The age rule HSE gives, what to leave alone, how a sample or survey settles the question, which removal jobs need extra steps, and how the waste leaves the site in Kent without putting anyone at risk.
Some older garages in Thanet carry cement sheets on the roof, patched, painted and left alone for years. When a sheet cracks or a corner lets in water, the question comes up: is this asbestos? The sensible answer is that it is safest to assume it might be, until someone has shown otherwise, and to change nothing on the roof in the meantime.
This guide takes the question in the order it arises. It starts with the age of the building, which is the first clue HSE gives, then covers what not to do, how the material is identified, and the different routes that follow depending on the result. It finishes with the waste, because a sheet that has come off safely can still be a problem if it is bagged or carried the wrong way. Our garage and asbestos roofs page sets out the work itself, and what follows here is what to know before anyone picks up a tool.
Age is the first clue, not appearance
HSE gives a simple age rule: where a building was built or refurbished before 2000, assume asbestos is present. A garage that dates from the 1960s or 1970s, or a roof recovered at some point in the 1990s, therefore starts from an assumption of asbestos until it is shown otherwise. Treat that as a cautious starting point, not a result: only a test of the material settles it.
The look of a sheet does not settle it. Cement sheets, fibre-cement sheets and some modern replacements can all resemble each other, and weathering, moss and paint hide what the surface is. Treat a grey, corrugated or flat sheet of unknown age as unidentified, not as clear.
The roof is not the only place on a garage where the material turns up. HSE's non-licensed page counts roof sheeting and rainwater goods among the cement products it covers, so a cement gutter or downpipe on a garage can sit in the same category. HSE also lists external soffits among the places insulating board is found, and that material is treated differently from cement, as the section on routes explains below.
Neighbours and records
Ask neighbours with matching garages in the same lane or close what they found; a row built together often shares a roof, though each owner may have repaired theirs differently. A note of when the garage was built, or of any re-roofing, helps whoever you ask to look.
If your garage went up after 2000, the rule does not apply in the same way, though an outbuilding that reused older materials is a fair thing to mention to whoever looks at it.
What to leave alone while you wait
HSE's A14 guidance puts it bluntly: a roof of this kind is always fragile. A sheet that looks sound can give way under a person, and a fall through a garage roof is a danger in its own right before any fibre is considered. So the first rule is not to go on the roof at all.
Until the material has been identified, leave the surface exactly as it is:
- Do not walk on the sheets, or lean a ladder against them.
- Do not drill, cut, sand, scrub or break any part of them, including to fit a bracket or a rooflight.
- Do not move cracked pieces by hand, and do not sweep up fragments or dust from the floor below.
- Keep children and pets away from loose or broken pieces, and keep the garage door closed if sheets have fallen inside.
- Take photographs from the ground, a ladder base on the lawn, or an upstairs window, so that a surveyor can see the problem.
Fragile does not only mean brittle. A sheet can look flat and firm, with moss holding it together, and still fail at the first footstep. The same goes for rooflights set into an old sheeted roof, which are easy to mistake for part of the surface.
A leak is the usual reason people think about touching the roof. A sheet of plastic or a tarpaulin on top of the roof means someone walking up there, and it is not worth the risk. Stopping the drip inside with a bucket and a towel, and moving belongings away, buys the time to identify the material properly.
How a survey or sample settles the question
The only reliable way to know is to have the material tested. A surveyor takes a small sample, with the right protective gear and without breaking more of the sheet than needed, and a laboratory reports back. A roofer can arrange this as part of an inspection, and you can ask for the result in writing before any price is agreed.
A sampling visit should record where each sample came from, how many were taken and what the laboratory found, so that the result is tied to the roof and not just to a piece of paper. If the garage has a lining, a soffit and a flue, expect each to be reported on its own.
