Roofs an integral part of your home. They provide shelter from the elements and can even let sunlight illuminate the area underneath. Different roofing materials allow your roof to exhibit a number of properties. This includes sound absorption, resistance against fire and heat and much more.
One of the materials that had been widely used in the 20th century, specifically for construction, was asbestos. If your home was constructed in the last century, you may see corrugated asbestos roofing sheets on your asbestos garage roof.
Before you can find out about asbestos roof removal costs, it's important to know what asbestos is. Why was it popular in the construction of offices and homes? What are the health risks posed by asbestos?
These questions will be answered in the sections below, followed by asbestos roof removal costs.
Asbestos is a fibrous material that has many great qualities. It is resistant to fire and heat. Other than that, asbestos has a unique quality of sound absorption. Asbestos containing material includes corrugated asbestos roof sheets as well as many more types that can be found all over your house.
Asbestos is incredibly strong and was also used in cement as an added impurity to make it more durable. This asbestos cement is known to withstand higher temperatures and reduced the risk of fire penetrating into homes. It also acted as an insulation material. Its tensile strength was more than that of steel, which made it the perfect construction material.
Asbestos containing materials are known to have the properties described above. They can belong to either of the two categories: friable and non-friable.
Friable asbestos is the name given to asbestos containing materials that can be crushed into a powder by hand easily when they are dry. This type of asbestos is known to release a considerably high number of asbestos fibres into the air. These fibres pose a great risk to the health of people exposed to them.
This type of asbestos was used in homes constructed in the 1920s-1950s as insulation. It is also used in the thermal lagging in pipes. So if this insulation cracks, you and your family are at risk. If the building is non-domestic, you and your employees are at risk and need immediate asbestos removal.
Non-Friable asbestos is also called bonded asbestos. This is because the asbestos containing materials are tightly bound to the matrix of the materials themselves. The materials include asbestos cement products such as flat or corrugated asbestos sheets. These sheets could have been used in the construction of a corrugated asbestos roof. This asbestos has also been used in walls and ceilings as well.
These materials may release very minute amounts of asbestos fibres in the air as most fibres are bound tightly inside the matrix. That is the reason that these products supposedly pose a lower risk to people's health. If these materials are left undisturbed and undamaged, they are not going to release those life-threatening fibres into the air.
Asbestos can be of many different types, but the three most common types of Asbestos found are Chrysotile, Amosite and Crocidolite.
White asbestos or Chrysotile is the most commonly used type of asbestos. It can be found in the cement used in ceilings, walls and flooring of both domestic and non-domestic buildings alike. Other uses of chrysotile were also used as lining for brakes, in gaskets and boiler seals. It was also used in clutches of cars as friction material. This type of asbestos is also considered the most harmful of all types used.
More commonly known as brown asbestos, this asbestos was discovered primarily in Africa and was imported to the UK. It was used in corrugated and flat asbestos cement sheets as well as pipe insulation. This asbestos is known to have needle-like fibres. Other uses of amosite included but were not limited to ceiling tiles and thermal insulation such as an insulating board.
Crocidolite was used in the insulation of steam engines. Another name for it is blue asbestos. It has lesser heat resistance than the previous two types of asbestos. This kind of asbestos was mostly used in the insulation of pipes in the UK as well as some cement products. This type of asbestos was mined in Bolivia, South Africa and Australia.
Asbestos is considered harmful because of the risks associated with inhaling its fibres. It may be durable, strong and show a number of different qualities but it is not as safe as you think.
The asbestos train came to a complete stop in 1999 when a ban on its use was in place. This meant that no asbestos was to be used in any construction in domestic or non-domestic buildings. It also meant that no asbestos including Chrysotile, Amosite and Crocidolite could be imported or used in construction.
That is the reason you're unlikely to find any asbestos containing materials in any property or products after 2000. The ban on asbestos alone isn't enough to tackle the situation. From the 1920s to the 1980s there was massive use of asbestos in construction.
Asbestos garage roofs were common and so were the corrugated asbestos sheets used in them. Houses containing these asbestos containing materials are still prevalent in the UK. Asbestos related diseases are known to kill many people every year. Almost 5000 workers die each year as a result of exposure to asbestos. To put things into perspective, this figure is more than the number of people that die in road accidents annually.
The asbestos problem is far from over. There are still buildings constructed or refurbished before the 20thcentury that contain asbestos so people may still be exposed despite the ban put into place in 1999.
