Could Vermiculite really be contaminated with asbestos?

[Johny]

Hi everyone,

I'm a newbie on this great forum, but I've been looking around the internet for some time to collect information about WFO. One of my biggest wishes is to build one someday.

As I‘ve seen on many forums and DIY posts, Vermiculite is often used as an insulation for wood-fired pizza ovens. It’s also recommended for Pompeii oven.

In a post below, I’ve read a warning about using the Vermiculite insulation. It's written that Vermiculite could be contaminated with asbestos.

As I understood, the danger exists only with the old Vermiculite, but it still sounds quite scary to me. I would not like to have asbestos anywhere in my house, especially not in my wood fired oven.

Here’s the link to the post:
http://www.myorangeway.com/best-pizz..._and_materials
There’s also a link in a post on a www.epa.gov, where more details are available.

Do any of you guys know something about this?

[RandyJ]

Yes there is a possibility that is does have asbestos or something like that in the vermiculite. You need to use a respirator when dealing with any of the insulation. Because all of it is nasty stuff. It is safe once it is all in place but be careful handing it.

Randy

[deejayoh]

The vermiculite with asbestos came from a certain mine in Montana (which is now a superfund site) that shut down in 1990. It supplied most of the material that went into attics all across the country. If you are buying newly mined vermiculite, it is not going to contain asbestos.

https://www.epa.gov/asbestos/protect...ite-insulation

[Johny]

Thanks, Deejayoh. The most important is not to use old vermiculite produced before 1990. So the idea of making an oven from scratch and use the "recycled" insulation is not very clever.

Johny