Central Roof Repair · Code & Compliance
Asbestos roof removal in Kentucky is governed by a federal rule that most roofing conversations get backwards. Whether the asbestos regulations apply to your tear-off does not depend only on what the old roof is made of — it depends on the building, the square footage, and the machine used to take the roof off. EPA wrote a separate interpretive rule just for roofs, and Kentucky adopts that rule by name in 401 KAR 58:025, along with a state notification form that has to be submitted before the work starts.
Does the federal asbestos rule apply to a house roof?
No. The asbestos NESHAP does not cover roofing projects on single family homes or on residential buildings containing four or fewer dwelling units.
That exclusion comes from the definition of “facility” in 40 CFR 61.141, which reaches any institutional, commercial, public, industrial or residential structure — including buildings containing condominiums or individual dwelling units operated as a residential cooperative — but expressly excludes residential buildings having four or fewer dwelling units. EPA’s roof-removal interpretive rule states the consequence directly: the NESHAP does not cover roofing projects on single family homes or on residential buildings containing four or fewer dwelling units.
So a Richmond ranch house and a four-unit building are outside this rule. A church, a school, a strip retail building, a warehouse, an office building, and a five-unit apartment building are inside it. That line — four units — is where most of the confusion on a Central Kentucky job site starts.
Is asphalt roofing even an asbestos-containing material?
It can be, and the regulation names it. Asphalt roofing products containing more than one percent asbestos are Category I nonfriable asbestos-containing material.
The interpretive rule lists the asphalt roofing products that may contain asbestos: built-up roofing; asphalt-containing single ply membrane systems; asphalt shingles; asphalt-containing underlayment felts; asphalt-containing roof coatings and mastics; and asphalt-containing base flashings. Roofing products using other bituminous or resinous binders, such as coal tars or pitches, are also treated as Category I ACM.
Category II nonfriable ACM is everything else that is nonfriable — the examples given are asbestos-cement shingles, asbestos-cement tiles, and transite boards or panels containing more than one percent asbestos. The distinction is not academic. Category II material is generally more likely to become friable when damaged, and it is handled under a different threshold, below.
What turns a nonfriable roof into a regulated material?
The removal method. Category I nonfriable ACM becomes regulated asbestos-containing material once it has been, or will be, sanded, ground, cut or abraded.
“Regulated asbestos-containing material,” or RACM, is defined in 40 CFR 61.141 as friable asbestos material; Category I nonfriable ACM that has become friable; Category I nonfriable ACM that will be or has been subjected to sanding, grinding, cutting or abrading; or Category II nonfriable ACM that has a high probability of becoming, or has become, crumbled, pulverized or reduced to powder by the forces expected to act on it during the operation. An intact asbestos-containing built-up roof, left intact, is not RACM. The same roof cut into strips by a powered cutter is a different legal object.
The material does not decide whether the rule applies. The machine does.
What are the square-foot thresholds for a commercial roof?
Two numbers do the work: 160 square feet, and 5,580 square feet. Which one applies depends on whether the roofing is Category I or Category II, and on how it comes off.
Below 160 square feet of asbestos-containing roof area undergoing renovation, the interpretive rule says the NESHAP does not apply regardless of the removal method, the category of material, or its condition — although EPA still recommends methods that damage the material as little as possible. Above that, the rule splits by equipment.
EPA determined that where a rotating blade roof cutter, or equipment that similarly damages the roofing material, is used to remove Category I nonfriable asbestos-containing roofing, removal of 5,580 square feet of that material will create 160 square feet of RACM. So the agency’s interpretation is that an RB-roof-cutter project of 5,580 square feet or greater is subject to the NESHAP, and one below 5,580 square feet is not — except that notification is always required for demolitions.
| Situation | Does the asbestos NESHAP apply? |
|---|---|
| Roof on a single-family home or a building with four or fewer dwelling units | No — outside the definition of “facility” |
| Less than 160 sq ft of asbestos-containing roof area | No, regardless of method, category or condition |
| Category I roofing, removed with an RB roof cutter, 5,580 sq ft or more | Yes |
| Category I roofing, removed with an RB roof cutter, under 5,580 sq ft | No — but notification is always required for demolitions |
| Category I roofing removed by slicing or other methods that do not sand, grind, cut or abrade | No, regardless of the area removed |
| Asbestos-cement shingles or other Category II roofing, 160 sq ft or more, where the method will crumble, pulverize, reduce to powder or contaminate that much material | Yes |
The equipment definition is unusually precise, and it is worth reading before anyone buys or rents a machine. For purposes of the interpretive rule, an “RB roof cutter” means an engine-powered roof cutting machine with one or more rotating cutting blades whose edges are blunt. Equipment with blades having sharp or tapered edges, or which does not use a rotating blade, is used for slicing rather than cutting, and is not an RB roof cutter. EPA construes the rule to mean that if slicing or other methods that do not sand, grind, cut or abrade are used on Category I nonfriable ACM, the NESHAP does not apply regardless of the area of roof removed.
