Gaco Asbestos Roof Waterproofing in County Down — Encapsulation Without Removal

County Down runs from the Ards Peninsula and Strangford Lough down to the Mourne Mountains, where Slieve Donard reaches 850 m, the highest point in Ulster. Its farmland is dotted with sheds and stores roofed in corrugated asbestos cement, and the coast has industries of its own: Warrenpoint Port on Carlingford Lough is Northern Ireland’s third-largest port by tonnage, and native and Pacific oysters and mussels are still farmed in Strangford Lough and Dundrum Inner Bay. Duratite’s island-of-Ireland reference for this type of work is asbestos cement roof encapsulation at SAICA’s site at Warrenpoint, Co. Down. Farm buildings across the drumlin country of mid-Down and on the Ards are mostly working sheds, used every day for livestock, feed and machinery.

The Met Office’s Katesbridge station in County Down averaged 910 mm of rain a year over 1991–2020, with about 159 days of 1 mm or more. That steady, moderate rainfall — together with sea air along the loughs and wetter conditions in the uplands — gradually softens the cement surface of old roof sheets. Moss and lichen follow, fixings corrode, and cracks open at laps and ridges until water finds its way inside. Shellfish and farming businesses near the loughs also need runoff from roof cleaning to be properly controlled.

Encapsulation with Gaco U91 or U92 urethane seals that weathered surface under a continuous waterproof film, so the sheets stay in place rather than being stripped and sent for disposal. The approved installer surveys first, replaces anything broken, and sets out a cleaning method that does not abrade the cement. Because the sheets are fragile, work is done from staging, crawling boards and edge protection rather than by walking the roof, and coating waits for dry weather and surface conditions within Gaco’s published limits. Duratite supplies the coatings and connects County Down customers with an approved installer.

Northern Ireland’s rules differ from the Republic’s. The Control of Asbestos Regulations (Northern Ireland) 2012 apply, and HSENI is the regulator; HSENI states that employers and contractors must hold a valid HSENI licence before carrying out licensable asbestos work. The installer’s risk assessment establishes how each job is classified. For building control, Newry, Mourne and Down District Council covers most of the county, and Ards and North Down Borough Council covers the Ards Peninsula and North Down. Owners of non-domestic buildings have a duty to manage asbestos, so keep the survey, risk assessment and a record of the coating work together.