I Have This Brown Powder Dust In Attic

Do not disturb vermiculite insulation.

I have this brown powder dust in attic. If it seems like your filters never get dirty or you only change them once in a blue moon chances are they re not catching the dust in your air. Does anyone have any idea what this stuff is. It is spread out on the floor of the attic approximately seeral inches. Vermiculite insulation has a pebble like appearance and typically is a grayish brown or silvery gold color.

I have some white powder in my attic but nowhere near 4 deep and only in a few places. It is made from a natural mineral material that is mined from the earth. There is a layer of brown paper under it and the powder is about 2 thick. Typical fiberglass filters are rated 1 4.

There s also some fine white powder that blew in during the sandblasting. I found this light weight cellulose insulation material in a over 70 years old attic which contains some short fibers. When we were removing the lath and plaster we found a white very fine powder insulation in the attic and sloped cielings. The higher the merv rating the smaller particles it can catch.

Attic is in a multifamily housing unit built circa 1994. The environmental protection agency provides ways to identify vermiculite on its website generally a pebble like material typically gray brown or silver in color. The white stuffs turned to white ash after a fire test. The material in question looks almost like brown mulch or top soil.

Call an asbestos certified professional for assistance. Vermiculite loose fill insulation is one of the most common household materials that contains asbestos. Before i go further there are power dusters and you could treat an entire attic much the same as with a fog machine. My hesitancy there is that this big cloud of dust doesn t dissipate like a fog and the powder settles on top of everything it touches.

There are 2 inches thick light brown cellulose on top of the 2 inches thick white cellulose finer than the top layer but not in powder form.