ASPHALT ROOFING PRODUCTS

Pre-demolition Roof Removal

If preliminary assessment has determined that roofing materials contain asbestos, and regulations or contract specifications dictate removal of such material prior to demolition, licensed abatement contractors may be required to do the removal. Alternatively, the demolition contractor may undertake the operation.

Roofs may be removed in a variety of ways. Demolition personnel may use sledge hammers, pry bars, axes, adzes, shovels, ice chippers and roof-cutting saws to remove the roofing materials. They also may use tractor-mounted rotating blade cutters, power plows and power slicers.

Use of roof-cutting saws, either hand-or power-driven, or tractor-mounted, are of great concern, since they can generate asbestos-containing dust from roofing materials. The sawing of Category I nonfriable ACM roofing material and the debris created by the sawing are regulated by the asbestos NESHAP.

Since power plows and power slicers do not sand, grind, cut or abrade the roofing materials, their use and resultant debris are not subject to the asbestos NESHAP regulation. Category I nonfriable ACM roofing squares that have been decontaminated may be disposed of with other demolition debris or at an asbestos landfill.

Courtesy of The EPA