MyJobQuote gives a typical UK cost for an asbestos survey of £325 (September 2026). That is a typical national figure from a third-party guide rather than our price, and a survey of a single garage can sit differently from a survey of a whole house.
| Result | What it means |
|---|---|
| Not asbestos | Normal roofing rules apply |
| Asbestos cement | Sheets can come off with care, whole |
| Broken or damaged | Extra steps before and during removal |
| Insulating board | May fall in the licensable class |
Our guide on telling whether roof sheets are asbestos goes into what a sample involves, and the page on asbestos survey cost covers what moves the figure up or down.
Which route the result puts you on
HSE separates asbestos work into three kinds, and the garage case usually falls in one of two.
Non-licensed work
HSE's page for this class takes in cement sheeting and gutters when the pieces are lifted off with care and not broken. Weathered cement counts, as long as nothing else has substantially damaged it. This is the route for a sound cement garage roof coming off whole, sheet by sheet, with the fixings released and not snapped. It does not mean the job is casual: it needs a plan, protective equipment for whoever is handling it and proper wrapping of every piece.
Notifiable non-licensed work
Where the sheets are badly damaged or crushed to fragments, HSE moves the job into a class with extra duties around notification and record keeping. A garage roof that has been through a storm, or one where an earlier repair cracked several sheets, can land here. The records of such work must be kept for 40 years.
Licensable work
The third class matters less for a plain cement roof, and more for the rest of the garage.
Work on insulating board falls here unless the risk assessment finds it will be of short duration. A garage with an insulating board soffit, ceiling or lining may be in this group, and a specialist contractor with the licence takes that part on; nobody should present themselves as holding one they do not have. HSE's non-licensed work page sets the categories out in full.
Waste: how asbestos leaves the garage and where it goes
Removal is only half the job. HSE's EM9 sheet tells roofers to double-wrap and label what comes off, and its roofing guidance asks for a lockable container when the quantity is larger. A pile on the drive under a tarpaulin is no substitute, since it leaves the material open to the weather and to anyone passing.
The waste wants a plan in place before any sheet comes off, because wrapped sheets need a secure place to wait until they are collected. Sheets that are wrapped and then left for weeks become a worry for the household and the neighbours.
For householders with small amounts from their own home, Kent County Council takes asbestos from residents' own homes at all its recycling centres except Sheerness. Its rules, as published, are:
- Each piece is wrapped twice, in thick plastic bags or sheeting, and sealed with tape.
- Nothing may protrude from the wrapping, and pieces cannot exceed 3 metres by 1.5 metres.
- You wear gloves and a face mask, and you do not break or cut it.
- You book in advance, and you are asked to declare that the asbestos is from your own home.
- The limit is no more than 5 sacks, or equivalent, per month for free.
A roofer's waste is a different matter. Removed from a customer's roof as part of a job, it is trade waste, which moves on a consignment note with a carrier registered in the upper tier. GOV.UK exempts domestic hazardous waste from consignment notes, but says plainly that asbestos waste is the exception. Our page on disposing of asbestos in Kent covers the routes in detail, and Sheerness residents need a different centre.
Who does the work and what it costs
Non-licensed does not mean easy. The combination of fragility, protective equipment, wrapping and disposal makes taking a cement garage roof off a job that owners often choose to hand over. If the sheets are cracked or the roof is big, hand it over more firmly.
MyJobQuote prints around £2,750 for taking an asbestos roof off (September 2026). Like every figure from a national guide, it is a national guide figure and not a quote. What decides the figure on a real garage is the size of the roof, the condition of the sheets, whether the fixings can be released without breakage, how the waste leaves and what sits underneath. The quote that follows a survey is one written total, and it should say what happens to the waste.
Questions worth putting to anyone you ask:
- Has the material been identified, and can I see the result?
- Is the job in the non-licensed group, or does any part fall in the licensable class?
- How are the sheets wrapped, stored and taken away, and who is the registered carrier?
- What replaces the roof, and is it included?
Sheets that have been painted, coated or sealed over to stop a leak are harder to deal with, since the coating can hide the breaks and add to the weight. Mention any earlier treatment to whoever looks at the garage.
Our first step is a look at the roof, then photographs of your own garage, so you know what is being priced. If any part of the work falls in the licensable class, it goes to a specialist contractor.
