Anyone any idea of going rate, removal of straight corrugated roofing sheets ..asbestos content?

I think I found some good blokes, qualified/ certificated etcetcetcetc...but have no idea of rates for the job.


12 sheets, on one slope, no access probs, no neighbours. Very easy...


I would do it but the sheets are too heavy for me, a fogie.

I love your idea of a winter garden. Do you think your mayor would go for transparent panels?

http://www.bricodepot.fr/plouer-sur-rance/materiaux-materiel/couverture/plaques-polycarbonate-et-accessoires/

Imagine a walled garden with a transparent roof for year round veges, sunbathing, and perhaps a barbie with a chimney... ok I'm drifting into the realms of fantasy now - I'll get me coat...

I hope it works out perfectly Louise, I have read about that solution before, but its no use for me, because some of the sheets of roofing already installed, and some of the roof timbers.. are broken, and have to be removed anyway.

My house used to be a teeny one up one down, mill cottage..around 1780...so if costs for a whole new roof, of the cheapest possible kind, are still too big..It won't be so bad to return it to that size...and just do without the big room with crumbling roof,....(A much later, breeze block addition). Yes, I hope you will post news on how it goes...prices etc.. Are you sure it'll be OK to leave the old roof covering where it is? I have no idea if/how/when the stuff starts to deteriorate, or if it falls to bits.

Hi there - Have been through all the possibilities too and have decided it'll be cheaper to put a roof over the existing one.

The materials for doing this with an ultra light material are on this site : http://gerardroofs.fr/solutions/tuiles-de-rénovation-toiture-fibro-ciment/

They explain how to cover an existing 'fibrociment' roof and it looks a good affordable option.. (about 23€/m2 for the lightweight over tiling) This of course avoids removal costs.

Am in the process of getting a quote for someone to fit the new roof and check out our existing roof beams. Will keep you posted on prices as and when they arrive

Always soooo comforting to have sane thoughts from experienced chaps like you two, Brian and Richard.

thanks very much..!!!

All your thoughts have at one time or another, been similar to my own..

I had the stuff examined and tested...its all the supposedly less lethal ..non blue...kind ...

.Yes, I know that ALL asbestos is nasty stuff, but after hours and hours reading every kind of med report and death stat...my conclusions for myself...hover close to "do not become hysterical, no one will love you"... as it seems the highest incidence of damage to health..is largely with those who have worked with the stuff, over years..in workshops and factories....using power tools and no protective masks etc.

Especially if they were smokers, too. I asked my doctor...for his advice, but if he was accustomed to treating DIY people with asbestos related probs, he looked untroubled, made no effort to give instructions or warnings, just pointed out the most obvious of risks...

The risk ..I know, remains constant.....but without investigating, in detail, comparative stats for DIY ..or small job asbestos, death/injury versus ...say....riding a bike or walking the dog, at night, sans hi-vis reflective gear, or flashing dog collars...I feel reasonably safe in assuming...its not likely to *kill* me...although...it....COULD....

I'm fine with M. Le Maire, and the folk at the Mairie...always ace. Monsieur L. Maire took an interest in my roof, and said it oughtta be blue or grey..not the rustic brownish red, I fancied...but I know without a frisson of doubt...no one will tell me to put up with either the asbestos, or the leaks, and I can act, as I choose.. according to available dosh and workmen. Sad to say...No one at the Mairie had heard of an amiante specialiste...just local roofer blokes.

I've got a reasonably solid, DIY scaffold kit...and had the whole thing planned, since the specialist dechetterie, for asbestos sheets...said they were able to accept them from DIY people, no probs, at all...if each sheet was double wrapped in plastic. It looked really easy, to clobber the whole lot, from the scaffolding...with a big long handled mallet, from INSIDE the house... but I chickened out when online instructions told me its essential to use bolt cutters, to dismantle the sheets...and not to attempt unscrew anything..or break anything, carelessly, .as this can cause dust...EVEN IF..(as now)...everything is damp and muddy, with leaf mould and things long living and growing there, when real 'dust' might almost be a luxury.

It has been excruciatingly stressful...finding a good bloke to do it...I believe I have at last found someone, qualified, pleasant and up to the job.I'm sending him photos this eve....

There are a few local, excellent blokes, but the thought of asking any of them to do the work, when I doubted they had any quallies working with life threatening materials...made me pressure all of them with such hairy tales and lists of rules, regs and warnings, that all but one, a young chap, the others recommended....just disappeared.

