm in the next village. This is a man who runs his own company, has an efficient team, and he has so much work he never has to advertise. Since then his company has done 2 other properties close to us and all the people are well satisfied with what was done.

    Take Canucklehead's advice above and don't even contemplate that proposed by Zammo. It's not just removing the old tiles, it's how they're disposed of that matters, and there are only a limited number of disposal contractors and disposal sites available. It's not just you or some poor immigrants, it's the environment that needs consideration.

    BTW the whole thing cost us approx £3,500 and that included extra joists - modern tiles are much heavier - and a liner under the tiles.

    HTH
    [FONT=Times New Roman, serif]Æ[/FONT]r ic wisdom funde, [FONT=Times New Roman, serif]æ[/FONT]r wear[FONT=Times New Roman, serif]ð[/FONT] ic eald.
    Before I found wisdom, I became old.
  • A big thank you! for those that I have thanked, I have just been on my local Council website , they give some good advice and they will remove the asbestos providing it is wrapped up correctly. Thats one worry over!
  • Hi margaretclare,

    I live in a housing association property as a lease holder. The property is a flat (effectively a house split into two parts). The association are doing works on all the properties (including mine) to upgrade the roof, windows ... . There is suspicion of asbestos in the roof and so they have cited costing for its removal. Currently, these costings are as follows:

    1) Remove asbestos roof covering = £2047.5
    2) Re-roofing (using existing tiles) = £2624.08

    This is 50% of the total cost as it is a flat and the roof affects both the upstairs and the downstairs flats. So the total cost of the work for both asbestos removal and re-roofing is ~£9400. I note in your reply that you state this cost you ~£3500. Was that for both asbestos removal as well as re-roofing?



    Regards

    tbs624's post above is helpful and factual. Some of the earlier ones are not.

    Many of the bungalows around here that were built 1920s-1930s have asbestos-tiled roofs. Ours was built in 1932. The other half of the semi changed hands about 8 years ago and the buyers' building society insisted that the roof was completely re-done before they'd issue a mortgage. So the sellers had to do that, or lose the sale.

    On the other side, next door's has changed hands about 3 times since then and is on the market again for £220K. It still has its original asbestos roof.

    We had our roof completely re-done in May 2006 - reason: the asbestos tiles were slipping, it was possible to see daylight between them on looking up through the loft. These type of tiles were used for lightness and cheapness at the time and are nailed together - with the passing of years and the weather, the old nails had corroded and were giving way.

    We wouldn't have touched the roof as long as it gave no trouble, but seeing daylight between the tiles, we realised that it wouldn't stand another winter. We're surrounded by people in the building trade around here and one of them gave us the contact details of a reputable roofing firm in the next village. This is a man who runs his own company, has an efficient team, and he has so much work he never has to advertise. Since then his company has done 2 other properties close to us and all the people are well satisfied with what was done.

    Take Canucklehead's advice above and don't even contemplate that proposed by Zammo. It's not just removing the old tiles, it's how they're disposed of that matters, and there are only a limited number of disposal contractors and disposal sites available. It's not just you or some poor immigrants, it's the environment that needs consideration.

    BTW the whole thing cost us approx £3,500 and that included extra joists - modern tiles are much heavier - and a liner under the tiles.

    HTH
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