Many people picture asbestos as loose insulation in an industrial building. In reality, asbestos was also used in everyday construction products found in houses and outbuildings. Garages, textured ceilings and older roofs are three common reasons people contact an asbestos specialist.
Three familiar places where asbestos can hide
None of these locations proves asbestos is present.
Age and material type help identify what warrants investigation; analysis confirms the answer.
Asbestos cement is ordinary cement mixed with asbestos – a hard, grey material in which asbestos can, in some cases, make up over a third of the cement.Summary of guidance from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) · Read the HSE guidance
Garages and outbuildings
Older garage roofs may be made from corrugated asbestos cement sheets. Wall panels, ceiling boards and even some rainwater goods may also contain asbestos. Weathering, cracking and past DIY repairs can complicate their condition.
Do
- Have the sheets sampled and identified
- Leave intact sheets undisturbed until they have been assessed
- Plan safe access – fragile roofs are a serious fall risk
- Keep sheets whole: HSE says intact asbestos cement sheets should not be broken up for disposal
Don’t
- Walk on fragile roof sheets
- Pressure wash them
- Drill through them
- Break them up for disposal
Asbestos cement often falls into a lower-risk category than friable insulation, but removal still needs competent planning, exposure controls and compliant waste disposal. Working at height and fragile roof hazards add separate serious risks.
HSE’s Asbestos essentials task sheets cover non-licensed work on asbestos cement, including removing sheets and dismantling a small structure – but they are written for trained workers, not as DIY instructions. If the material will be substantially damaged or broken up, for example after fire or flood damage, the work becomes notifiable non-licensed work.
Artex and other textured coatings
Artex is a trade name often used generically for decorative textured finishes. Some historic textured coatings contained chrysotile asbestos; many did not. The swirl or stipple pattern does not tell you which. The concern arises when coatings are scraped, sanded, drilled or removed during redecoration.
HSE guidance places most work on asbestos-containing textured coatings within non-licensed asbestos work, but that does not make uncontrolled DIY work safe. Training, assessment and suitable controls remain important.
Work on textured coatings is low-risk, but it must still be carried out by workers who are trained to recognise and work safely with asbestos.
Summary of guidance from the Health and Safety Executive (HSE) · Read the HSE guidance
HSE’s guidance gives a clear picture of how the type of job changes the category of work:
Small, controlled tasks
Drilling or boring through a coating, inserting and removing screws, or removing an area of around one square metre using steam or gel methods.
Large-scale removal
Large-scale removal of textured coatings using steaming or gelling methods, beyond what is needed for maintenance such as fitting smoke alarms.
Higher-risk removal
Removal using energetic methods, such as wet abrasive blasting, or removal of coatings that cover asbestos insulating board.
Roofing, soffits and rainwater goods
Asbestos cement sheets and tiles were used in some older roofs, while soffits may contain asbestos insulating board rather than cement. That distinction is crucial because work on insulating board may require a licensed contractor, depending on the task and risk assessment.
Roof sheets and tiles
Corrugated and profiled sheeting, roof tiles and slates may be asbestos cement – a hard, grey, bonded material.
Soffits and fascias
May be asbestos insulating board or asbestos cement. The two look similar but are treated very differently.
Gutters and downpipes
Some older rainwater goods are asbestos cement, often attached to cement roofs.
Roofing felt
HSE’s diagram of a typical home includes roofing felt among the outside materials that may contain asbestos.
Roof materials can also be confused with modern fibre-cement alternatives. Do not identify them by colour, thickness or a product photograph alone – as our guide to what asbestos looks like explains. Professional inspection and sampling should come before destructive work.
HSE notes that where bulk identification of a material is inconclusive, a competent analyst can carry out a water absorption test to tell asbestos cement apart from asbestos insulating board or millboard.
What happens after testing?
A positive result should trigger a practical decision: can the material remain undisturbed and managed, or will upcoming work require it to be removed? The right answer differs for an intact garage roof, a damaged ceiling coating and a friable board above an occupied corridor.
If the material can stay where it is, our guide to living in a house with asbestos explains how to manage it sensibly.
LAB
Our Worthing laboratory provides UKAS-accredited bulk sample analysis.
Crucial Environmental offers asbestos sampling, laboratory analysis and controlled removal services.
Key facts
- Older garage roofs may contain asbestos cement.
- Some textured coatings contained asbestos, but not all.
- Roof and soffit materials can differ greatly in risk.
- Do not scrape, break or pressure wash suspect materials.
Frequently asked questions
Does every Artex ceiling contain asbestos?
No. Testing is needed to confirm whether a particular textured coating contains asbestos.
Can I pressure wash an old asbestos garage roof?
Do not pressure wash a roof suspected of containing asbestos; aggressive cleaning can damage the material and create contamination.
Are asbestos cement and insulating board the same?
No. They are different products with different fibre-release characteristics and potentially different legal work categories.
Speak to Crucial Environmental
If you need clarity about a suspected asbestos-containing material, our team can advise on appropriate surveys, sampling, laboratory analysis and, where needed, safe removal.
Do not disturb suspected asbestos while awaiting advice.