I do not think he is qualified, and I'm not sure he knows anything about why he should be..so I can't discuss it with him, not yet anyway..and when I do, I will feel duty bound to interrogate him, to discover if he is taking risks..and he will be offended..more stressssss..

Although locally...asbestos was big news this time last year...with the arrest of a 'serial polluter' ..now in jug, I think..but what has happened to his ouvriers? And the people who paid for the lousy work he did...? And how many people might get sick or die because of him...?

http://france3-regions.francetvinfo.fr/bretagne/ille-et-vilaine/rennes/desamiantage-deux-ans-de-prison-requis-contre-un-serial-pollueur-716197.html

Wonderful to have an idea of price....25 e per m2....hmmm, plus extras...would prob mean....NO replacement roof...but...I rather like the thought of the biggest room...becoming a walled garden, open to the sky, ..with just a teeny bit of essential roof rebuilt with metal (cheap) sheets. So...it's not impossible..

It's better than worrying about asbestos.... Or maybe it could have a giant tarp, over all...I think the wood beams might have to go...or..I could build something in that space..a yurt...or tonnelle...

It needs some lateral thinking...

Thanks so much!!.... I've got some paths to take, and some new perspectives...

Yes, the permission, a permission préalable in this case, has to be the starting point. Go to the mairie because it will take a few weeks to come through but for replacement of asbestos they cannot refuse. They will probably want to know what kind of tiles you are having instead, even if they match what you already have, but that should be about it.

What Richard is saying happens, especially if there is a local roofer who is a brother, son, cousin, father, friend and any other close tie with a member of the council, or a councillor himself of course. However, when we checked on the regulations, roofers who are not qualified to touch asbestos are breaking the law by saying they will do it and you are also at fault for using people who are not. It seems that whatever anybody says we are expected to check whether they are or are allowed and any other possibility ourselves. Ultimately you get a proper job from a certified specialist or roofer who has the right bit of paper.

The irony is that we can take it down ourselves, but we are not then strictly speaking allowed to remove it from our property unless we are fully equipped to move it. Then we might be turned down at the place where it is disposed of because we do not have the requisite bit of paper to say we are qualified...

There are caveats everywhere with this but all leading into blind alleys where we come up against a very solid brick wall.

We were quoted €25 M2 by an 'accredited' roofer, including disposal of the nasty stuff. HOWEVER, this being France, there are rules and there are means. Rule 1 you may (probably) need the permission from the mairie to change the roof. Rule 2 if you are changing the roof, and the mairie does not explicitly specify that you need to use a certified organisation to dispose of the 'everite', I think your best bet is to put the monkey on someone elses shoulder, so give the problem to the roofer who is going to install the new roof - you will find that most roofers are non-certified, and will include the removal in the quote. Just ask them to leave the sheets wrapped up in plastic on a pallet.

Find out whether it is blue or white asbestos. The blue asbestos is harder and more brittle than other types breaks easily, releasing dangerous needle-like fibres that are easily inhaled. Crocidolite, the real name, is undoubtedly the most lethal form of asbestos. White asbestos is now the most common type of asbestos and the only kind that is still mined, chrysotile by it real name, was until recently the most widely used in the world. Experts maintain that ALL asbestos can cause cancer, even chrysotile, even when exposure is minimal. In France it is a legal requirement that it is handled with protective clothing, is transported enclosed and can only be taken to normally one rubbish dump per department or specially equipped processing plants. Even people claiming to be qualified are often not, so do not be too careful.

The roof in this picture is white asbestos. It has cracks in it. Whilst the other side does not have the longer bit as per the left hand side it is nonetheless a large roof of about 40 panels. We have a few more unused pieces left around that would have to go at the same time. We had an estimate based on 48 sheets, exactly four times yours, but take into account that will never mean yours would be a quarter of the bill, €8,000 to include transport and disposal from two specialist companies whose bits of paper are real. A man with a large tipper truck told us €1,200 the lot. He said he would have it off in a few hours whereas the other people both said two days. I suspect he might well have smashed it up and dumped it with rubble for foundations or the like.

Anyway, in our case we have a steel girder structure to be removed as well which the same company would do. The man who came from the first told us that all materials used for fixing and setting it in need to be removed. The second had not seen inside so was advising us that it is often advisable to have beams that asbestos is fixed to removed as well which can be very expensive if one has old oak or even poplar. They have a device to testing particulates on the adjoining materials. So, perhaps get a second opinion as we did after the man with the truck had said nothing about the rest of it, removing the girders or otherwise being convincing. I think it is all to be taken very seriously, which we are doing, except we cannot afford the whole roof rebuild :frowning: