Our attic has three rooms that you can stand in and we use it as storage. This is what is between our attic floor and the second floor ceiling. We sent a sample away to a lab to see if it is asbestos. Whatever it is it makes my throat hurt, chest ache, eyes burn and skin numb.
The Lab Results
The lab results came back. The gray fibrous material is 97% glass wool. Glass wool is another name for fiberglass. The report said the non-fibrous materials are "organics". There was no asbestos detected.
The question is, can the blown in fiberglass insulation between the ceiling and the floor get into the air?
We have a separate HVAC system that feeds the attic and second floor. I covered up all of the second floor vents and returns with clear packing tape. About a week later I noticed something I had not expected.
The insulation dust was all over the sticky side of the tape. I had felt the insulation in the air, but I didn't think it would build up that much.
Some of the vents had more on them than others. To actually see the finest of the small glass particles they say you need a microscope that magnifies 2000 times along with placing the scope on a special setting. Hence why the smallest and most dangerous of the particles are rarely ever detected. Most of the time it is never even looked for. This time however, I could actually see the stuff. No wonder it felt so potent.
This would have been the dust I would have been dusting off of the furniture. I often wondered where house dust came from. Mixed in with the dead skin cells and dog dander, it comes from between the floors and walls.
Blown-in Insulation Under Floor
Blown-in Insulation Removal Under Floor 2
Blown-in Insulation Removal Under Floor 3
Sharon Maguire - Updated 9-30-2016
