Ely sits in proper working farmland, and the buildings show it: grain stores, machinery sheds, livestock buildings, packing sheds, general-purpose barns. A lot of them went up between the 1960s and 1980s, and they mostly carry corrugated asbestos cement roofs. Forty-odd Fenland winters have passed over those roofs, and the people running the buildings beneath them have legal duties that are easily missed.
Farm buildings are not exempt
The duty to manage asbestos, under the Control of Asbestos Regulations 2012, applies to non-domestic premises. That includes farm buildings used for work. If you farm around Ely and your sheds have asbestos cement roofs, you are the dutyholder. You need to know where the asbestos is, what state it’s in, and how you’re managing the risk. An informal feeling that the roof has been fine for forty years won’t satisfy the regulations, even if it happens to be true.
Why encapsulation suits working agricultural buildings
Stripping the roof off a grain store or machinery shed is a big job: controlled removal, asbestos waste disposal, then a whole new roof system, and the building out of action while it all happens. Sometimes it’s exactly the wrong time of year for a farmer. If the existing sheets are sound, encapsulation avoids most of that. We clean the roof under controlled conditions, repair the fixings and flashings, then seal the surface with a flexible coating. The building is watertight, and the fibres are locked in.
Encapsulation usually makes sense when:
- The sheets are weathered but don’t have widespread cracks or holes.
- The frame and purlins underneath are still solid.
- The building has a working future on the farm.
- Leaks are minor and traceable, not chronic.
- We can schedule the work around the building’s use.
The honest limits of coating a farm roof
Farm buildings are often the trickiest calls, because they usually get the least maintenance. If the sheets have gone brittle, if cracks have spread from the fixings across whole bays, if the structure has moved or rot has taken hold, a coating won’t save that roof. We’ll tell you that straight, rather than try to sell you one. Sometimes removal and replacement is the only responsible answer. For higher-risk materials like asbestos insulation board, the work usually needs an HSE-licensed removal contractor.
We’d rather walk away from a job than coat a roof that’s already failing. A survey that tells you not to encapsulate has still done its job.
For Ely building owners with a duty to manage asbestos, encapsulation with the right paint build is often the practical route, and the survey confirms if your roof qualifies.
Surveying around Ely
We inspect every building, every time, before we quote. For farms and rural places in the Ely area, that means getting up close to the sheets, checking fixings, laps, and rooflights, examining the structure, and confirming it’s asbestos cement. Sometimes it’s something else that needs a different type of contractor. You’ll get written findings from us and a plain recommendation.
Even if we coat it, it’s still an asbestos roof: it stays on your register, your management duty continues, and periodic re-inspection is a good idea. What you gain is a sealed, watertight building that can keep earning its keep on the farm for years.
