Asbestos garage

[pauly22]

Hi.

Just wanting some help

I'll be moving into my first house in a couple of months. The garage is a single garage, think the walls are cement bricks which are about a meter long each.

The roof is asbestos. I've done the asbestos course at work, and we're are told not to go near it, but when it's my house its a bit different, I don't want to nor can I afford to get the garage taken down, but want to seal the asbestos from the inside as I don't like the stuff and want it to be as safe as I can.

Just wondered what people have done, or info you know

I thought maybe power wash the inside if the garage, once dry, I've got a compressor and sprayer so could spray it with masonry paint from the inside. I don't want to brush paint it.

The garage isn't in the best shape but I need to make do with what I have.

Any advice would be good.

Thanks paul.

[guz]

seal it with PVA ? I wouldn't power wash
it, just dust it down with a brush.

[pOG]

Power washing isn't such a daft idea y'know.
Asbestos only becomes a hazard when the fibres are loose and become airbourne. If you jet wash it, any loose fibres become suspended in the water and will be washed away. One of the mitigation measures we use at work is routine damping down whilst excavating where there is a risk of ACM's.

You could easily replace the asbestos roof panels with plastic or similar - again as long as you avoid cracking or breaking the sheets (i.e. unbolt and lift away) then not an issue.

[Dez]

pog is right, youre better of power washing it than 'just dusting it down' as it cant be a airbourne particulate that way, so not a hazard.

PVA doesnt sound a bad idea, maybe fiberglass resin as one step up from that?

i got given a concrete section garage with asbestos roof, and i'll reuse it, theres nothing wrong with it providing youre not grinding it up into dust or trying to eat it or something. people massively over-react to asbestos but its nothing to worry about if its left alone/used as intended.

[omega]

are you sure its asbestos?
I thought my garage roof was asbestos but when I got it checked out it turned out to be cement.

[skylinedave]

Get some thin ply and board it off . Fill gaps with spray foam . gaffer tape , sealant , job done .

[v8ian]

Wear a disposable pair of overalls, Buy a cheap, bagged vacuum from a boot fair, and hoover the floor. then chuck the hoover. Jet wash it all down including the walls and floor, then with a diluted solution of PVA and a garden sprayer, or electric sprayer, spray the lot. do that a couple of times with the PVA, then, when dry, I would paint it with a good white emulsion,

[taurus]

I've only once had a detached garage with an asbestos roof and it was a pain in the bum - it kept getting condensation so badly that the garage was always wet. I thought it was leaking it was so bad, but it was simply down to condensation dripping off the asbestos roof. So whatever you do find some way of insulating it.

[pauly22]

Jun 28, 2015 16:01:35 GMT skylinedave said:

Get some thin ply and board it off . Fill gaps with spray foam . gaffer tape , sealant , job done .

I think that's what I might do.

Garden sprayer is £7.99 on ebay. Spray it with pva.

Then board it all off and seal it all off, then just power wash out all the floors and walls before I start kitting it out and getting the car in.

Garage is in a lot worse condition than I expected but few hundred quid will sort it.

Cheers for the help

It's £1500 for a new garage, but if I was going to do that I'd had a double, but then I need a wider base. Best to stick with what's there. Can get a new garage door on ebay without to much problem.

Any other ideas always welcomed.

[welshpug]

re-panel the roof?

[theheap]

I have an asbestos roof on my garage and instead of removing. I just left well alone and painted the inside of the roof white, basically the ceiling. Only fine that to kind of seal it and it has improved lighting 100 fold.

[ontheedge]

Having worked for the L/A (School) for a number of years and had asbestos checks every year + when any building work has gone on I have seen just how small the asbestos needs to be to enter your lungs ---- So I would not touch it with a barge pole.

[composimmonite]

Asbestos board was found to have been used to cover the steel pillars of the 10 storey (government !) building I used to work. The surfaces were painted with gloss paint and warning signs put up. Even if surface was punctured with a drawing pin then it was classed as dangerous. In the end, despite costing hundreds of thousands to correct, all the affected boards were removed.

[slater]

'Big 6' type asbestos cement roof panels are not really a hazard at all anyway mate. Its all scaremongering because the HSE and the law doesn't want to differentiate between different types of asbestos and how they are used. They just put out a blanket message 'this will kill you the second to set eyes on it' which is utter bull in most cases, people have taken them to court over it as is basically a 'jobs for the boys' type situation going on in alot of cases.

There are some very dangerous types of asbestos but you will be happy to know your roof poses almost no risk, especially if your not intending to disturb it, stop worrying.

[pauly22]

I know the dangers of it, and I'm not worrying about it,

I'm not going disturb it, drill it etc I really just want to know what's best to treat it to stop the dust or particles coming loose in the wind or anything.

I'll board the roof in with thin wood sheets to stop anyone getting near it, then wash out the inside of the garage.

Pva sprayer over seems best. From Google searches.

[pauly22]

Has anyone ever built a new garage from scratch?

Was thinking maybe a unistrut frame cladded cheap plywood, roofing felt on the roof and a second hand door off eBay?

Thanks

[discostew]

I spent ten years in the asbestos industry on the testing and analytical side. Asbestos cement is generally harmless when in good condition and left well alone. As it is a hard material and the fibres are well bonded within, it does not release fibres as readily as softer insulation boards or pipe lagging.

The best course of action is always to leave it but sealing with PVA or paint is not a bad idea if it gives you some reassurance.

If you do choose to replace it, you can do it yourself, with a good quality mask and disposable overalls. Damp it down and undo or cut the fixings, try not to break the boards. Wrap it in polythene sheeting. Your local Council will advise on disposal. They might collect it for a fee, or they should have a dedicated skip somewhere.

[nomad]

Jul 1, 2015 21:25:11 GMT pauly22 said:

Has anyone ever built a new garage from scratch?

get a sectional concrete garage with roof trusses (ours was 12ft x 24ft x 8ft high, steel trusses), can be got cheap if you are able to dismantle & transport it
www.gumtree.com/search?q=sectional+concrete+garage

find a local squad of navvies/builders to order & pour the concrete base (3.5 tonne for our garage!)

persuade a mate or several to help get the walls up

e*ay garage door, make a timber frame to fit it into the garage door opening

clad roof with corrugated roofing sheets

pub!

[charlie]

Generally with asbestos panels on garage roofs, you would leave them well alone. Unless you break them up they don't give off dust. If you do take them off, keep them whole - generally this means you cut through the roof bolts from above with a pair of bolt cutters and take the panels off complete.

You can remove them, wrap them in plastic and the council will take them away. Replace with metal panels and the new roof will only cost a few hundred quid.

Charlie

[mylittletony]

My two penneth:

I have a sectional concrete double garage (like nomad describes) that had a leaky, condensation prone asbestos cement roof. It was barely worth having a garage...

I bought a kit from a company called Cladco consisting of insulated corrugated steel panels, full length. Over 1 weekend, my dad, father-in-law and myself removed the 'asbestos' sheets and piled them to one side. We then fitted the new roof. We wore disposable suits, masks and gloves, the roof was wet from rain when we took it down.

It's now warm, dry and light and was like that over last winter. I might add some Kingspan or similar between the steel pillars, but basically it's like night and day compared to the old roof...

Our local council will accept 4 sheets a month, double wrapped in thick polythene. My 9 sheet roof would therefore have taken 3 x 20 mile round trips over 3 months (in a borrowed van) and used nearly £100 worth of wrapping material!! Way too much hassle, so a local disposal company came and took it away for £300