Asbestos cement roofs around Canterbury and the wider Kent stock
Across Canterbury and the agricultural country that surrounds it, asbestos cement sheeting turns up on a recognisable run of buildings: farm sheds, barns, workshops, light-industrial units and commercial storage. Much of it went up between the 1960s and the mid-1980s, and decades of Kent weather have left a lot of those roofs weathered but still structurally intact. That combination, an ageing sheet that has not yet failed, is exactly where asbestos roof encapsulation earns its place as a managed, lower-disruption alternative to removal.
Sealing the roof rather than stripping it
Encapsulation keeps the asbestos cement where it is and seals it in. We clean the roof, stabilise the surface, make good any minor defects and apply a high-build coating across the whole roof. The coating binds the fibres into the substrate and gives the building a renewed weatherproof skin. The asbestos is contained, the structure stays usable, and you sidestep the cost, the open roof and the consignment paperwork that come with a full strip-out.
Meeting the CAR 2012 duty to manage
If you are responsible for maintaining a non-domestic building in Canterbury, the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012 put a duty to manage asbestos on you. You need to know where it is, monitor its condition and control the risk. Encapsulating a sound asbestos cement roof is a recognised way to meet that duty, and our survey leaves you with a written record of the roof’s condition to underpin your management plan.
The roofs we will not coat
Encapsulation depends on the sheeting being sound, and we are honest when it is not. Cement that is cracked through, badly delaminated, friable or already releasing fibres cannot be safely sealed, and coating it would simply defer a removal that needs to happen. Where that is the case, the right step is removal by competent operatives working to HSE standards under CAR 2012. Stripping asbestos cement sheeting is generally non-licensed work, so it does not automatically call for a licensed contractor, though it does demand proper controls and waste handling. The licensed-contractor requirement applies to higher-risk materials such as sprayed coatings and insulating board, not to the cement roof sheets in themselves. We will tell you which situation your building is in.
Start with a free survey
Because everything hinges on the condition of the roof, we survey before we recommend anything. A free assessment across Canterbury and the surrounding area gives you a clear answer on encapsulation versus removal and a written record to keep on file. There is no charge and no obligation to go ahead.
