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Since the popcorn ceiling in older houses often contains asbestos, I wonder if this is because the "popcorn" is vermiculite which often contains asbestos naturally? Or did they purposefully added asbestos in old formulations?
I hear the newer non-asbestos containing popcorn ceilings are made out of Styrofoam or paper based material, but this doesn't tell me what the asbestos containing ceilings are made out of, especially the "popcorn".
Thanks
Vermiculite itself has not been shown to be a health problem or contain asbestos. However, some vermiculite insulation contained asbestos fibers due to it being extracted from a mine in Montana that had a natural deposit of asbestos which contaminated the Vermiculite. If used for popcorn ceiling, the asbestos wasn't purposely added but could have been left over from the Vermiculite mined in Montana.
