I am remodeling a house in the Seattle area that was built before 1950.
When we were removing the lath and plaster we found a white very fine powder insulation in the attic and sloped cielings. There is a layer of brown paper under it and the powder is about 2″ thick.
I have had an asbestos survey done, with no asbestos found in the powder.
Does anyone have any idea what this stuff is.
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Replies
Coke dealers house?
Might be a form of vermiculite or pearlite.
Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
You gonna play that thing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32Ln-SpJsy0
no one is willing to snort the stuff, and its to fine for vemiculite or perlite, this is more the consistency of flour
Maybe a fire retardent or insect something? maybe a bad foam job gone past it's useful life.Spheramid Enterprises Architectural Woodworks
Repairs, Remodeling, Restorations
You gonna play that thing?
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=32Ln-SpJsy0
perlite is available in powder form. Perlite microspheres are mainly used as a filler but if someone had some bags of it lying around....
Who knows, maybe the previous owner worked in a perlite factory and got some for free.
check out http://www.perlite.org/
lets say it is perlite - got any ideas on how to get it out
vacuum...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
tried it - plugs up immeaditaly
also tried dust collection system - plugs up
commercial vac.A lot of insulators do it for you.
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Why do you always insist on being straightforward and addressing the point ?
To the OP get a real drywall vacumn and it will work.
On a hill by the harbour
whats a real drywall vacuum
I have a Loveless.
http://www.homehealthsafety.net/servlet/the-120/LOVELESS-16004Q-DRYWALL-DUSTLESS/Detail
On a hill by the harbour
habit...
Life is not a journey to the grave with the intention of arriving safely in a pretty and well preserved body, but rather to skid in broadside, thoroughly used up, totally worn out, and loudly proclaiming<!----><!----><!---->
WOW!!! What a Ride!Forget the primal scream, just ROAR!!!
nope...and if i didn't know what it was, i wouldn't try...especially a powder. did you test for asbestos only or do you have a complete composition analysis ? Maybe the Perlite Institute has a simple test for you and removal recommendations.
elemental analysis should be complete tomorrow
I vote for gypsum.
I did a little googling with words "wall insulation powder" and the only thing i could find is this link:
http://www.chemyq.com/patentfmen/pt23/225609_E8085.htm
The patent appears to be from 1995 (well after 1950). Don't know the color. Also don't know it was a commercial product used for walls and roofs as stated in the patent information. The materials listed might give you or someone else a clue as to what it might be.
Text from article:
The present invention relates to a building material-adiabatic heat-insulating roofing and walling powder material. It is made up by proportioning flyash, expanded pearlite, slaked lime, diatomite, gypsum, short rock-wool, cement, calcium ligninsulfonate and binding agent, and uniformly mixing them. ADVANTAGE-. It is low in production cost, good in adiabatic heat-insulating, sound-insulating and fire-proofing properties, simple in preparation process, and light in volume-weight. Besides, it doesn't effloresce or scale or deform by hygroscopic absorption, and has no carcinogenic substance-asbestos.
thanks for looking - I've done quite a bit of searching and come empty. My asbestos surveyor, the architect, the home inspector and me (20 years remodeling and new construction) have never seen anything like this.
I am wondering if it wasn' a solid when installed and has decomposed, because I dont see how it could have been installed in its present state, it is to billowly and fine to be handled or blown or I dont know what.
This thread has been dead for over a decade, but still felt the need to comment since I've come up empty as well besides this thread. We are remodeling a home in Wenatchee, WA that was built in 1928 and found the same exact thing you describe! And our first thought was coke house, too haha.
Diatomaceous earth? It's used in everything from toothpaste to dynamite so maybe someone decided to try it as insulation.
I live in Sacramento, CA, and while doing electrical work for a client, encountered a fine white/grayish white powder in the house walls. Turns out it was rice hull ash. Rice has been grown to the north and west of Sac for decades, and milled locally, so there has been plenty of rice hull waste available. Although there is some silica in the hulls, my research at the time didn’t find any information suggesting it was a particular hazard (other than as a non-toxic dust).
I don’t know if other grain hulls were burned and the ash used as insulation, but it’s possible. There’s a lot of wheat grown in Washington, and it’s likely milled near Seattle.
Cliff
While remodeling a 1936's bungalow here in Coeur d'Alene, Idaho, we also found a white powder in the attic after newer fiberglass bats. The walls had no insulation and all interior walls and ceilings were lath and plaster. Asking around some old timers suggested that back in the day gypsum powder was placed in the ceilings to keep the plaster dry and prevent damage if any small leaks occurred in the roof. I would guess the same. We scooped and vacuumed it out and blew in new insulation after installing baffles.
I ran into a bunch of this today and nobody seems to have any idea what it is, I've heard arsenic for pests, asbestos powder, gypsum powder now. What is it really though??? Sidenote: we grabbed a sample and are going to get it tested.
My bet is diatomaceous earth. Back in the hippie days of the seventies, it was the natural way to stop pests in your house. we put it in wall cavities, in the attic, everywhere a bug might crawl.
This attic in walla walla was filled with the same powder , they were nice enough to leave the bags behind as to what it was
So glad to see this. We're only about 30 miles east of Spokane so it makes complete sense. Kind of someone to actually leave the bag for future archeologists. So glad it wasn't worse since I inhaled and swallowed more than I would like to admit. Cheers.
it would be bad news to inhale too much of anything that fine, and diatomaceous earth is composed of the microscopic shells of ancient sea life (diatoms), which makes it very abrasive at a fine level. That's how it kills bugs, they dehydrate from countless small abrasions. Also, it is basically silica, just like asbestos.
Just like today, they threw all kinds of stuff around and nobody guessed what it might do. By the way, the diatomaceous earth used in pool filters has been heated to eliminate the sharp micro edges so it's safer around the house, but doesn't work on bugs.