corrugated asbestos garage roof, how to spread my weight?

[Andrew]

Or had a heart attck when he got the 'experts' in to remove it and saw their bill.

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

Bliley 2010, is the original poster still alive?

Brian

[Brian Gaff (Sofa]

No I used to regularly cut these sheets for lengths with a jig saw on a black and decker drill, I'm still here. The dust seems not to be fibrous at all, its just heavy and drops to the floor. However that stuff is brittle,and although when it was here I have been on it, I did take great care with weight distribution. With age though and building movement it tends to crack and fall to bits. In the end I had to pay to get the two buildings removed and they were of course careful, and all the h and s stuff including the double bagging and marking. One needs to remember that Asbestos is a naturally occurring mineral, its how we made it into various shapes that has made it dangerous due to the concentration, so to speak. Brian

[The Natural Philosopher]

I used to sunbathe on my parents asbestos corrugated garage roof. Hidden behind a parapet. I wouldn't jump on it, but it was safe to walk on for sure.

I really think people are far too panic stricken about asbestos. It takes a lifetimes exposure to a lot of dust to f*ck your lungs up.

[Chris Hogg]

+1

And what's in asbestos-cement is white asbestos, a different mineral to the blue or brown asbestos used for thermal insulation. White asbestos has much shorter and chunkier fibres, and will eventually dissolve in the lungs, while the blue/brown stuff hang around for much longer, eventually initiating a tumour. Not only that, but in cement-asbestos, the particles are pretty well wrapped up with cement, so are much more likely to be collected in the upper levels of the trachea and coughed out and less likely to penetrate all the way down to the alveoli, where the damage gets done.

[charles]

Perhaps, but perhaps not. I had a friend who died of it, but had no idea how he came into contact.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Died of what? Asbestosis requires *long term* exposure, and an autopsy that reveals fibres in the lungs, but there are plenty of lung diseases that mimic it. Car brake dust is another fairly common cause.

Living in asbestos roofed houses is not.

[charles]

He ddin't own a car. And yes, there weew fibles in thenlungs.

Agreed

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

The Natural Philosopher explained :

The main problem with asbestos roofing, is that it suddenly and without warning just shatters under your weight. Unlike most roofing materials which will complaint before they collapse.

I agree on that point.

[The Natural Philosopher]

so just like slates, tiles, strawboard covered with felt...

[Andrew]

vehicle clutch centre plates and brake shoes/pads had asbestos. This means every major road had asbestos fibres littered all around, blowing in the wind.

Local back street car repairer died when he was about 68 from lung cancer. He had never smoked in his life, but it was assumed that a lifetime breathing in petrol fumes and using an air-line to blow the dust out of calipers and drums was the cause.

Going onto an old asbestos-cement roof without using crawling boards is utterly stupid. Old asbestos is very unforegiving and gives no creaky warning, but just shatters and through you go.

[Andrew]

No, not like those at all because corrugated asbestos tends to be nailed to joists with quite a wide spacing and no tile battens, sarking or anthing else. Just self-supporting asbestos sheeting, whereas a proper roof will have rafters generally spaced no more than 18 inches apart with cross nailed tile battens too, so you have more chance of just putting one foot/leg through

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

The Natural Philosopher has brought this to us :

No, much worse than those.

[Harry Bloomfield, Esq.]

Andrew used his keyboard to write :

Yep, happened to me, luckily only 7 foot down to the ground underneath. I was uninjured, but in shock with the suddenness of the failure. One second stood on the roof, the next stood on the ground below.