Restoration, demolition and asbestos work in Chestermere

What Chestermere’s housing means for asbestos

The lake at the centre of Chestermere is an irrigation reservoir: a dam and canal built by 1907 turned a wetland into a balancing pool for what became the Western Irrigation District. Cabin owners organized in 1959 with about 50 members, the lake had 120 permanent homes when it became the Summer Village of Chestermere Lake in 1977, and there were still only about 1,000 residents when it became a town in 1993. Growth of more than 150 per cent between 2004 and 2014 made it a city on 1 January 2015, and the 2021 Census counted 22,163 people.

The housing numbers follow that story. Of about 6,730 occupied homes, only around 40 were built in 1960 or earlier, 185 between 1961 and 1980, and 175 in the 1980s — roughly 400 homes, or six per cent, built before 1991. More than two-thirds of the city was built between 2001 and 2015. In most of Chestermere, asbestos is not the question. Where it is, it is the older lakefront properties: original cabins, cabins that were winterized and added onto in the 1960s and 70s, and the tear-downs that make way for new lakefront builds.

The City of Chestermere is one of the few municipalities in our service area whose demolition permit checklist names asbestos directly. It requires an asbestos assessment, asks for removal of asbestos-containing material before demolition by professionals certified in Alberta, and also wants a fire safety plan, a disposal route map, proof of $2 million in liability insurance and a refundable deposit. We have those documents ready before you apply.

How a job in Chestermere runs

The steps below are the same ones on our asbestos removal page, where you can watch a 30-second walk-through of one of our own jobs. Nothing is skipped because the job is in Chestermere rather than Calgary.

If you searched for an abatement company in Chestermere, this is the page.

• Testing. Samples to an accredited third-party lab; written results before any material is disturbed.
• Notification. Alberta OHS must be notified at least 72 hours before any work that could release asbestos fibres, per address. We file that notice for every restricted-area job.
• Permits. For a demolition, the City’s checklist calls for an asbestos assessment and certified removal, and the permit is not the place to find that out. Ask us first; the assessment is one site visit.
• Disposal. Chestermere’s eco-centre does not accept asbestos or construction and demolition material, and the Langdon transfer site cannot take large renovation loads. Asbestos from Chestermere goes to the City of Calgary’s Shepard Landfill under a City industrial waste permit — wetted, double-bagged in 6-mil poly, sealed, appointment booked by 10 a.m. the day before. Calgary’s commercial asbestos rate is $220 per tonne from February 2026. You get the weight ticket and manifest.
• Travel. Chestermere is a few minutes east of Stoney Trail and about 20 minutes from downtown Calgary, the closest community we serve outside the city. Travel is priced into the written quote for every job outside Calgary — there is no separate mileage line and no surprise on the invoice.

Storms, the lake and the water table

Chestermere’s weather problem is not the river; it is the sky. On 12 July 2015 a single storm damaged approximately 300 homes with rain and hail, and a second storm two days later hit before the city had finished counting. The 5 August 2024 hailstorm that caused nearly $2.8 billion in insured damage across the Calgary region landed hard on Chestermere and Strathmore, and a cooperative stormwater project involving the irrigation district, Calgary, Rocky View County and Strathmore has been under construction south of the lake since 2021 to reduce exactly this kind of localized flooding.

For a homeowner the sequence is familiar: hail opens the roof or the siding, water gets into the attic or the walls, and mold follows if it is not dried quickly. In a 2008 house that is a drying and rebuild job with no asbestos in the way. In an older lake cabin it starts with a test. Either way, the sooner the call the smaller the job.

Related reading

• Water damage and insurance in Alberta
• A flooded basement: the first 24 hours
• Black mold in the basement: what it means