Asbestos Garage Removal in Leatherhead
Licensed removal of asbestos cement garage and shed roofs across Leatherhead, from the postwar drives of Fetcham and Ashtead to the estates around Bookham. Sheets taken down whole, usually no skip, and most single garages cleared in a day.
The Garages Behind Leatherhead's Semis
Drive through Fetcham, Ashtead or the estates on the Bookham side of Leatherhead and you pass the same thing on most streets: a detached or lock-up garage sitting just off the house, put up when the road was first laid out. Through the interwar and postwar years, when these KT22 and KT23 suburbs filled in, the cheap and quick way to roof a garage was a corrugated cement sheet. Builders fitted them in their thousands between roughly the 1950s and the 1980s, often with matching cement panels on the gable ends and a length of cement guttering along the eaves. A good many are still up there now.
Those sheets are the most common asbestos find we are called to in Leatherhead. The grey corrugated panel on the garage, the flat sheet over a coal store or an old workshop, the lean-to roof along the side return where the bins live. Sat undisturbed and painted over, it sat harmless for decades, which is why so many owners never gave it a second thought. The trouble is age. Forty or fifty winters on the North Downs leave the cement brittle, cracked and shedding, moss working into the splits and the fixings rusting through. That is the point where a quiet roof turns into something worth dealing with, and it is usually a leak, a sale or a plan to convert the garage that brings it to a head.
Why an Old Garage Roof Is Worth Sorting
Asbestos cement is only dangerous once it breaks up. A sheet that has weathered since the 1970s has lost much of the cement that held the fibres in, so it cracks when you lean a ladder on it, sheds grit into the gutter, and gives off dust the moment anyone tries to lever it off or snap it for the bin. Drilling it to hang a bracket does the same, and so does jet-washing the moss off or walking on it to clear a blocked downpipe. That is the risk, and it is why a tired garage roof is not a job for a Saturday and a hired skip.
The fibres are the problem, not the panel. Breathed in, they cause asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma, often thirty or forty years after the dust was made, which is why the law is strict about who takes these roofs down and how. Almost nobody can say what a sheet is by looking at it, and a panel that looks like plain corrugated cement can read very differently once it is under a microscope. So where there is any doubt we take a small sample under controlled conditions and send it to a UKAS-accredited laboratory before a tool touches the roof. Results come back within a few working days, and we will not start until we know exactly what we are removing. If you already hold a survey or a previous report on the property, we will work from that rather than retest.
How We Clear a Leatherhead Garage
A standard single garage is roofed with somewhere around eight to twelve corrugated sheets, each panel a couple of feet wide and running the slope of the roof. We take them down whole. The fixings are eased out one at a time, the sheet is lifted off in one piece rather than broken, and any flaking edges are damped down first to hold the dust. Done that way the fibres stay locked in the cement and the work stays clean. The panels are wrapped and labelled on site and go straight to a licensed disposal facility, along with the cement gutters and gable panels if they are part of the run.
Because the sheets leave whole and bagged, most jobs need no skip, so your drive and the road outside stay clear for the day. A single garage is usually a few hours of work, and the bulk of these clearances are finished inside one day from arrival to a swept, empty roof structure. Larger or double garages and long runs of sheds take longer, but the method does not change.
With the asbestos gone we check the area is clean before anything new goes up. If you want the garage back in use, we fit a replacement to suit the building and the budget, whether that is galvanised steel box-profile, three-layer torch-on felt, a flat or a tiled roof, or asbestos-free fibre cement. Each one has its trade-offs on cost and how long it lasts, and we will talk you through what suits a garage that is staying a garage versus one you mean to convert. Where a roof is sound enough to leave and you would rather cover than replace, boxing out the underside is an option that seals the material in place behind a new lining.
Bigger Garages and the Paperwork You Get
Most domestic garage roofs in Leatherhead are non-licensed work, taken down whole and cleared in a day. Some are not. A larger commercial garage block, a roof so far gone it cannot be lifted in one piece, or material in poor enough condition to count as higher risk has to be handled to a stricter standard. There we give the HSE the 14 days' notice the law requires, work under full enclosure with air monitoring throughout, and finish with four-stage clearance testing by an independent analyst before the space is signed off.
Either way, you get the paperwork. Every clearance ends with a waste consignment note showing the sheets went to a licensed facility, plus air-test certificates on the licensed jobs. It proves the roof was removed and disposed of legally, which matters if you ever come to sell the house. Clearaway Asbestos holds Spectra licence number 142305706 and has cleared garage and shed roofs across Leatherhead and the wider Surrey KT postcodes for more than seven years. To book a free site visit and a look at your garage roof, call the team on 0800 024 6168.
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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.