insulation - rock wool? any asbestos?

Can you help me identify some insulation for me? I was always told it was rock wool. I would like to pull it out, but I don't want to mess with asbestos.

Please check out this page, which has two pictures:

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Also please look at the pipe insulation picture - a plumber told me it was asbestos. Too bad for me! I had already pulled a load of it out of the crawl space and the attic. I never even thought about asbestos.

Reply to
spoon2001
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Can you help me identify some insulation for me? I was always told it was rock wool. I would like to pull it out, but I don't want to mess with asbestos.

Please check out this page, which has two pictures:

formatting link
Also please look at the pipe insulation picture - a plumber told me it was asbestos. Too bad for me! I had already pulled a load of it out of the crawl space and the attic. I never even thought about asbestos.

Reply to
spoon2001

It was also called "Vermiculite", See this article:

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So: Maybe a hazard.

The pipe insulation is definitely asbestos. Requires special handling to dispose of.

Why not simply leave them both in place?

Add more insulation over the existing vermiculite. Give thought to providing a vapor barrier.

Jim

Reply to
Speedy Jim

The pipe wrap certainly looks like asbestos.

The wool insulation does look like rock wool. In most instances where the asbestos is not dirty, it is a light gray material. Rock wool is usually much darker. One characteristic in fiber glass and rock wool, which is a form of fiberglass, is little clots of glass or mineral. They are shiny and brittle, can be clear, colored or black and are often long and pointed, they will stick into your skin, and if you are not careful they will break off in the skin. Asbestos fibers do not have these glassy clots or nodules, it is soft and fluffy.

Reply to
EXT

Good call. I stand corrected...

Reply to
Speedy Jim

Recommend you upgrade your health and life insurance if you were sucking in that asbestos from the pipe. Also recommend testing the air in the house for asbestos so that others might enjoy a longer life span than yourself.

Sorry...

Pete C.

Reply to
Pete C.

Yup, the pipe definitely looks like asbestos. Bad news.

The insulation is harmless, rock wool.

Richard

Pete C. wrote:

Reply to
richard.kraft

in a old house with multiple coats of oil base paint it acts as a vapor barrier

Reply to
hallerb

Limited exposure in not necessarily a huge health hazard. In the future, Keep it sealed, away from living areas, and if you must remove it, spray it down with water. Contact is not a problem, breathing in the dust is. Take steps to prevent that, and not a 19¢ dust mask. Get a pro job.

Reply to
Edwin Pawlowski

The attic stuff looks like rock wool, has nothing to do with asbestos, so do with it as you like. If you are going to put in a vapor barier, then remove it and add it back if you want. You need the same kind of protection when handling rock wool that you use for fiberglass.

The stuff on the pipe looks like standard asbestos insulation once used on steam and hot water lines. Wear a mask, gloves, and coveralls when you work with it. In that form, you really don't have much to worry about as long as you wear a mask.

Reply to
George E. Cawthon

From what I've heard / read Asbestos particles that lodge in the lungs are not purged out by the body like most other irritants are. This means that even limited exposure can have long term effects.

There is plenty of material on how to safely handle Asbestos containing materials on state and federal EPA web sites that will be of help.

Pete C.

Reply to
Pete C.

see your insulation manufacturer at:

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Reply to
buffalobill

what is rock wool:

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Reply to
buffalobill

That's not true. Asbestos fibers are very small and can stay airborne for hours or a day, then it settles somewhere. You disturb it again, by walking on it, vacuuming, whatever, and it's airborne again.

R
Reply to
RicodJour

Vermiculite is found in many potting soils - pellets/granules. It's baked mica. _Some_ sources of vermiculite contain small amounts of asbestos.

The pictures are NOT of vermiculite.

Rockwool is often very fiberglass batt-like, only denser and grey or greenish grey.

Reply to
Chris Lewis

If one has rock wool in place and wants to add more insulation, what are the options? Would I have to stay with rock wool, or could I lay fiberglass over it?

Reply to
CJT

Yep, the attic insulation looks like rockwool. After many years it compacts pretty badly and is better replaced with fiberglass. Try not to get the rockwool on sweaty skin. It will irritate worse than fiberglass.

I personally shy away from cellulose insulation. I know they say that it is fire-retardant treated, but it is just paper and chemicals. I can't live with that.

Reply to
TomWTexas

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