FAQ · Safety
White powder all over my roof joists — what is it?
Almost always it’s talc — the residue left behind by years of pest-control sprays. It’s not asbestos and it’s nothing to panic about. The one real catch is that it makes the joists slippery, so it’s a fall risk, not a health emergency.
It’s one of the more alarming things to spot when you poke your head through the manhole, and the first fear is nearly always the same: is this asbestos? Here’s where it really comes from, why it’s slippery and worth respecting, and why a borax-treated cellulose roof means you never have to have it sprayed in again.
Real reviews, real jobs
What our customers say
Genuine Google & hipages reviews from Comfort Zone customers across SE Queensland.
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Angela M.
SE Queensland
“The fact that I can't even tell it's 6 degrees outside when I wake up in the morning speaks for itself. Have wasted so much money attempting to heat and cool an uninsulated home. Worth every $.”
- Phipages
P Peter
Alstonvale, 2024
“Connected with Comfort Zone Insulation and would recommend them”
- J
Jessa B.
Brisbane
“It dropped about 4 degrees straight away, and we added another 3 with the second job. I appreciate Peter's honesty, and the team showed pictures before and after.”
- Nhipages
Nola M
Birtinya, 2024
“They were courteous and competent.”
- I
Iain V-B.
Brisbane
“Quick and polite service. Great follow-up advice and photos sent for our records. Above and beyond what we expected. Would highly recommend.”
- Jhipages
Jennifer's E
Upper Caboolture, 2024
“Excellent customer service. Highly recommended. Has a profound knowledge of insulation products and has the best interest of his customer.”
- G
Gerry S
Fitzgibbon, 2023
“I used Comfort Zone and they have a done an excellent job.”
- Jhipages
Jennifer
Upper Caboolture, 2024
“Excellent customer service. Highly recommend. Has a profound knowledge of insulation products and has the customer best interest.”
- J
Jung K
Riverhills, 2023
“An experienced family operation. Highly recommend. Thank you for the great job!”
- Dhipages
Diane A
Ormeau, 2024
“Peter and crew did a great job I would definitely recommend them”
- D
David H
Sunshine Coast, 2021
“Completed the job as quoted and to a high standard. Great personal service. Would highly recommend Comfort Zone for ceiling installation work.”
- Thipages
Timea
Highland Park, 2023
“I was extremely satisfied with the service they provided. They gave a very thourough explanation of the materials used, the way the work will be carried out and the price I had to pay was the exact amount quoted, no hidden costs included. They arrived on time, well prepared and workwas carried out exactly how they said it would be, they were super efficient, well prepared and were kind enough to even clean up after themselves. The services they provided was second to none! I don't hesitate to recommend them for any insulation job!”
- B
Benjamin H
Carseldine, 2019
“Very good explanation about their works. Advice of existing problems with the roof. Clean work. Very professional.”
- Mhipages
Mark
Pottsville, 2017
“Michelle, we are done - Peter from comfort zone insulation was very helpful. very honest with his recommendations - in fact he told me that the product my daughter had if installed correctly was superb. Thanks Peter you are a champion and i would recommend you to any person that was wanting professional advice and old school service.”
- I
Ian G
Burnside, 2019
“Good information, communication and professionalism.”
- Jhipages
Jessica
Pottsville, 2016
“This business offers a fantastic product that other businesses did not. Pump in ceiling insulation. Knowledge of the industry second to none.”
- D
Danny D
Boondall, 2018
“He explained everything he was going to do and the different types of insulation they used. He talked through the different options but made a recommendation for the one most people use, which is the one I chose. He was very understanding towards what I needed and not about himself.”
- Jhipages
Jack
Pottsville, 2023
“Excellent communication and informative. Professional.”
- G
Graham R
Riverhills, 2018
“Comfort Zone. Turned up ahead of time, completed in about 2 hours, cleaned up. All good. Very motivated installation team.”
- Thipages
Tony P
Redland Bay, 2023
“Very knowledgeable about insulation”
- A
Alex B
West Ipswich, 2018
“Fast, friendly, efficient.”
- Shipages
Steve
Redland Bay, 2017
“Excellent job and reasonable price.”
- L
Luke D
Mcdowall, 2017
“Peter did a good job. It was a quick and clean service. I'm happy to recommend!”
- Bhipages
Bruce H
Kuluin, 2023
“Prompt and efficient quoting.”
- B
Brendon
Brays Creek, 2016
“Peter supplied and installed roof insulation for me. He was very informative and provided good advice.”
- Ghipages
Gerry S
Fitzgibbon, 2023
“I used Comfort Zone and they have a done an excellent job.”
- T
Trevor G
Brookside Centre, 2016
“Excellent tradesmen from Comfort Zone Insulation. They were punctual and cleaned up after. Highly recommended.”
