As one of the South Coast’s leading asbestos experts, we sometimes find it difficult to identify the differences between cellulose and asbestos insulation, meaning you’ll find it difficult too.
It’s important that you know if your home’s insulation contains asbestos or not as the risks to your health can be severe in some cases. In this guide, we outline the key properties of asbestos and cellulose insulation along with their major differences.
Contents:
Asbestos insulation
Asbestos was commonly used in construction for flooring, roofing and insulation up until the late 1990s when its ban was introduced as a result of serious health risks. There were a number of benefits of using asbestos as insulation due to it being heat, fire and chemical resistant as well as unlikely to biologically degrade and would not dissolve in water.
Depending on what type of insulation is being used, the look and texture of it may differ. There are 4 main categories of asbestos insulation: loose-fill, wrap, block, and spray-on. See the differences between each type of asbestos insulation in the next section.
Asbestos loose-fill insulation
As the name suggests, this type of insulation containing asbestos is almost entirely made out of harmful minerals. The texture is very loose and is made up of very small materials.
Asbestos wrapping insulation
This type of asbestos insulation comes in the form of a wrap, or outside covering mostly used for pipes and ductwork. When looking at this pipe insulation, it may look like cardboard, however, as it gets older it disintegrates into harmful dust particles. For more information on why asbestos dust particles are dangerous, see our guide.
Asbestos block insulation
Asbestos blocks would look similar to pieces of styrofoam, but they would consist of almost 100% asbestos-containing materials (ACMs). These blocks would have been placed and glued to walls and used as an insulator in homes.
Asbestos spray-on insulation
With asbestos making up around 85% of the mixture, spray-on insulation is sprayed onto ceilings and pipes. This material most often will look grey and powdery and can release a large amount of dust if altered or damaged.
Cellulose insulation
As an alternative to asbestos, cellulose insulation is made from many different materials including cardboard, hemp, straw and newspaper. When a paper-based cellulose mix is utilized by builders, it is treated with something called boric acid to give it fire-resistance properties.
Cellulose insulation can be installed in both newly constructed homes as well as existing structures. The material can be installed following the loose-fill or blown-in insulation method; this is a method where the material used will be shredded or broken into smaller pieces/granules to achieve a fluffy appearance, and densely packed in different areas around the building, such as attics, walls, ceilings and crawl spaces.
Differences – what you should do
Whilst there is a key difference in materials used, visually telling them apart is very difficult. It is recommended that you leave the insulation alone and contact a certified professional as soon as you can in order to determine its properties. Its removal should be handled by a licensed contractor and any Asbestos Containing Materials (ACMs) should be disposed of correctly by a licensed disposal site.
If you have already damaged or disturbed the insulation through decorating or DIY work, don’t try to clean it up yourself. Attempting to clean the affected area can cause the microscopic fibres to flow into the air, therefore spreading the asbestos even more.
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