Asbestos garage roof removal
Corrugated cement sheets on a garage roof, shed, stable or workshop are the most common asbestos most people ever meet. We take the roof down, take the side panels off too if you want them gone, and carry the lot away with the paperwork that proves where it went.
- Over 12 years in asbestos removal
- Qualified & insured
- HSE Compliant
- Most jobs completed within a day
What asbestos cement roofing looks like
Looking is not proof either way, only a guide. If yours looks like this, get in touch and we will tell you what it actually is before anything is touched.
The roof, the sides, and the frame if you want it
- Corrugated cement roof sheets, the grey wavy ones, whole or already broken.
- Flat cement panels down the sides and the gable ends.
- Cement gutters, downpipes and the ridge capping.
- The frame and the base underneath, if you want the whole structure gone.
- Sheets you have already taken down and stacked. That is a collection, and it is cheaper.
Already taken it down? Say so when you call. Collection on its own costs less than removal.
While we are there, say so if there is more of it about: guttering on the same building, a shed with the same sheeting, or the identical garage next door. Doing more than one thing in the same visit is usually cheaper than booking us back a second time.
Taking it off is not always the right answer
Leave it where it is
Cement sheeting in good condition, not crumbling and not being drilled or broken, is not an emergency. The fibres are bound into the cement. If the roof is sound and you are not about to work on it, the safest thing is often to do nothing at all, and we will tell you that.
Seal it instead
A roof that is weathered but still whole can be sealed rather than removed. It costs less, it is quicker, and it puts the decision off for years rather than forcing it today.
Take it off
Worth doing when the sheets are cracked or shedding, when the garage is coming down anyway, when you are selling, or when a roof has to come off before other work can start.
Replace the roof too
Ask when you call. Once the old sheets are off there is often no reason to book a second trade and a second visit for the new roof, so tell us if you want it back on and we will say plainly whether that is something we can help with as one job rather than two.
How a garage roof comes off
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01
We look first
A photo is usually enough. One clear shot from a few steps back tells us the sheet type, the pitch and how we will get to it.
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02
Sheets come off whole
Unbolted and lifted down in one piece rather than snapped or dropped. Breaking a sheet is what puts fibres in the air, so the whole method is built around not doing it.
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03
Wrapped before it moves
Double-wrapped and labelled on the ground, next to the building, before anything is carried anywhere.
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04
Loaded by hand
Carried to the van rather than tipped into it, so nothing gets crushed on the way in.
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05
Paperwork follows
The waste goes to a facility licensed to take it, and your consignment note follows by email.
How a job like this usually goes
These describe how jobs of this shape usually run. They are not write-ups of any one customer's job.
A single garage roof, sheets only, with the frame staying
- Material
- Corrugated asbestos cement sheet
- Where it sits
- Pitched over a single detached or semi-detached garage
- On site
- Most of a morning for a standard single span
- What moves it
- How many sheets, whether any are already cracked, whether a van can get within carrying distance
- What you are left with
- A bare frame, a swept floor, and the consignment note for the load
The sheets come off whole wherever they can. A whole sheet lifted off and carried down is the quietest way to do this, and a broken one is the noisiest, which is why the condition of what is already up there matters more to the job than the size of the roof does. Sheets are wrapped and sealed before they leave the roof line rather than after they reach the ground.
The frame underneath is usually steel or timber and is not asbestos, so it can stay if you are re-sheeting. If you want it gone as well, say so when you ask for the price, because it changes the load and the time rather than being an extra tacked on at the end.
A garage roof where sheets have already come down
- Material
- Corrugated asbestos cement sheet, broken
- Where it sits
- On the floor, on a lawn, or in a skip somebody has already filled
- On site
- Often a shorter visit than a standing roof, sometimes a longer one
- What moves it
- How far it has spread, whether it has been walked on, whether it is wet
- What you are left with
- The area cleared and the consignment note for the load
Storm damage and well-meant weekend demolition produce the same job. Broken cement sheet is slower to deal with than intact sheet because it has to be picked up rather than lifted, and because the fragments travel. If this is where you are, the single most useful thing you can do is leave it exactly as it is and send a photograph from a few steps back.
Whether this is a collection or a removal depends on what is still standing, and that is usually obvious from one photograph. Either way the waste leaves under the same paperwork.
What actually changes the price
We are not going to print a number we cannot stand behind, because the honest answer is that two garages the same size can be a long way apart on price. These are the things that move it.
- How much there is. A single garage roof is a different job from a roof plus four walls plus a base.
- Whether it is whole. Sheets already cracked or in pieces take longer and need more care, not less.
- How we reach it. A roof we can get a van beside is cheaper than one at the end of a garden with a gate to carry it through.
- Whether it is already down. Collection of stacked sheeting costs less than taking a roof apart.
- Height and pitch, because they decide what we have to stand on.
Cement sheeting, and the more delicate materials too
Note
Sprayed coating, pipe lagging and insulating board
Garages usually contain cement sheeting, which is our work. Sometimes they do not. If what you have is sprayed coating, pipe or boiler lagging, or asbestos insulating board, that needs more care than cement, and it may need somebody with a licence to remove it.
We will tell you that plainly on the phone, for nothing, and tell you what to look for when you are choosing a licensed contractor, so you are not left guessing.
Worth knowing
Soffits, and anything in a loft
Cement sheet and insulating board look identical in a soffit or a loft, so we come and look before we quote a price for either.
What people ask us
How much to remove asbestos from a garage roof?
We quote per job rather than per square metre, because access changes the price more than area does. Send a photo and a postcode and you will get a real number back, not a range. There is no charge for the quote and no obligation.
Can I remove an asbestos garage roof myself?
There is no law that stops a householder taking down their own cement garage roof. There is a practical problem: the danger is in breaking the sheets, and getting a bolted sheet down whole from a pitched roof without cracking it is harder than it looks. The waste is then hazardous waste, which cannot go in your bin or, in Essex and Thurrock, to the tip. See how disposal actually works. Sources: Love Essex, asbestos awareness and Thurrock Council, asbestos, both checked 13 Sep 2026.
Is it safe to use a garage with an asbestos roof?
If the sheets are whole and undamaged, the fibres are bound into the cement and are not being released. What causes exposure is breaking, drilling, cutting or sanding the material. Park in it, store things in it, leave it alone.
Can you sell a house with an asbestos garage roof?
Yes. There is no legal bar on selling a property with asbestos cement in it, and no duty on a private seller to remove it. A buyer's surveyor will usually flag it, and some buyers use it to negotiate, which is why people often deal with it before marketing rather than during.
How can I replace an asbestos garage roof?
Usually in two stages: we take the asbestos off and take it away, then a roofer fits the new one. Ask us when you call, some jobs make sense done in one visit rather than two, and we will tell you plainly whether that is something we can help with for yours.
Do I need permission to replace my garage roof?
Replacing like for like on a domestic garage is normally permitted development, but that is a planning question for your council and not something we can answer for your property. Thurrock and the Essex districts each publish their own guidance.
Tell us what you have found
A photo, a postcode and a phone number is enough to get a price. If you would rather talk it through, call and you will get someone who has done this before.