CAN A PREFA ROOF BE INSTALLED ON TOP OF CORRUGATED ROOF PANELS?

can a PREFA roof be installed on top of existing asbestos corrugated roof panels? This is technically possible, however, as a manufacturer of ecological aluminium roofs, we do not recommend it. As most corrugated roof panels contain asbestos fibres which are harmful to health, care should be taken to prevent these fibres from being released into the environment. These could happen by drilling or cutting, or by the continuing ageing of the material without further environmental influences. If the corrugated roof panel material is covered by an aluminium roof, the drying-out and ageing process would take its natural course. Therefore, from the point of view of health and ecology, we recommend avoiding such risks by removing any corrugated roof panels containing asbestos.

A specially-trained company should be called in to remove materials containing asbestos. At the start of 2007, the Federal Guild of Metal Workers and Coppersmiths issued guidelines for handling asbestos cement. These guidelines clearly describe how extreme care must be taken when handling and storing asbestos cement. In principle, fine fibre-cement dust must be prevented from being released into the atmosphere (e.g.: by avoiding drilling or cutting it with fast-moving machinery, by preventing “shaking” of substructures and by avoiding the use of rubble chutes, etc.). In addition, Big Bags should be used to ensure the dust-free removal of materials from the building site.

Using old corrugated panels to cover a new roof is illegal (according to the Asbestos Directive 2003/18/EC and Prohibition of Chemicals Ordinance, clause 2 of the Austrian Federal Law Gazette no. 447/2003).

Landfilling with corrugated panels containing asbestos has been permitted at special landfill sites intended to receive this type of residual building material since the Landfill Ordinance was issued in 2008. On delivery, the waste must be labelled as containing asbestos and the landfill site operator must take special precautions to dispose of this residual building material. In principle, the aim is to achieve dust-free storage.