What is this stuff?

[Mvasquez]

I looked in the attic of the house we just bought (house is in Mesa AZ and was built in 1957) and found this stuff. The inspector didn't look in the attic through this opening so he didn't see it and only noted the cellulose insulation on our inspection report since that's all he saw from the opening where he looked at the attic. It is gravel type stuff that is mixed in with loose fill cellulose. I thought that it may be vermiculite but it isn't the same color or texture as vermiculite. The material is very hard and has some pebbles among like a dusty broken chalk type of material that also coats some of the pebbles that are in the mix. I've been searching all over the net to find out what the heck it is and have come up empty handed. The closest thing that I've found online is perlite, but that is usually all white and doesn't have the same grey pebbles in the pictures I've seen online. Any ideas what this is? Thanks in advance.

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[Marc]

I think Perlite is correct. It isn't always all white.

Check this out: Perlite

Marc

[hoosier inspector]

Dirty perlite

[Bill Kibbel]

Crushed perlite.

Crushed perlite and expanded perlite (it's been heated and turns white) are both used for potting soil mixes. Expanded perlite is usually used for thermal insulation. I have seen crushed perlite added to an attic once.

[Mvasquez]

Thanks gentlemen! I appreciate your expertise and for confirming that this is perlite and not vermiculite like I first thought it was. This is a really great forum with a ton of useful information. I really enjoy reading through the forums and learning something new from everybody's knowledge and insights. As a new homeowner I'll be checking this site often. Thanks again and keep up the great work guys! [:-thumbu]

[Mike Lamb]

Do you have a clear close-up pic? #3 and #4 doesn't convince me that it's not vermiculie.

[kurt]

Look real close. Get a close up pic of vermiculite, then look at this again.

The differences are pretty clear.

[Mvasquez]

Do you have a clear close-up pic? #3 and #4 doesn't convince me that it's not vermiculie.

I agree with Kurt that this does not look like any vermiculite photos I've ever seen, I looked really closely at a sample I took (see pic) and this stuff doesn't have any of the signature vermiculite accordian like rock shapes anywhere in it. The little brown pieces are pieces of the cellulose insulation that is mixed in. Also, from what I read, vermiculite is soft like popcorn, this stuff is literally hard as rocks. This almost looks like gravel, chalk, and plaster chunks.

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