We all know that the fibres in asbestos can travel into the lungs via the airways and impair function over time. This can result in a shortened lifespan as asbestos can take anywhere from 15-60 years to kill. It works in much the same way as cigarette smoke and tar would. People who work with asbestos on a daily basis like tradesmen are at the highest risk of asbestos related diseases.
The 3 main diseases caused by asbestos exposure are Mesothelioma, Pleural Thickening and Asbestosis. If you're continuously exposed to asbestos construction work such as removal and refurbishment, you're at high risk.
You may also be at risk if these fibres are present in your building due to ill maintenance, whether domestic or non-domestic. So be sure to have an inspection of asbestos containing materials in your home to make sure they aren't disturbed.
Here are the three main diseases caused by asbestos exposure.
Mesothelioma is a type of cancer known only to have been caused by exposure to asbestos. It affects the lining of the lungs and abdomen. The asbestos fibres, when inhaled, make their way into the linings of the lungs known as pleura and result in cancer. Mesothelioma has no relation to smoking, can take about 45 years to develop. Once diagnosed it is almost always fatal.
In this disease, the pleural lining in the lungs becomes thick and swells up after prolonged exposure to asbestos. This thickness and swelling of the pleural lining decrease the effective surface area of the lungs (which allows you to breathe). This causes chest pain and shortness of breath.
Asbestosis is when scar tissue develops on the surface of the lungs. This allows less oxygen to be picked by the lungs to be transported around the body, especially towards the heart. The scar tissue continues to grow and less oxygen is absorbed into the body. This causes shortness of breath and coughing.
Asbestosis occurs 10-20 years after high exposure to asbestos. People who work with asbestos, like contractors and surveyors, may be exposed to asbestos continually. They are likely to be at the highest risk of this disease.
There were many types of roofs used for construction in the UK. But the two main categories of roofs remain the same: it could either be a flat or a pitched roof.
This type of roof is used in many houses in the UK. It has a horizontal base made of flat or corrugated asbestos that is fixed to ceiling joists. It was commonly used in extensions such as garages. A Corrugated asbestos roof may have been used on the garage with a coating up top to make it waterproof.
To avoid pooling of water on the roof, the roofs were slightly pitched to allow the rainwater to run straight off into a hopper. This kind of roof was easy to erect and was completed relatively faster than pitched roofs.
This type of roof was also used with corrugated asbestos roof sheets for garages, although it was more popularly used in the main construction of the house. The two slopes of the roof rise to meet the peak of the roof. This allows for more loft room.
There have been many kinds of pitched roofs. These include open and box gabled ones, gambrel, mansard, butterfly and others. They've been said to last longer than flat roofs if well-constructed. Support beams have also been used in some pitched roofs for additional support.
The loft room inside this type of roof made it more usable. It could be turned into a garret or attic for more storage. It may also be used for more practical purposes such as a study or playroom. In the last century, asbestos was used for construction in a pitched corrugated asbestos roof.
Many such homes are still in use today. Luckily, if the asbestos within these roofs is not disturbed and they're in good condition, the asbestos roofs pose no health risks.
A corrugated asbestos garage roof, or any roof on your home and its extensions for that matter, is not a health risk unless the asbestos is disturbed. CAR 2012 Regulations were brought about as a result of the European Commission's opinion — that not enough was being done to protect UK citizens from the threat of asbestos.
CAR (control of asbestos regulations) 2012 states that people have a duty to control and manage the risks of asbestos during remedial projects. The regulations apply to the non-domestic buildings and contractors.
Asbestos is a threat in both non-domestic and domestic buildings, however. So regardless of the regulations, there is a duty to manage asbestos on a countrywide level.
An asbestos survey is necessary to find out whether asbestos is present in your garage roof or not. After the samples from the survey are sent to the lab for testing, the results will determine whether the asbestos in your asbestos garage roof is disturbed and it needs to be removed. The survey analysis will cost around £50-£60 for the roof and the removal for the analysis will cost another £50-£60.
If the asbestos is not very disturbed, encapsulation might be a good alternative. The treatment will safely remove the asbestos by applying a special adhesive and gently scraping off the asbestos after applying a damp cloth so that asbestos fibres don't escape into the air. The treatment costs around £8-£13 per metre squared.
If the asbestos is found to be particularly disturbed, removal will cost around the range of £50 per metre squared. Reboarding and repiping may be necessary afterwards and so will proper clean up.
If you get a licensed and professional contractor, the CAR 2012 regulations will apply to them. You need someone experienced to deal with asbestos removal. They may cost around £350-£1800 depending on the size of the removal. But the professional techniques and procedures that they follow and the proper clean-up after the job will ensure you and your family's safety.