Asbestos and vermiculite, often intertwined in construction, represent a significant concern for thousands of buildings throughout Calgary. Our focus is on identifying and addressing the presence of asbestos-containing vermiculite, a common but hazardous material found in insulation and other building materials. This issue affects a wide range of residential and commercial structures, highlighting the importance of expert evaluation and management.
VERMICULITE LOOSE FILL INSULATION
Look at the insulation in your attic without disturbing it. Expanded vermiculite is shaped like a small nugget and varies in color from silver-gold to gray-brown. The following photograph shows some typical pieces of vermiculite insulation.
There are 1,000's of houses in Calgary with vermiculite in the attic. Plus many cinderblock buildings in Calgary and throughout Alberta have vermiculite in the cavities. If you see any loose material that has little shiny mirrors (schist) in it chances are it is from the Libby Montana Mine.
The removal of asbestos containing vermiculite can create elevated fibre concentrations and that anyone doing the removal work must be adequately protected and strict controls must be implemented so that these asbestos fibres don't contaminate other areas of your home.
There are 1,000's of houses in Calgary with vermiculite in the attic. Plus many cinderblock buildings in Calgary and throughout Alberta have vermiculite in the cavities. If you see any loose material that has little shiny mirrors (schist) in it chances are it is from the Libby Montana Mine.
The removal of asbestos containing vermiculite can create elevated fibre concentrations and that anyone doing the removal work must be adequately protected and strict controls must be implemented so that these asbestos fibres don't contaminate other areas of your home.
Plasters and Exterior Stucco
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Exfoliated vermiculite is used in both hand and spray applied general building plasters to improve coverage, ease of handling, adhesion to a wide variety of substrates, fire resistance, and resistance to chipping/cracking/shrinkage. Vermiculite can also be combined with other aggregates such as perlite to produce plasters.
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vermiculite in exterior stucco
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Sprayed Applied Fireproofing
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Various fire protection products such as the WR Grace cementitious fireproofing (MK-5) often use vermiculite combined with a binder such as gypsum, portland cement or more rarely an air setting clay, plus fillers and rheological aids. Structural steel fire protection products use exfoliated vermiculite to improve the application (which is generally by low pressure spray) and to impart a high degree of fire resistance. Exfoliated vermiculite is very efficient at retaining moisture, and in the event of a fire this turns to steam which has a cooling effect on the steel substrate and thus delays its temperature rise. Some of these products were promoted to replace asbestos containing fireproofing since it was designed to be asbestos free, when the definition of asbestos containing materials was defined as greater than 1% asbestos.
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Vermiculite in cementitous fireproofing
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VERMICULITE IN BUILDING BOARDS
vermiculite in wall board
Building boards incorporate exfoliated vermiculite because of its low density and good insulation properties. Boards containing exfoliated vermiculite are often used as a 'core' in firedoors, to build fire barriers, to encase or construct ductwork and to protect steel building elements from the effects of cellulosic fires.
ROOF AND FLOOR SCREEDS AND INSULATED CONCRETE
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Exfoliated vermiculite (typically the finer grades) can be added at site to portland cement and other aggregates, rheological aids and water to produce roof and floor concrete screeds or lightweight concrete which have the benefit of being lightweight and insulating. In many cases vermiculite based roof screeds are often used in conjunction with other insulation materials such as polystyrene board to form a total roofing system. Similarly finer grades of exfoliated vermiculite plus portland cement may be combined either on site or a factory premix to provide a base for swimming pool vinyl liners. These mixes are either pumped into place using a rotor stator pump or hand poured.
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HOW CAN I GET MY HOUSE TESTED FOR ASBESTOS AND VERMICULITE?
If you house or building was built before 1990, Call WHS today! You can submit samples directly to us for analysis, or we can come to your house and perform a survey and identify all the asbestos containing materials in your house or workplace.