Survival of the Fittest

Several houses ago Jill and I purchased a beautiful, older Italianate house in Wauwatosa with cut stone, clay tile roof, spectacular plaster work, windows, hardware and a tasteful contemporary family room addition.  It was a prominent family who owned the large hardware store in town that built this house.  It featured the best stuff around at the time.  and many of its design elements were incorporated in the house we built to live in now.

Anyway, heat was provided by a boiler and distributed throughout the house to radiators.  And naturally all the pipes were insulated with the best stuff around; asbestos.  As you likely know asbestos has a sketchy reputation if you mess with it.  

Fortunately, piping within the walls is safe from disturbance; but exposed piping in the basement featured asbestos insulation at risk for disturbance and/or friability.  Disturbed insulation can release airborne fibers that, when inhaled, expose people and their pets to risk of asbestosis, lung cancer and mesothelioma. The best guidance back then, and now, is not to disturb it.  Leave it in place and make it safe by encapsulating it.  Just like a cast on your leg or arm.  Asbestos professionally stabilized in-place is generally considered benign.

Which leads me to this.

I came across this advertisement on the web and swear we had this stuff between the attic joists of the house I grew-up in.  The ad is from October 1958  pitching Zonolite vermiculite attic insulation as 100% fireproof, rodent proof and guaranteed for the life of your home.  

This fits near-perfectly my childhood timeline.  

Zonolite is expanded vermiculite which happens to be a naturally-occurring mineral that is lightweight gray/gold/brown pebbles and flakes poured loose in attics.  In and of itself vermiculite is benign.  Heck, my dad always had a layer under the charcoal briquettes of his Structo grill to soak-up grease.  He claimed it made for easy clean-up.

This is the precise model - Web Photo

Don't get me started on the primitive state of charcoal-grilled meat in the early 1960s before the introduction of the Weber-Stephens Kettle Grill technology.  A vast wasteland of burnt and ash-covered chicken frequently undercooked at the bone and hockey puck hamburgers.  And in my situation, there was vermiculite.

Back to possibly my exposure to another environmental hazard during my feral youth. 

The problem with Zonolite was not the mineral but the source; a single, solitary mine near Libby, Montana.  Seems this mine also had naturally-occurring asbestos and between 1919 and 1990 it is estimated that 70% of the vermiculite sold in the United States came from this mine.  And you cannot tell by looking at it, if your vermiculite is the safe 30%, or the contaminated 70%.

Asbestos associated with the Libby vermiculite is a highly friable form and inhalation of the airborne fibers are associated with the diseases listed in the third paragraph above.  These diseases have latency periods that are measured in decades after exposure. 

If you have an older home and suspect you have this stuff, per the EPA, whatever you do, leave it alone.  Don't store stuff in the attic, don't let the children play in the attic and for the love of God and all that is holy, don't shovel it out on your own as a weekend project.  If you are performing any remodeling that might disturb vermiculite insulation in your attic or walls have a licensed contractor remediate it. 

The good news is there persists a Zonolite Attic Insulation Trust that will reimburse qualifying homeowners with cost-sharing funds for remediation; even if you've already completed the project.

It is a miracle any of us boomer children born in the 1950s and came of age in the 1960s and 70s ever survived to adulthood much less old age.  Vermiculite insulation, lead paint and we even drank from the garden hose. 

Fast Fact:  In 1958 Zonolite was still an independent company and wasn't acquired by W.R. Grace until 1963.  The mine was closed in 1990 and is a Superfund Site.