For scale, my own arithmetic on those two figures: 5,580 square feet is about 55.8 roofing squares, and 160 square feet is about 1.6 squares. A mid-sized commercial flat roof in Lexington or Richmond can sit on either side of the larger number, which is why the measurement and the method both belong in the scope of work rather than in a verbal agreement on the morning of the tear-off.
What does Kentucky add on top of the federal rule?
Kentucky adopts Subpart M and the roof-removal interpretive rule by name, and adds a state form that has to be submitted before renovation or demolition.
Section 2 of 401 KAR 58:025 requires owners and contractors of covered sources to comply with the applicable provisions of 40 C.F.R. 61.140 through 61.157, Subpart M; with the applicable provisions and requirements of “Appendix A to Subpart M of Part 61 — Interpretive Rule Governing Roof Removal Operations”; and with completion and submittal of Form DEP 7036 to the Division for Air Quality prior to renovation or demolition. Section 3 incorporates that form by reference as “Notification of Asbestos Abatement/Demolition/Renovation,” and lists the Division for Air Quality at 300 Sower Boulevard, Frankfort, Kentucky 40601, telephone (502) 564-3999, among the offices where the material may be inspected or obtained.
The fact that Kentucky names the roof interpretive rule in its own regulation matters. It means the 5,580-square-foot determination and the slicing distinction are not a federal footnote a state inspector might not reach for — they are part of the Kentucky requirement by direct reference.
What has to happen before anyone gets on the roof?
An inspection, then a notification. Both come before the work, and the inspection is required even where the thresholds turn out not to be met.
40 CFR 61.145(a) requires that, to determine which requirements apply and prior to the commencement of the demolition or renovation, the owner or operator thoroughly inspect the affected facility, or the part of it where the operation will occur, for the presence of asbestos — including Category I and Category II nonfriable ACM. There is no square-footage trigger on the inspection itself; the inspection is how you learn which square-footage rule you are in.
Where notification is required, the rule’s timing is specific: postmark or deliver the notice at least 10 working days before asbestos stripping or removal work, or any other activity begins, such as site preparation that would break up, dislodge or similarly disturb asbestos material. Ten working days is not ten days, and on a commercial reroof that difference usually lands on a Monday two weeks out.
How this changes a Central Kentucky commercial reroof
In practical terms, three things belong in the file before a tear-off is scheduled on any building bigger than a fourplex: the roof area measured, the inspection result for asbestos content, and a written description of the removal method. Those three facts together answer whether the project is regulated, and they are cheap to establish in advance and expensive to establish in retrospect. The pattern worth avoiding is the common one — a building owner who assumes an older low-slope roof is ordinary demolition debris because nobody asked, on a building whose age makes the question reasonable.
Asbestos abatement is separately regulated work and is not a line item a roofer absorbs. Where a roof is regulated, the inspection, the notification and the removal belong to parties licensed for that scope; the obligation under the federal rule sits with the owner or operator of the demolition or renovation activity. What a roofing contractor contributes is the measurement, the honest description of the method, and the willingness to stop and ask before the first cut.
Two related questions usually come up on the same job. Which rulebook governs the roof itself is covered in which roof code applies in Lexington, and whether the work needs a permit at all is covered in the re-roof permit under Central Kentucky and state code. For the scope itself, see commercial flat roof repair.
Central Roof Repair is owned by Marcos Gil, who also publishes marcosgilrealty.com and forsalelexingtonky.com. This is general information about federal and Kentucky asbestos requirements as published, not a regulatory determination and not legal advice; the Division for Air Quality and the authority having jurisdiction decide what applies to a specific building.
Does an older roof automatically contain asbestos?
No. The regulations are written around material containing more than one percent asbestos as determined by Polarized Light Microscopy, which is a laboratory determination rather than an assumption from the roof’s age. That is exactly why 40 CFR 61.145(a) requires a thorough inspection before the operation begins.
If the project is under the thresholds, is notification still needed?
For demolitions, the interpretive rule states that notification is always required, even where the area thresholds are not met. Kentucky’s own regulation separately requires completion and submittal of Form DEP 7036 to the Division for Air Quality prior to renovation or demolition. Confirm with the Division for Air Quality how those two requirements apply to a specific project.
Does the four-dwelling-unit exclusion apply to a condominium building?
Read the definition carefully. “Facility” in 40 CFR 61.141 expressly includes any structure or building containing condominiums or individual dwelling units operated as a residential cooperative, while excluding residential buildings having four or fewer dwelling units. A condominium building is addressed directly in the definition rather than treated as ordinary residential.
Last updated: October 6, 2026.
By Marcos Gil, REALTOR® — Keller Williams Commonwealth · KY Real Estate License No. 296259 · Call or text (859) 310-1209.
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