Asbestos in pre-2000 homes
The garage roof looks like asbestos cement and the house roof is tile. Why does the garage sheet not answer whether the house contains asbestos?
The garage sheet does not answer whether the house contains asbestos because it is a different building and a different covering. A garage roof that looks like asbestos cement is a visual impression of those sheets only. The house roof is tile, so the house covering is not that sheet. Buildings built or refurbished before 2000 can contain asbestos in other products, and a home survey does not sample asbestos by looking. The survey has not tested the garage sheet and has not tested the house. It has not called either safe or unsafe. Appearance is not a sample.
Last reviewed 24 October 2026. Written for buyers in England and Wales unless this answer says otherwise. No named surveyor has signed this page. It is general guidance, not a report on your house, and not legal advice.
What is the fuller explanation?
Asbestos cement was widely used on garages and sheds, and a corrugated sheet can look like that material without the survey proving what it is. Even if those sheets do contain asbestos, the house can still contain it in soffits, flue parts, floor tiles, textured coatings or old cupboards, or it can contain none of those. Tile on the house roof only describes the house roof. It does not clear the rest of the building. Looking, including a good look, is not laboratory sampling.
If you need to know about the house, commission sampling of the actual materials that concern you, by someone competent to sample, rather than reading the garage roof across the drive. Tell the solicitor the survey has not sampled the house and has not certified the garage. Do not cut, sand or break the sheets to see what is inside. The home survey will not become a sample because the question is asked again. Leave the garage covering undisturbed and keep the house question separate.
What should you ask your surveyor?
- Did you record the garage roof as a look-alike only, without a sample?
- Which parts of the house, if any, did you note as possible asbestos without testing them?
- Have you kept the tiled house roof from being read as an all-clear?
What are the typical next steps?
- Keep the garage sheets and the house as separate questions.
- Do not treat a tiled house roof as proof the house is free of asbestos.
- Arrange proper sampling if you need to know what a material is.
Costs vary with the building and with who you instruct. Where this page does not cite a published figure, ask the surveyor, a relevant specialist, or your solicitor for a written quote. Do not treat a forum average as the price.
Also asked about this
If the garage is newer than the house, does that clear the house?
No. A newer garage sheet, whatever it is, says nothing about products already in an older house. The survey has not sampled the house, and the garage roof cannot clear it. What happens next for the garageage is outside this note and was not settled here.
Can you seal the garage sheets yourself so the house survey can ignore them?
Do not work on the sheets. Coating, cutting or breaking them is not a step this survey has asked for, and it would still not answer whether the house contains asbestos. The house was never going to be answered by the garage roof.