Asbestos Soffits - How To Identify & Work With Them

Asbestos soffits were widely used between the 1970s and 1990s and if your house was built before 1999, there is a possibility that it could have asbestos soffits. These under-fitted boards were either made from AIB or asbestos cement and can pose a health risk if the asbestos fibres become airborne. 

In the below guide, I explain everything there is to know about asbestos soffits so you are armed with knowledge and can act if needed.

Like most asbestos-containing materials, asbestos soffits are indistinguishable from soffits which do not contain asbestos. They can often resemble wood and can be painted so there's no particular colour to look out for. Asbestos soffits come in 2 variants: cement board & insulation board, the latter being the higher risk of the 2. asbestos cement soffits will be thinner and brittle, where as AIB/Insulation board soffits will be thicker and more fibrous. 

They are often a white/grey colour and you may notice white spores or discolouration on the panels.

There's only one way of knowing for sure if the soffits you're looking at contain asbestos, and that is to have the board tested in a laboratory. If the building was built before 1999 and you spot some non-plastic soffit boarding, it is recommended that you assume that they could potentially contain asbestos.

Here are some frequently asked questions regarding identifying asbestos soffits, if you have any questions which we've missed in this article please contact us and one of our asbestos specialists will respond to your question.

Asbestos soffits are found under the roofing line of your property, they usually go all the way around the house and your guttering is usually attached to them. 

Asbestos soffits made using insulation board / AIB are considered a high-risk asbestos-containing material due to its friable nature, on the other hand, asbestos cement soffits are considered a lower-risk asbestos-containing product. This is due to the material makeup. With the material being heavily bonded and non-friable (Friability is the tendency to break down, chip or crumble under pressure or as a result of abrasion) this means when the product is disturbed or broken there is a minimal release of asbestos fibres. 

Whilst cement soffits are considered lower-risk by the HSE (Health & Safety Executive)[1]this doesn't mean that the product isn't harmful and certainly doesn't mean it is safe to remove without protection. If you intend to work on asbestos cement soffits then ensure you wear appropriate RPE & PPE. If your soffits are made from AIB then its important you instruct a licensed asbestos removal company to do any removal works for you. A DIY job is not advised.

According to the HSE  an asbestos license is not required to remove cement boarding. However, Insulation board soffits are licensable and notifiable which means the contractor removing them will need a full asbestos license issued by the HSE and will also need to notify the HSE 2 weeks before any removal works can commence.

We carry out thousands of  tests per year, and as such we have accumulated an extensive data set that we can call upon. According to our data around 14% of the samples we test are insulation board samples which includes AIB soffits - This makes soffits potentially the 2nd most tested material. Of those tested, 32% of insulation board samples came back with a positive result (containing asbestos).

If we are to generalise this data we could assume that if you find an insulation board soffit on your house there is a 32% chance that it contains asbestos. Unfortunately in our data insulation board samples are grouped together and don't specifically relate to soffits.

1. Health & Safety Executive, A14 -Asbestos Essentials [link]

2. GOV.UK, The Public Health Significance of AsbestosExposures from Large Scale Fires  [link]

3. Health & Safety Executive, A36. Removing an asbestos cement (AC) panel outside, beside or beneath a window [link]