DIY Doctor UK DIY Forums

I have a 42 year old metal/wood frame prefab style garage which is still in good condition but the side is made from asbestos sheets which are cracked and unsightly.
So can i remove the sheats and replace with some sort of blocks to make a more sturdy wall?

The garage is the style that is on the side of the house so only has the one side wall to worry about.

Am i breaking any rules doing this?

Thanks Paul.

There is a lot of misunderstanding regarding asbestos, white asbestos used to make garages years ago is harmless.
You can carefully take you garage to pieces, however, do not drill, cut or do anything with it using a tool that will create asbestos dust.

I had a simailar garage-timber frame & assy walls with a corrugated steel roof. The garden fence also consisted of assy panels too in some places. The previous owner had also used the panels to make a shiled against the back fence so he could burn his garden refuse.....

If you haven't already removed it, spray a PVA solotution over the panels a couple of times allowing to dry between coats. This will prevent as much dust as possible from being releasaed when you remove the panels.
Wear a set of disposable overalls, gloves & googles and one of those masks that have changeable filters in so you can select the correct filter for the job.
Once you have the panels down spray the fixing holes with the PVA solution and wrap them in some poly sheeting and seal with gaffa tape.
You then need to dispoose of the panels. I was lucky in that my local civic amenity recycling centre (aka dump) has(had?) a facility to dispose of the assy panels, I just had to notify them I was coming down. They unlocked it, allowed me to deposit the stuff and thenl ocked it back up. The guy at the dump couldn't have been more helpfull.