Help - asbestos garage roof with some damage

papermoney

We are 'trying' to sell our property and have just heard that the buyers may need to pull out because our property is not insurable because the garage has an asbestos roof and one panel has a crack down it.

We are insured but am now desperately trying to check the documents to see what it does say about it.

Does anyone know anything about asbestos?

GCH888

Errr ... you may find you're not insured anymore if your garage roof is indeed made of asbestos. I'm pretty sure insurance companies would not touch any property with asbestos with a barge pole. Did you inform your insurance provider that your property had an asbestos lined garage roof before taking out their policy? If not I would suspect that your insurance may now be null and void.

The only option I can see is to contact your council who will have approved and accredited asbestos disposal experts come in and tear down your garage roof. Then you're going to need to get the builders in to put a new roof in. It's going to be costly but I fear it may be the only option when it comes to having to deal with a substance like asbestos. Unfortunately you're going to have to pay to get the asbestos substance removed and properly disposed.

I hope I am horribly mistaken and someone else has more positive news.

papermoney

Thanks - to be honest I have no idea about the insurance, I don't think it was asked what material the garage roof was made of (I wasn't even aware it was asbestos until our buyers said so). I have tried to ring my insurance company but they shut at 530pm.

We are looking into getting it professionally removed and will get a new roof fitted but i'm not sure how long it will all take. There are no companies local to us which doesn't help.

skoda38

hi, have a look here for info
http://www.direct.gov.uk/en/HomeAndCommunity/Planning/DoingWorkYourself/DG_10022562

ess0two

Your local refuse centre will take it.But it needs to wrapped in polythene sheet and assessed prior to being booked in at the centre.At least what happens in our area.

papermoney

Thanks - I have made several calls since posting and have people ringing back. I really dont want to lose the buyers though.

motherofstudents

Well, I've never heard that about not being insured. Out of 4 houses, we have had 3 with asbestos garage roofs and the insurance was never a problem. If it's not disturbed it's ok. More worrying if it is in artex and someone who doesn't know rubs it down. Better to skim over it.

Looby_Lou

If it is just concrete asbestos, and you are reasonably good at diy then it is fairly easy to deal with. You need to talk to your council, ours will take concrete asbestos as one of the tips if you give 24hours notice. It has to be double bagged in polythene. We removed our concrete asbestos roof (we bought safety gear from screwfix). It's best done when it is damp as that means any dust doesn't fly around. Once it is removed then any builder / roofer can put a new roof on! The builders round here don't like dealing with it as it is hassle for them (and they have to pay to get rid of it, unlike a private individual)

lincroft1710

ess0two wrote: »

Your local refuse centre will take it.But it needs to wrapped in polythene sheet and assessed prior to being booked in at the centre.At least what happens in our area.

Quite a few won't take asbestos, ours won't. Had to get a licensed contractor to take away the corrugated asbestos cement roofing sheets from the garage and it cost about £200 and sheets had already been removed from the roof.

I've never heard of insurance being invalidated because garage has an asbestos roof, it's actually a fire retardant.

silvercar

We bought a house with an asbestos garage roof in bad condition. The surveyor mentioned it and the valuer reduced the value of the property by an estimate of the cost of the work to put it right.

So I guess it could be a deal breaker if the value of the property is key for your buyers to get the mortgage they need.

We dealt with it once we had moved in, so when we sell it won't be an issue.