Asbestos garage removal cost

neilmcl

Any ideas of the sort of costs involved in demolishing and removal of a single, standalone asbestos roofed garage?

Section62

neilmcl said:

Any ideas of the sort of costs involved in demolishing and removal of a single, standalone asbestos roofed garage?

It will depend what the walls are made from.

If the roof only is asbestos and the walls are pre-fab then paying for removal of the roof (only) by a suitable contractor could allow you to sell the pre-fab panels, or freecycle them away (depending on condition).

neilmcl

Not sure about the walls, is there a way I can easily tell whether the walls are asbestos too? TBH, the walls themselves aren't in a great condition with a couple of panels on one side starting to buckle so I wouldn't be able to re-sell or gift anything, I'd just need the whole lot going in one.

Section62

neilmcl said:

Not sure about the walls, is there a way I can easily tell whether the walls are asbestos too?

Pictures? They won't be enough to confirm the presence of asbestos, but if the panels clearly look like pre-cast concrete then asbestos is unlikely.  Flat sheets of material could be asbestos cement or fibre cement, only testing would confirm.

neilmcl said:

TBH, the walls themselves aren't in a great condition with a couple of panels on one side starting to buckle so I wouldn't be able to re-sell or gift anything, I'd just need the whole lot going in one.

I wouldn't be too quick to rule out the willingness of people to take away the remains of a PC garage if the majority is in reasonable condition.

If the roof is definitely an asbestos containing material it will need to be disposed of separately to the walls if they are non-asbestos.  If you have to use a licenced contractor to remove the roof, that can be an expensive way to dispose of the rest of the structure which a general builder could do for you.

Has the roof been tested?  Do you know what material you are actually dealing with? (i.e. is it definitely asbestos-containing?)

neilmcl

I'll get some pics later. The roof is the definitely the old type of corrugated asbestos sheets.

neilmcl

It's the same as this type of garage:

Section62

neilmcl said:

It's the same as this type of garage:

Going by the panel joint detail (only) I'd say it is more likely to be flat sheet material, not cast concrete. That's assuming the wall is no more than about 10mm thick.

If so, don't trust any contractor who tells you not to worry "it's only 'safe' asbestos cement".  It needs testing because the wall panels can be one of many forms of asbestos-containing material, not necessarily a low-asbestos one.

Alternatively, get some competent asbestos removal companies to quote you for full removal, and let them deal with it.

neilmcl

Yes they are sheets, it's a very common type of old garage in my area with a wooden frame. The pic was taken from an asbestos removal FB page, here's the one with all the panels removed.



I wasn't planning on touching it myself, just wanted to get a rough idea of the expected costs involved in having it removed before I start ringing round for quotes.

Section62

neilmcl said:

...just wanted to get a rough idea of the expected costs involved in having it removed before I start ringing round for quotes.

It depends on what those walls are made of.  The cost could vary considerably between low-risk and high-risk materials.

The FB company have invited someone else to message them to get a cost - might be worth doing the same if that company is already familiar with the type of materials used in that make/model?