Can I remove asbestos myself in Spain? DIY versus a registered company

The short answer: who may remove asbestos in Spain

The rule that frames this question is Real Decreto 847/2026, de 21 de octubre, which set the minimum health and safety requirements for work with exposure to asbestos and repealed the old Real Decreto 396/2006. Under it, only companies registered in the RERA may demolish or remove materials containing asbestos, and only under a plan de trabajo approved by the labour authority of the province where the work takes place.

That is the legal framework. Beyond it, there is a practical one: a DIY removal leaves you with no approved plan, no protective system, no separate transport and no authorised destination for the waste. Each of those gaps is a problem of its own.

DIY versus a registered company, side by side

The table is not about convenience; it is about whether the job can be done properly at all without the structure a registered company brings.

The risks people underestimate

Three risks surprise DIY enthusiasts most often:

• Falling through the roof. Asbestos cement sheets look solid but crack under a person's weight. Falls through fragile roofs are a well-known cause of serious accidents in construction, which is why professional crews never walk directly on the sheets.
• Breakage multiplies the problem. A sheet that cracks while you lever it off is no longer one piece of hazardous material but dozens, with fragments in gutters, the garden and the trailer.
• Contaminating your own space. Clothes, tools, the car used to carry the sheets: without decontamination procedures, the dust goes wherever you go.

None of these is visible at the moment of decision, which is why the job looks easier than it is.

The waste problem that DIY cannot solve

Even if the sheets came down intact, you would still have a pile of hazardous waste. Asbestos cement is classified as 17 06 05* – construction materials containing asbestos, and Ley 7/2022 (art. 30.1) requires asbestos to be handled safely and never mixed with other waste.

In practice that means it cannot go into a builders' skip with ordinary rubble, cannot be left at a recycling point for household waste and cannot be buried on the plot. It must be packaged and delivered to an authorised manager, with documents. A registered company organises that route as part of the job; an individual on a Saturday morning has no such access. Our guide on asbestos waste disposal in Spain describes the route in detail.

What an owner can usefully do

There is a real role for the owner, and doing it well saves time and money:

1. Identify where asbestos cement may be: roofs, tanks, downpipes, flues, buried pipes. Our guide on recognising uralita helps without touching anything.
2. Stop anyone disturbing it: no drilling, cutting, pressure-washing or walking on it.
3. Photograph and measure from a safe position: overall views, close-ups, the access from the street.
4. Decide what comes next: new roof, demolition of the structure, or just removal.
5. Collect quotes that name the RERA company and include the work plan and the waste route.

With that preparation, a quote for uralita roof removal can be issued from photos, even if you are not in Spain.

What about small pieces, tanks and pipes?

Owners often assume that a single cracked downpipe or a small water tank is too minor to count. The rule in Real Decreto 847/2026 refers to asbestos-containing materials, not to large roofs only, so the same logic applies: the removal belongs with a RERA-registered company and the waste follows the hazardous route.

Small elements are actually a good reason to group work. If you have an old tank on the roof, a downpipe on the façade and a short run of buried pipe, they can be removed together in one planned job. Our page on asbestos pipes and fibre-cement water tanks explains how that is usually organised.

Why 'I will be careful' is not a method

Most owners who consider doing it themselves are not careless; they intend to wet the sheets, wear a mask and go slowly. The trouble is that care without a plan leaves the key questions unanswered. Where does the wash water go? How are whole sheets lowered from a height without a second person on a platform? Where do the wrapped sheets wait, and who takes them away? What happens to the clothes and the tools at the end of the day?

A plan de trabajo exists precisely to answer those questions for a specific site before the first fixing is touched. That is the real gap between good intentions and a regulated removal.

How we fit into the picture

Retirada de Uralita Málaga is not a RERA-registered company. The asbestos removal is carried out by a company registered in the RERA that works as our subcontractor; it prepares and files the plan de trabajo and executes the removal. We coordinate the rest: the demolition of whatever structure remains, sorting of ordinary rubble, waste receipts and the timing with your técnico or your next builder.

That split is what most owners actually need: one point of contact for the whole job, with the asbestos part done by the people legally entitled to do it. If the asbestos sits inside a bigger demolition, our asbestos removal before a demolition service shows the sequence, and Demoliciones Málaga covers the demolition of houses and villas that often follows. Before choosing anyone, go through the red flags post.