Rockwool Attic Insulation Asbestos
Select your attic insulation application.
Rockwool attic insulation asbestos. A home inspector pointed out that the insulation behind the upstairs knee walls is called something wool. It remained prominent in construction through the 1950s. You may also find thousands of loose particles within walls or under attic flooring. Use rockwool thermal stone wool insulation to insulate the attic of a new build extension or to increase the r value and top up the current attic insulation especially in an older home.
However there are loose fill wall and attic insulation which can contain asbestos. This is in part because it is a man made material that is quite dense and suitable. Asbestos is a fiberous form of silica and traces of material that appear similar to asbestos under. Normally mineral wool or rock wool slag wool or stone wool insulation does not contain asbestos but there are exceptions it would be unusual for a residential home to have rock wool insulation containing asbestos to know with absolute certainty i d have a sample of the insulation tested.
If your attic or wall insulation is in batt or blanket form whether it s fiberglass cellulose or another material you generally don t have to be concerned about asbestos. Asbestos while many forms of insulation manufactured prior to the mid 1980s contain asbestos rock wool does not. Rock wool manufacturing company incorporated asbestos into mineral wool boards and insulation cement products that were used to help secure pipe insulation. There is one primary source of asbestos attic insulation.
If you re insulation is the batt style insulation as the loose fill insulation has the higher risk as it s loosely poured into wall or joist cavities. Rock wool is another name for mineral wool insulation. There are other sources of asbestos in attic insulation but this single source significantly outpaces the others the primary source of asbestos attic insulation is from a specific mine in montana operated for 70 years by the libby company according to the environmental protection. Mineral wool insulation rock wool is made from mineral fibers manufactured from stone and waste from mining.
Rock wool is a silica based stranded insulation very similar to fiberglass. The material was developed in the 1850s and patented in the u s.