Asbestos Cement Roof Sheets and Slates: A Guide for Dublin and Bray Homeowners

Many homes around Dublin City, North Dublin, South Dublin, Bray and Wicklow still have an old corrugated garage roof, a grey shed roof, or fibre-cement slates from the 1970s or 1980s. Some of these products contained asbestos.

That sounds alarming, but it does not mean your roof has to come off tomorrow. It does mean you should not drill, cut, power-wash or walk on it until you know what it is. This guide explains how to think about a suspect roof, what to avoid, and how to plan repairs around it. It is general guidance, not a substitute for a professional asbestos survey.

Where asbestos cement turns up on Irish homes

The Health and Safety Authority's asbestos guidelines list corrugated asbestos cement roofs on garages and sheds among the typical places it is found, and note that certain roof tiles and corrugated sheets used before 1990 are likely to contain asbestos. The EPA's best practice guide for handling asbestos says asbestos may be found in any residential building built or refurbished before 2000.

Around Dublin and Bray, the places we most often see suspect material are:

• Corrugated garage and shed roofs, usually grey and ridged.
• Older fibre-cement slates on 1970s and 1980s estates, often very flat and uniform, sometimes with a dark coating that has faded.
• Soffit boards and undercloaks on older houses, the flat boards under the eaves and verges.
• Rainwater goods such as old grey gutters, downpipes and flue pipes.
• Lean-to, porch and outbuilding roofs added decades ago.

You cannot tell whether a material contains asbestos just by looking at it. Modern fibre-cement slates look similar and are asbestos-free. Only sampling and laboratory analysis by a competent surveyor can confirm it.

Is an intact asbestos cement roof dangerous?

The HSA guidelines explain that the fibres in asbestos cement are tightly bound in the material and are released mainly through mechanical damage or weathering. Lower risk is not the same as safe, so the material still needs to be managed.

Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council's asbestos page makes the same point for householders: finding asbestos does not necessarily mean it must be removed, and it may sometimes be safer to leave it in place than to disturb it.

In practice, the question is condition and plans. A sound garage roof that you leave alone is a very different situation from a cracked, crumbling roof that you want to repair, extend or replace.

What not to do

These are the jobs that turn a low-risk roof into a real problem:

Please never climb onto any garage, shed or house roof to check it yourself. Falls through fragile roofs are a serious risk, which is why the HSA's Code of Practice for Safety in Roofwork puts so much emphasis on fragile roof surfaces.

Safe checks you can do from the ground

From the garden, a window or the street, look for:

• Cracked, broken or missing sheets or slates, especially after storms.
• Crumbling edges or corners, or surfaces that look furry and eroded.
• Fragments in gutters or on the ground below the roof.
• Leaks or damp patches inside the garage or under the eaves.
• Heavy moss growth, which tells you not to let anyone power-wash it.

Take photos from a safe position. They help a surveyor or roofer understand the job before they visit. Do not touch, collect or sweep up fragments yourself.

Planning roof work near suspect material

If you are planning any of the following, get the suspect material identified first:

• Replacing gutters, fascia or soffits on an older house.
• Repairing or replacing a garage or porch roof.
• Fitting a roof window, solar panels or a new vent through fibre-cement slates.
• Building an extension that ties into an older roof.
• Re-roofing a 1970s or 1980s house with original fibre-cement slates.

The steps usually look like this:

1. Arrange an asbestos survey or sampling by a competent asbestos surveyor before any work that would disturb the material.
2. If asbestos is confirmed, decide with your advisers whether to leave and manage it, or have it removed.
3. Use a specialist asbestos contractor for any removal. The EPA advises hiring a specialist contractor to remove or work on asbestos, and a registered contractor to dispose of it.
4. Check the waste permit. DLR County Council advises that removal should be done by a specialist contractor with an appropriate Waste Collection Permit, and that it is an offence to hand waste to an unauthorised collector. You can look up permitted collectors through the National Waste Collection Permit Office.
5. Book the roofing work once the material has been removed or confirmed as asbestos-free.

Do not assume your council recycling centre will take it. DLR, for example, states that asbestos waste cannot be accepted at Ballyogan Recycling Park or any other council facility.

Who to contact with questions

The EPA says that in most cases householders should contact their local authority or the Health and Safety Authority with asbestos queries. For homes in Bray and the rest of Wicklow, that means Wicklow County Council; in Dublin, it is Dublin City, Fingal, South Dublin or Dún Laoghaire-Rathdown County Council, depending on your address.

A quick checklist for homeowners

• Note any grey corrugated roofs, older fibre-cement slates or old soffits on your property.
• Do not power-wash, drill, cut or walk on them.
• Photograph their condition from the ground once or twice a year and after storms.
• Get a survey before any work that could disturb them.
• Use a specialist asbestos contractor with the right permit for any removal.
• Ask your roofer how they will plan work around any suspect material.

Talk to Perfect Roofing about your roof

Perfect Roofing works on homes across Dublin City, North Dublin, South Dublin, Lucan, Bray, Wicklow, Naas and nearby areas. If you have an older garage roof, fibre-cement slates or soffits and are planning repairs, gutters or a new roof, talk to us early. We will not disturb suspect material, and we will tell you where a specialist asbestos survey is needed before roofing work goes ahead.

Contact us by WhatsApp, call 083 066 3462, or email hi@perfectroofing.ie. If you can, send photos of the roof taken safely from the ground, and let us know roughly when the house or garage was built.