- Thipages
Tamara
Underwood, 2023
“Peter is honest, hard-working and came on time. Knew excally what he was talking about and answered my questions. Would 100% recommend”
- J
John G
Beaudesert, 2019
“Peter is an honest person who provided me with the information I wanted then performed a good job with great results for the benefit of myself and my family.”
- Shipages
Sterling G
Ashgrove, 2023
“Comfort Zone were very knowledge with great communication and follow up”
- Ghipages
Graham R
Riverhills, 2018
“Comfort Zone. Turned up ahead of time completed in +- 2 hours cleaned. All good. Very motivated installation team”
- Jhipages
Jung K
Riverhills, 2023
“An experienced family operation. Highly recommend. Thank you for the great job!”
- Khipages
Kathy A
North Lakes, 2023
“We connected with Peter through HiPages and he was prompt, professional and even came back after the job was complete to assist with a question we had. We would highly recommend Peter for further insulation works.”
- Dhipages
David H
Sunshine Coast, 2021
“Completed the job as quoted and to a high standard. Great personal service. Would highly recommend Comfort Zone for ceiling installationn work.”
- Shipages
Sue H
Sunshine Coast, 2021
“Incredible customer service”
- Ehipages
Eileen C
Cedar Vale, 2021
“Quality work, good customer service, prompt”
- Chipages
Craig M
Woody Point, 2021
“Called within 5 minutes of request. Very knowledgeable and explained job in great detail, provide great advice in prior preparation for works required. Very friendly and helpful.”
- Jhipages
Jenny C
Plainland, 2021
“Although I did not hire Peter I was impressed with the initial contact and the knowledge he was willing to impart. I was treated with respect which I appreciated. I would have hired but I received a lower quote.”
- Qhipages
Quinton
Coomera, 2020
“Professional installation without any short cuts. True to their word with high integrity. Response from Comfort Zone Insulation”
- Ghipages
Gary P
West Kempsey, 2020
“Came & Gave a free quote”
First things first — it’s talc, not asbestos.
That fine, slippery white layer across your joists is almost always plain talc powder — the same stuff as baby powder. It feels slippery for exactly that reason. It isn’t a loose form of asbestos, and it isn’t a sign that something has gone wrong in your roof. It’s a leftover, and once you know what left it there it stops being frightening.
The tell is the slipperiness itself. Asbestos in an old Queensland roof isn’t a loose powder you can wipe off a joist with your finger — it’s a bonded, solid material like “Super 6” fibro sheeting or the millboard around an old flue, and the rule with that is simple: don’t touch it, don’t drill it, leave it be. A fine, brushable dust sitting on top of the timber is a different animal entirely. The one genuine exception is Mr Fluffy — loose-fill asbestos pumped into some roofs in the 1960s and 70s — and if yours could be one of those, telling asbestos and cellulose apart is worth doing properly before anyone touches it. If you’re genuinely not sure, the safe move is to disturb nothing and have it tested by a licensed assessor rather than guess. We treat every roof we go into as if it could contain asbestos until we know it doesn’t.
Where it came from
Years of pest sprays — the poison evaporates, the talc stays.
For decades a lot of pest-control companies treated roof voids by blowing through a mix of talc powder and a pyrethrin poison. The poison does its job on the insects and then evaporates away over a season — but the talc it was carried on has nowhere to go. It settles onto the joists and the top of the ceiling and stays put. Have the roof sprayed every year, as plenty of older homes were, and layer by layer that talc builds up into the slippery white coating you’re now looking at.
So it isn’t contamination and it isn’t decay — it’s the dry residue of an ongoing pest treatment that has been topped up over the years. Interestingly, about thirty years ago pest controllers used borax for the same job. Borax stays in place and keeps working. That turned out to be bad for repeat business — a treatment that lasts forever doesn’t need doing again next year — which is a fair part of why the industry moved to poisons that evaporate and leave the talc behind.
Watch your footing more than anything else.
The honest hazard here is the slip. A talc-coated joist is greasy underfoot, and a slip in a roof space is how a foot goes through the ceiling — or worse. If you do go up, tread only on the joists, wear a dust mask and gloves the way you would in any dusty roof, and wipe your shoes before you step back onto a ladder or a metal roof so you don’t carry that slipperiness down with you. Left undisturbed, the powder isn’t doing any harm just sitting there — but it’s worth respecting while you’re moving around it.
The good news
Pump in cellulose and you never spray the roof again.
Here’s the part that turns this from a worry into a saving. Our cellulose insulation is treated with borax — a naturally mined mineral, stable like salt. Borax is a natural insect killer, and because it doesn’t evaporate or wash out, it keeps working for the life of the house. Insects won’t live in it, so a properly pumped roof simply doesn’t need the annual pest spray that left all that talc behind in the first place.
