The Vermiculite Hazard

The Vermiculite Hazard

Talk about being caught between “a rock and hard place!”

Home inspectors always want to help inform homeowners as well as possible.  Inspectors also need to protect their own health.  When inspectors find vermiculite in attics, it is crunch time.

Vermiculite insulation shows up in attics just enough to be a constant headache.   Inspectors know the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) advises homeowners to assume vermiculite contains asbestos and is an environmental hazard.  Yet Kentucky law, like most, says “a home inspection report does not address environmental hazards.”  KRS 198B.706(1)(b).  Similarly, all Standards of Practice (SOP) exclude environmental hazards like asbestos from what is required to be reported.

Asbestos issues typically get reported, if at all, with a line like: “Materials of this type and era often, but not always contained asbestos.  Only a lab can determine the presence or absence of asbestos.”  That “rings the bell.”  It tells clients Aasbestos” may be in the home.  It also skirts calling it a “hazard,” since that normally is a conclusion that goes beyond what can be seen for “visual analysis.”  It also seems to suggest a lab test.

But, at least at first blush, that also seems to depart from the EPA advice.

The EPA says “You should assume the vermiculite contains asbestos.”  However, the EPA goes on to say that “While you can hire a trained professional to test your attic for asbestos, this may be expensive and, depending on the methods used, might give you erroneous results.”  So forget the lab test.

Instead –  here is the kicker –  the EPA recommends that homeowners “leave vermiculite insulation undisturbed in your attic or in your walls.”  It also says not to store things in that attic, or let kids play there.

Finally, the EPA recommends hiring a “professional asbestos contractor” for any remodeling “that would disturb the vermiculite.”

Which also raises another simple question: Should a home inspector even be working in that vermiculite attic in the first place?

This is not a close call.  Mesothelioma, the form of lung cancer caused by breathing asbestos, cannot be the price of any home inspection.  That’s the main thing the EPA is trying to protect people against when it says not to play in an attic with vermiculite.  We never want to see a fellow home inspector forced to make a claim on the asbestos trust for health care in their sunset years.  It also is crystal clear that a home inspection company that requires inspectors to enter an attic with vermiculite is taking on serious liability to its employees.

Because the inspection is being limited for the inspector’s safety, it makes follows that the report should give the reason.  Our safety is important, but it is no more important than our client’s safety.

As soon as an inspector finds vermiculite, the attic should only be inspected – briefly – from the hatch, using a good camera.  It is then reported as “viewed from hatch,” rather than “entered.”  Best practice is to include a  photo showing the vermiculite and report the material.  Many people have little idea what “vermiculite” might be, or how it differs from other insulation.

Does anything else need to be said?  Generally, a link to the EPA website is plenty.  It is not required.

Home inspectors need to constantly guard against “mission creep.”  We are not all things to all people.  Home inspectors are no substitute for specialists in any field.  They also are no substitute for home buyers.

Home inspectors are a lot like family doctors.  Inspectors do a basic checkup, not heart surgery.  If anything turns up that needs a specialist, then the inspector — like a family doctor – makes a referral.  At that point, the inspector, or the family doctor, turns it over.  People can be reasonably expected to do a little research on their own, and pick specialists of their own choosing.  Many of these decisions are personal.

“Asbestos” is a “panic button” for some people, and a yawner for others.  This makes it important to be factual, and also not be either “sugar coating” or “alarmist” about it.  What is important to one is not necessarily important to another.  In the end, only the client can decide what is important to them, what is worth money to them, and what is acceptable risk.  Home inspectors supply information, and guidance about whether a specialist may be worth the time and money.  Only the client, or the patient of a family doctor, can decide what they have the interest, time, and money to pursue.

The home inspector’s role is to identify the visual condition.  Home buyer’s and owners take it from there.

                                  What Exactly Is Vermiculite? 

Vermiculite is a natural mineral.  It is formed in flakes that can be heated to expand into light, fire-resistant crumbs.  It is used in many products, including home insulation.  It’s also used in Portland cement, roof and floor screeds, brake linings, and even as a soil conditioner to germinate seeds.

As loose‑fill insulation, vermiculite treated with a water repellent is used to fill the pores and cavities of masonry construction and hollow blockwork to enhance fire ratings (e.g. Underwriters Laboratories Wall and Partition designs), insulation and acoustic performance. Coarse grades of vermiculite can be used to insulate lofts and attics.  It has the benefit of being easy to use.  It can been poured or blown into attics and walls.  The color usually is gray-brown or silvery.

Although not all vermiculite contains asbestos, some products were made with vermiculite that contained asbestos until the early 1990s.  Vermiculite mines throughout the world are now regularly tested for it and are supposed to sell products that contain no asbestos.

  1. R. Grace’s former vermiculite mine in Libby, Montana, had tremolite asbestos deposits. The majority of vermiculite insulation used in the U.S. B about 70% B came from Libby and was contaminated with asbestos. Grace products were sold for home uses from 1919 through the early 1990s.  Contaminated Grace vermiculite products were sold under names like Zonolite insulation, Perltex, and Monokote. http://www.asbestos.com/companies/wr‑grace.php.

That resulted a stream of lawsuits.  W. R. Grace went into bankruptcy in 2001 (it came out of bankruptcy in 2014).  The asbestos litigation led to the creation of an asbestos trust in 2008 that will total around $1.8 billion.  It is meant to pay the asbestosis cancer claims.

                                    The EPA Advice  

The EPA says “You should assume that vermiculite insulation is from Libby and treat the material as if it contained asbestos by not disturbing it or by using a trained professional if it needs to be removed. Since the Libby mine was estimated to be the source of over 70 percent of all vermiculite sold in the United States from 1919 to 1990 and vermiculite from Libby was contaminated with asbestos, further testing is not necessary to take the appropriate precautions.   While you can hire a trained professional to test your attic for asbestos, this may be expensive and, depending on the methods used, might give you erroneous results. We do not recommend that you open your walls to check for vermiculite.”

http://www2.epa.gov/asbestos/protect-your-family-asbestos-contaminated-vermiculite-insulation

Here are a close-up photo of vermiculite insulation, followed by a picture of a typical vermiculite attic installation.

Vermiculite

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Source:  http://www2.epa.gov/asbestos/protect‑your‑family‑asbestos‑contaminated‑vermiculite‑insulation

 

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