Property advice: I have an asbestos roof — what should I do?

In an older house, there are plenty of things to appreciate — asbestos is not one of them

Asbestos roofs can be quite brittle and may shatter. Also, when asbestos is broken or cut there are fibres released which can damage your lungs.

Dear Kieran,

We live in a semi-detached 1929 home with an asbestos roof.

We would love to replace it. We do not have any connections in the building world. We would love your advice and recommendations of a builder etc on asbestos disposal, possible grants etc — or perhaps you would take on such a project.

Thanking you, Lil

Hello Lil,

Thank you for your question. So your house was built in 1929. That was actually a very important year in history. It was the year of the stock market crash in the US which had worldwide repercussions.

Given that we were between the two world wars in Europe at that time you can only imagine how far the economic effects of the crash travelled...

I have myself lived in many older houses in my time and they make wonderful homes. There is so much to embrace — but with an old house there are some features you would inevitably like to review.

In your case, you may have heard asbestos roofs are dangerous, or maybe you don’t like the look of it, I’m not sure — but lets have a look at asbestos roofs and what they mean to your house and health.

Asbestos roofs only really began to be used in Ireland around the 1930s so your roof seems to be one of the early ones!

Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral whose fibres became a sought-after building product due to their tensile strength (it was useful in large spans such as roofs).

Asbestos when mixed with cement became a very popular building product for many years up to the early 1980s.

Problem with asbestos

I remember when I was a child my father always warned me about climbing (which was very popular among young boys in the 1980s).

He told me of the dangers of asbestos roofs.

In those days the danger lay in people falling through these roofs. Because asbestos was so strong, when asbestos sheeting was used you didn’t need much roof timbers as the asbestos spanned large distances.

The problem was that asbestos is very brittle. If you stepped on one of these roofs, the asbestos could shatter with no warning and you would instantly fall though the roof with no timber rafters nearby to break your fall.

Many people were seriously injured or killed climbing on old asbestos roofs, particularly on old outbuildings or farms.

The second danger of asbestos is when you break or cut it. The fibres which give it its tensile strength now become airborne and can lodge deep in your lungs.

Enough exposure to these airborne fibres can be cancerous. These dangers became the principal reasons that asbestos usage was banned in most countries in the latter years of the 20th century.

There is a much more dangerous form called asbestos insulation which was often used in the UK, but this was not commonly used in Ireland thankfully.

So, what does this mean to you and your roof?

Well, if you remember when I was in Cheap Irish Homes, we often came across asbestos roofs. The general opinion and guidance here is that asbestos roofs are safe from a health perspective if left alone.

You may of course wish to remove asbestos roof sheeting for the reasons I mentioned above but if you have asbestos slates on your roof for example, these are not a major health hazard or danger in their current form on your roof.

You may of course opt to remove them if you wish for aesthetic reasons.

Removing asbestos

So, how do you do this?

There are several companies that specialise in asbestos removal. Some companies deal only in asbestos but most demolition specialists will remove asbestos for you also.

They will arrive at your house fully trained and wearing all the necessary specialist protective equipment including boilersuits, specialist breathing apparatus and gloves and they will remove the asbestos from your roof and carefully bag and seal it to be removed to a licenced asbestos facility usually in central Europe.

Now you are free to install a suitable new roof covering. There aren’t specific asbestos removal grants for Irish domestic houses but there are of course SEAI grants and potentially vacant house grants for houses of this age.

With the asbestos removed and your roof timbers exposed, I’d get an experienced roofer or engineer to check your structure as this is an ideal time to make good any defects such as rot or undersized timbers before you apply your new roof finish and bring your old house into the 21st century.

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Kieran McCarthy: "There are several companies that specialise in asbestos removal. Some companies deal only in asbestos but most demolition specialists will remove asbestos for you also."

• Kieran McCarthy is a building engineer, and director of KMC Homes, who specialise in designing and building luxury homes in Cork. He also presents the RTÉ TV show ‘Heat My Home’, showcasing deep retrofits in Irish homes; kmchomes.ie
• @kierankmc has more home-building tips, information, and Q&A advice;
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