Asbestos Garage Removal in Brighton
Behind the bay-fronted semis climbing out of Brighton towards Patcham and Preston Park sit the old lock-up garages, most with a corrugated cement roof fitted decades ago. We take that roof down whole and clear the drive in a day.
The cement garage roof in Brighton back gardens
Drive up through Hanover, Hollingdean or out towards Patcham and the pattern repeats behind house after house. A single brick or block garage, sometimes a longer shed, and across the top a sheet of grey corrugated cement. Most of these went up between the 1950s and the 1980s, when that material was the cheap and quick way to roof a garage. The roofs that are left have been sitting there ever since, and a fair number of them hold asbestos.
Brighton has a problem the inland towns do not. The salt air coming off the Channel chews through a cement roof far faster than it would in Surrey or the Weald, so the sheets here go brittle, crack along the corrugations and start shedding sooner. A roof that might have lasted another decade twenty miles inland can be flaking and porous here. Once it reaches that state the fibres are no longer locked into the cement, and that is the point where it matters.
The job itself is narrow and well understood. We are dealing with the garage and its roof, not the house. The sheets come down by hand, kept whole rather than broken, double-wrapped and taken away. Brighton drives are often tight, on a slope, with a parked car and a neighbour close by, so we plan the lift around the space we are actually given. You cannot always tell by eye whether the roof holds asbestos, and you do not need to guess. A roof fitted in that 1950s to 1980s window is the classic suspect, and rather than break a sheet to find out, we treat it as containing asbestos until proven otherwise and handle it accordingly. If you only want it confirmed before deciding anything, a small sample can settle it first.
Why we travel down from Chessington for it
We should be straight about where we are. Clearaway is based in Chessington, in the KT9 postcode, roughly fifty miles up the A23 from Brighton. We are not the local one-man band round the corner, and we will not pretend otherwise. Graham, who owns the firm, still runs the jobs himself rather than sending a stranger.
For a single garage roof, the honest answer is that the sums only work when the job warrants the drive. Where Brighton makes sense for us is the larger work the city throws up. The converted Victorian houses split into flats, the HMOs and student lets serving the two universities, the full strip-outs and the commercial buildings. On those jobs the Spectra licence, the full enclosure and the proper four-stage clearance testing count for a great deal more than a short drive down the A23. A garage often comes off the back of one of those.
So if it is just a lock-up roof on its own, we will tell you plainly whether we are the right call or whether a Brighton firm would serve you better. If the garage is part of a bigger clearance, a house being emptied or a flat conversion being stripped, that is exactly the kind of work we come down for. A lot of the city's housing pulls that way. The stucco squares and crescents of Kemptown and Brunswick, the Victorian terraces split into flats, the rental stock that turns over between tenancies. When a landlord or a buyer is dealing with one of those, the old garage round the back tends to surface as part of the same job rather than on its own. That is the work where coming down from Surrey is worth everyone's while.
How a single garage clearance runs
A standard Brighton garage roof is a small job by asbestos standards. A typical single garage carries somewhere between eight and twelve corrugated sheets, each one around two and a half to three metres long. Most single garages are done inside a single working day, often in three to four hours on site once the team is set up and the access is sorted.
The drive usually stays clear throughout. There is normally no skip, because the sheets go straight into the wrapping and onto our vehicle rather than sitting in a container on the road. That keeps the kerb free, which matters on the steeper Brighton terraces where parking is fought over and a skip would block half the street. We damp the sheets down, lift the bolts, take each one off in one piece and wrap it on the ground.
Licensed cement-sheet garage work of this size does not usually need the fourteen-day HSE notice or a full sealed enclosure, since the material is bonded and the work is short. The higher controls, the notice period, the enclosure and clearance testing by an independent analyst, come in on the more friable indoor materials and the bigger jobs. For a sound corrugated roof taken down whole, the controlled removal and careful wrapping is what the job calls for. We will always tell you which category yours falls into before we start, rather than after.
Replacing the roof and finishing the garage
Taking the old roof off leaves the garage open, so most people want a new roof on the same day or shortly after. There are a few sensible routes. Galvanised steel box-profile sheeting is the like-for-like modern swap, light and quick to fit and well suited to a coastal spot once it is treated for the salt. A three-layer torch-on felt roof gives a flat, sealed finish and tends to suit the lower garages tucked behind the bay-fronted semis. A tiled or proper flat roof is the heavier, longer-lived option where the structure can take it. Asbestos-free fibre cement is there too for anyone who wants the original look without the original problem.
Where there are old cement panels boxing in the sides, the soffit or a gable, those can be removed at the same time or boxed out and sealed over, depending on their condition and what you want spending. We will set out the choices in plain figures rather than steering you toward the dearest one. On a coast like Brighton the salt is the thing to plan for, so whichever roof goes back on, we will point you to the finish that holds up against the sea air rather than the one that looks cheapest on the day and rusts through in a few winters.
Clearaway has held a Spectra licence, number 142305706, and has been working across this part of the South East for more than seven years, the converted houses, the lock-ups and the larger flat clearances alike. If you have a cement garage roof in Brighton you want looked at, whether on its own or as part of a bigger job, call us on 0800 024 6168 and we will tell you honestly what it needs.
Concrete Asbestos Garage Removal, Cobham
Cobham, Surrey · Garage Removal
View this project"Graham and his team done an excellent job of removing and replacing my asbestos garage roof and I wouldn't hesitate in recommending them"
Our Removal Process
From first call to final certificate, every job follows the same clear four-step process.
Survey
We inspect the property and confirm the material. Sampling available if required.
Quote
Fixed written price covering removal, disposal and any replacement work.
Removal
Material is removed safely, double-wrapped and taken to a licensed disposal facility.
Certificate
You receive a waste consignment note and disposal certificate confirming legal handling.
Frequently Asked Questions
Why Choose Clearaway
Specialist Crew
Asbestos work is all we do, every day, across the South East.
Fully Licensed
Licensed asbestos removal contractor (Licence No. 142305706). Full public liability insurance on every job.
Local & Fast
Surrey-based. Most domestic jobs are booked in and finished within a week.
Our Own Team
We never subcontract. The people who quote your job are the people who do it.
Get in Touch
Send a few details about your project and we will come back the same working day with a fixed price. We cover Surrey, London and the South East, including Esher, Cobham, Kingston, Richmond, Epsom, Guildford, Woking and Croydon.