Asbestos Roof Encapsulation — SAICA Warrenpoint
From failing roof to finished system
The Challenge
Asbestos cement is stable while its surface is intact. The cement binds the fibres and an undamaged sheet releases nothing. What changes that is weather, and time. At Warrenpoint the pitch had been colonised end to end — moss and lichen rooted into the corrugation troughs, holding water against the cement rather than letting it run off. On an asbestos cement roof that is the beginning of fibre release, not merely an appearance problem.
Unit 3 also carried the hardest constraints on site: open-sided sections, live vehicle movement underneath, and 110 linear metres of exposed perimeter to protect. Stripping the roof would have meant licensed removal, controlled disposal and a packaging plant out of production — a disproportionate answer for sheets that were still structurally sound.
Project file
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The Solution — step by step
Working safely on a fragile roof
Duratite acted as principal contractor. The works were notified to HSENI and run under CDM (NI) 2016, the Work at Height Regulations (NI) 2005, COSHH and the Control of Asbestos Regulations (NI) 2012.
No operative bore weight on the asbestos cement at any point. Internal safety netting was installed beneath every work area and signed off before anyone went up, edge protection and scaffold went to all exposed edges, and the Easi-Dec proprietary fragile-roof walkway system was laid across the roof surface before any operative set foot on it. Access installation alone took around seven working days.
Substrate temperature was checked against dew point ahead of every spray pass, wind speed was monitored continuously at roof level, and the exposed perimeter was netted and sheeted so nothing left the site boundary. No high-pressure washing was used at any stage — uncontrolled jetting of asbestos cement is not permitted and would abrade the very surface being contained.
The system
- Biocidal clean. Bulk biological growth physically removed, then the roof treated and taken back to a sound, dry substrate. Cleaning was signed off before any foam followed.
- Closed-cell roofing foam — 30–35 mm. 50 kg/m³ closed-cell polyurethane roofing foam, spray-applied directly over the cleaned sheets. It self-bonds across the full corrugation profile with no mechanical fixings — which matters on asbestos, because a fixing means penetrating the very material being contained.
- GacoFlex U91 base coat. The aromatic base coat, applied over the cured foam as a rolling operation behind the spray team.
- GacoFlex U92 top coat. The aliphatic top coat. Aliphatic chemistry is what makes it UV-stable — it shields the system beneath from sunlight rather than degrading in it.
Adhesion was demonstrated on a trial area before the main application began, foam depth was probed against the 30–35 mm target as the work progressed, and wet-film readings were taken on both coats. The gutters were coated through rather than bridged, so the waterproofing runs unbroken from ridge to outlet.
The Outcome
Unit 3’s 1,090 m² now sits under one bonded, continuous system. Not a single sheet was cut, lifted or broken; no licensed removal, no controlled waste stream — and the plant stayed in production throughout. A 20-year manufacturer-backed product warranty applies to the Gaco U9 coating system, subject to the manufacturer’s technical sign-off.
Just as importantly, Unit 3 did what it was chosen to do: access, environmental limits, netting and system performance were all proven on the smallest and most constrained building before the programme moved to the remaining 6,240 m².
On the roof — the full picture
More Duratite projects in the UK and Northern Ireland
Surbiton, Surrey, England Commercial — Asbestos Roof EncapsulationAsbestos Roof Encapsulation — Global House, Surbiton
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Petherton Road, Bristol, England Commercial — Asbestos Roof WaterproofingAsbestos Roof Waterproofing — Clarkes 24/7, Bristol
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Attenborough, Nottingham, England Commercial — Asbestos Roof WaterproofingAsbestos Roof Waterproofing — Eldon Road Trading Estate, Nottingham
Read the case studyHave a similar asbestos roof encapsulation project?
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