Garage Roof Replacement

Ignite

Hi,

We own an ex council property. Our neighbour's property is owned by the local housing association.

We have had a letter from the housing association saying that they are replacing all of the garage roofs in the road as they are made from asbestos which they claim is disintegrating. As the garage is a twin garage with half on our property and the other half on our neighbours side, they say that the whole roof will have to be replaced as it is not possible to do just half the roof and would like our permission to do the work. It does however come with a sting. They want us to pay £2850 for this work to be done. My feeling is that this is rather on the high side. The letter uses the words "We believe these costs are competitive".

What would happen if I say no and do not give them permission to do the work? Owners of other properties who received the letters are saying no. Does anyone have any experience of this?

The current roof is corrugated asbestos sheeting, and the type of garage is a Marley prefab concrete build. Breakdown of costs is £350 for asbestos removal and £2500 for roof replacement. Roofing product they wish to use - Kingspan metal systems profiled interlocking rib roof.

Thanks
Ignite

HampshireH

If you know the spec get your own quote to compare with.

If you find theirs to be unreasonable when compared then let them know.

Ignite

HampshireH wrote: »

If you know the spec get your own quote to compare with.

If you find theirs to be unreasonable when compared then let them know.

Thank you. I'm more interested in what would happen if I refused to agree to the work. It looks like if I don't agree, then they can't do the work on their side of the roof either.

Tom99

I would say 'no thanks' and see what they do.
Is the asbestos disintegrating? Flaking chipping or whatever, or have the just decided to spend some money unnecessarily?

I have a 50yr old large single garage with that type of roof. It has a leak in the clear plastic panels so just out of interest I got a quote for replacing it with a steel roof.

The quote was over £5,000 which I thought was a ridiculous price I won't be paying that.

EachPenny

Ignite wrote: »

Thank you. I'm more interested in what would happen if I refused to agree to the work. It looks like if I don't agree, then they can't do the work on their side of the roof either.

This is wrong. If you do not want the work done then they need to find an alternative way of carrying out the replacement on their half. The simplest solution would be for them to have an appropriate flashing made up to cover the join between your old roof and their new one, and use a directly compatible roof covering material.

However, I suspect their plan includes also replacing the roof support purlins, which if continuous over the boundary point would cause them a problem. They are obliged to continue to provide the same level of support to your roof as it currently has.

Again, they normally cannot force you to pay to have your roof replaced (but you may need to check your deeds to make sure this wasn't a condition of the original sale) but they may ask your permission to replace your part of the roof if it is the only practical (or economic) way to replace theirs.

Unless you wanted your roof replaced I would politely decline their offer. (and then consider opening negotiation for the work to be carried out for far less than a 'competitive' price).

Ignite

Thank you EachPenny. I think you are right about the roof support purlins going over the full width of the garage. The other issue is that there is a sheet of the old roofing that has half on our side and half on the other side. Therefore they can't remove that without disturbing our roof. Of course, as it is asbestos, they can't cut it down the middle either.

I've been looking up Kingspan roofing system, and all I can find is an insulated roofing material that is normally used in industrial buildings https://www.kingspan.com/gb/en-gb/products/insulated-panel-systems/roof-panel-systems/trapezoidal-roof-panels-ks1000-2000-rw-en
If this is what they are wanting to use, then it is totally over the top. Why would an old garage need an insulated roof?

Ignite

Tom99 wrote: »

I would say 'no thanks' and see what they do.
Is the asbestos disintegrating? Flaking chipping or whatever, or have the just decided to spend some money unnecessarily?

They have been asked by one of their tenants in a property on the other side of the road, to repair their roof. When the surveyor came round and found asbestos, apparently he went on a "safety elf" (H&S) tizzy and decided that all of the roofs in their properties in the road needed replacing.

As far as I can see, the asbestos is sound and is not flaking.

EachPenny

Ignite wrote: »

If this is what they are wanting to use, then it is totally over the top. Why would an old garage need an insulated roof?

The problem with metal sheet roofing is it is prone to condensation forming on the underside. This then drips off onto anything stored below. If that was your car for example then sooner or later you'd be on to the council complaining about damage to the paintwork. The problem really can be that bad.

There are two methods of dealing with this. One is to have a layer of absorbent fabric bonded to the underside of the sheets - this absorbs the condensation overnight and allows it to evaporate during the day. The other method is to insulate the underside of the sheets which has the effect of keeping the 'ceiling' surface at a temperature above that where condensation will form.

The existing asbestos roofing acts as both insulation and absorber, hence it was a very popular choice as a roofing material. Even though it can kill people.

From personal experience I'd never use uninsulated metal sheeting on the roof of a building unless it was only being used for contents which there was zero consequence of water damage (e.g. firewood), and even then I'd consider adding the insulation anyway in case I wanted to store something else in there in the future.

Tom99

Ignite wrote: »

They have been asked by one of their tenants in a property on the other side of the road, to repair their roof. When the surveyor came round and found asbestos, apparently he went on a "safety elf" (H&S) tizzy and decided that all of the roofs in their properties in the road needed replacing.
As far as I can see, the asbestos is sound and is not flaking.

Sounds completely OTT then, just say no thanks.
I doubt very much that only half the roof could be replaced, there is bound to be some disturbance to your side and the existing ridge probably has bolts through drilled holes in the asbestos your side, these would need to be removed and some alternative fixing which did not require new holes to be drilled found.
I can see replacing only half costing as much as the whole.

jimmo

Is it possible for you to give permission for the work to be done but decline to contribute to the cost?
It could be cheaper for the housing association to pay for your roof to be replaced rather than replace your neighbour's roof and preserve yours as it is.

Rusty_Shackleton

In August I replaced a garage roof (corrugated asbestos) with Onduline bitumen corrugate. All in cost me about £700 for 6x3m garage. That covered removing and disposing of asbestos, new timber purlins, and the Onduline, all DIY of course.

For £350 i'd let them remove your old asbestos roof, then fit your own replacement... Onduline and equivalents are cheap and are guaranteed for 15 years.