If you’re currently paying somewhere around $150 a year to have the roof sprayed, that’s a bill the insulation quietly ends — on top of making the house cooler in summer and warmer in winter. And if you ever spot a little fine white dust near a freshly pumped roof, that’s just the borax itself: the same treatment that gives cellulose its fire resistance and keeps the pests out, doing exactly what it’s meant to.
“People ring me in a panic about the white powder in the roof, sure it’s asbestos. Nearly always it’s just talc from years of pest sprays. Put cellulose in and you never have to have the roof sprayed again — the borax does that job for the life of the house.”
See what's really in a roof — and why cellulose ends the spray.
The white powder is a leftover of years of pest treatment. Cellulose swaps all that out for one borax-treated blanket that resists fire and keeps insects out for good. The first clip fire-tests the products side by side so you can see what the borax does; the second shows how the pumped-in blanket fills a roof the way cut-to-fit batts never can. Both run right here on the page.
The clips play right here on the page, or open the playlist to watch them all on YouTube and subscribe.
Some of these were filmed a while back. Our methods, safety standards and products have moved on since. For how we work today, see the rest of this page.
Some of these were filmed a while back. Our methods, safety standards and products have moved on since then.
More on that white powder in your roof
What is the slippery white powder all over my roof joists?+
Nine times out of ten it's talc. Pest-control companies used to mix talc powder with a pyrethrin poison and blow it through the roof. The poison evaporates over a season. But the talc has nowhere to go, so it just sits there on the joists and the top of the ceiling. Get your roof sprayed every year and that talc builds up into a fine, slippery layer. It feels slippery because that's exactly what talc is — the same stuff in baby powder. It is not asbestos, and it's not something to lie awake over.
Is the white powder in my roof asbestos?+
Almost certainly not. Asbestos in a roof isn't a loose, slippery powder you can brush with your hand — it's a bonded material, like old 'Super 6' fibro sheeting or millboard around a flue, and you leave that alone. A loose talc-like dust across the joists is a completely different thing. If you're genuinely unsure, don't disturb it and get it tested by a licensed assessor rather than guessing. We treat every roof as if it could contain asbestos until we know otherwise — you can read how we handle a fibro roof on our asbestos page.
Is the powder dangerous or toxic to have in the roof?+
The real danger with it isn't your health — it's your footing. That talc layer makes the joists and the ceiling sheets genuinely slippery, and a slip in a roof space is how people put a foot through a ceiling or worse. If you ever go up there, tread only on the joists, wear a dust mask and gloves the way you would in any dusty roof, and wipe your shoes before you step back onto a ladder or a metal roof so you don't carry the slip with you. Leave the powder where it is and it isn't doing any harm sitting there.
Could the white powder actually be from my cellulose insulation?+
It can be, and that's harmless too. Our cellulose is treated with borax — a naturally mined mineral, stable like salt — and a little fine borax dust can show on the joists near a pumped roof. That borax is exactly what makes the insulation fire-resistant and stops insects living in it, and unlike a sprayed poison it doesn't evaporate or wash away over the life of the house. So if the dust is coming off the insulation rather than off an old pest spray, it's simply the fire-and-pest treatment doing its job.
Do I need to remove or vacuum the powder before insulating?+
Usually no. When we pump cellulose in, it goes straight over the top and you never see the old talc again. If the dust is heavy or it's coming through the ceiling every time the house moves, we can vacuum the worst of it out first and tidy the roof up before we pump — just tell me when I quote and I'll factor it in. Either way it's a job we deal with all the time; it's not a reason to hold off insulating.
If I switch to cellulose, will I still need the roof sprayed every year?+
No — and that's where a lot of this powder came from in the first place. The borax in our cellulose is a natural insect killer that stays put for the life of the house, so a properly pumped roof doesn't need the annual pest spray that leaves the talc behind. If you're currently paying somewhere around $150 a year to have the roof sprayed, cellulose quietly pays for itself over time by ending that bill, on top of making the house cooler in summer and warmer in winter.
Comfort Zone Franchise
Want to build your own insulation business the right way?
We’ve been doing this since 1986 — making our own cellulose at our Tiaro factory, training installers to do it properly, and building a reputation one roof at a time. If you want to run your own Comfort Zone franchise in your area, with real training, real product and a system that actually works, I’d like to talk to you. We’re looking for owner-operators who care about doing the job right.
Find out how the franchise worksDid this put your mind at ease? Leave us a review.
A quick honest review genuinely helps a small family business, and helps the next person decide. Thank you.
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Or call Peter on 0414 586 315 — happy to take a look at what’s in your roof and tell you straight, no pressure.