Asbestos Roofing laws in Poland - tell me!

I have seen a few older houses with asbestos roofs. my girlfriend told me they are banned now and must be retrofitted per EU law.

please discuss and provide info :P

she was right AFAIK - this tiles and wave-formants are called 'eternit' in Polish -

Poland does have to get rid of all Asbestos roofs....but not for another 10 years or so.......so if you are contemplating buying an old house with such you do have quite some time to comply. Of course if as seems likely, the EU falls before then, Poland will assume a relaxed position about asbestos roofs. It is reckoned by many that even if a miracle happens and the EU survives that long, then Poland will have to say to the EU..."we just can't afford to do it alone" the EU will have to agree to pay at least half of the costs per roof. In truth, in the villages there are hundreds if not hundreds of thousands of families living in houses with asbestos roofs that cannot and probably never will be able to afford to change the roof even if the EU agreed to pay half?? what will we do? ban those people from living in their own houses??......and don't forget all the barns and car garages etc will have to have their roofs changed as well. I suspect that when the day comes, the deadline will be extended far into the future, no matter what the state of Poland or the EU.

Interesting fantasy. The reality is that most asbestos roofs will have been replaced in 10 years through natural replacement.

There is no reason for the EU to fail, absolutely no country has ever seriously considered leaving and more are joining.

I will comeback one day and enjoy saying told you so, I will still have my foreign money coming in regularly so it will be no hardship to me, but without all your EU grants, you may not be faring so well eh?? It is obvious you do not live in a village, nor even know about life and the financial states of many living in villages.

Just to qualify, I asked my wife how you could have made such an odd statement about the EU doing so well when it is patently a failing institution. My wife is wise and she told me that although things have changed from the days of the old newscasts where "The Red Star truck factory has this year exceeded the 5 year plan and has produced x amount of trucks" - total lies) You still don't see anything on the news (thinking about it she is quite right) about France being in deep financial waters and having huge unemployment problems, riots etc etc and that Greece and Italy are both basket cases that are being kept afloat with UK and German money. In fact you are only shown positives about the EU, which shows how deep up to it's neck Poland is in hock to the mad socialists in Bruxelles. What do you think might happen if in 5 years or less the UK leaves the EU and takes its 55 million pounds a day with it? Is Germany going to keep paying the bills for Italy and Greece on it's own? and still keep throwing money at Poland?? unlikely. Be prepared for Polish farmers protesting, they have gotten used to big subsidies and will take it hard when all that stops. (come to think of it too many have gotten used to their Audis and Mercedes!!!!) (If you have a big garden or an allotment, start thinking about getting the land in shape for planting some vegetables etc......or if you live in a Pokey flat in one of these big commie complexes.....think about some window boxes for tomatoes..or a potato tub....!!!!! the future is closer than you think.

...and back to Roofing discussion! ;) thanks for info.. sounds like it won't be a super rush to replace that roof anyways.

if I did though - do I have to have it removed by a certified asbestos removal company or...?

...or you can do it yourself, yes.

My strong suggestion would be not to do it yourself (unless you want to get the meso cancer). It could be serious. Hire a company.

haha I'm familiar with asbestos removal dangers ;) I prefer to hire a couple grunts to do it for 7zl an hour than breathe the dust myself

I don't think anyone should have to breathe hazardous dust, and especially not those who are desperate and reduced to working for such low money. It's a specialist job and the pay should reflect that. I'd never want anyone to risk their health for me, least of all for such low pay. If you think about it, I'm sure you'd get what I mean and feel the same way.

how vile - you mean it would be OK for people to be endangered if they are only 'grunts'.?

Correct me if I'm wrong, but the danger with asbestos is the installation and the destruction. You can live under an asbestos roof and have no ill effect....so long as you never, ever have to repair it.

Also the fact that it takes eons to disintegrate.

that is right smurf it is when it is broken that the dust from it is dangerous

Er...that would lead to extremely severe penalties - only companies with said certification can work on asbestos removal.

Village people would grass to the authorities, and in a city the authorities are right there in their spy wagons.

true doug I 'grassed' on someone in our village just a few months ago.

Lol - do I detect a response to my term of "village people"? It wasn't intended to be derogatory - been living in Poland for too long and the "wiesniak" term has stuck :(

In my village for the first time last week I saw an asbestos removal company at work actually taking away the asbestos (from and old Log style house that has been demolished now for about 3 years - the asbestos roofing sat on a wooden pallet wrapped in cling film for those 2 years) The men had unwrapped the cling film and were loading by hand (they were wearing gloves but no breathing masks etc, just bib and brace overalls) In this area, the roofers just take off the old asbestos any old way they can (especially on farms in the hills where only old and authority wise eyes look on) The people here hate authority with a will and they would not 'grass' on anyone.......they see a change in the law as so far away or never?....in fact you can still sell on old asbestos to farmers for garage/cowshed/etc roofing. Things change at a much different rate here. But I still feel that I must mention that as high as a third of all buildings in this village (and it is not a particularly small village) are asbestos roofed and owned by very poor peasant farmers who make just enough to live on and pay their bills and certainly could not and probably will not ever be able to afford to change their roof (The reason it is called eternit is because they were promised that it would last forever!!!) Maybe come the day, the EU if still extant will come up with a way to pay for it all? I am sure that the Polish government does really know the extent of the problem, about 4 years ago a young woman turned up by chance and recorded all of our asbestos, (she said they were doing the same all over the country) But she was not from this area and was relying on us to tell her where the other farms hidden in the hills actually were located, we did tell her of the farms near to us, but I doubt the local farmers told her anything, they are all related and would not 'grass' to the extent that they would offer no information to someone from the authorities, I have no doubt that she failed to record many many farm buildings.

I think he was just having a laugh with us, re-reading it I think there was an unseen wink in that text!