Asbestos removal and remediation in Cochrane

What Cochrane’s housing means for asbestos

Cochrane was incorporated as a village in 1903, did not pass 800 residents until it became a town in 1971, and reached 32,199 people in the 2021 Census. Its housing follows that curve. Of roughly 12,100 occupied homes, about 175 were built in 1960 or earlier and about 1,020 between 1961 and 1980; another 580 date from the 1980s. That leaves roughly 1,775 homes — one in seven — built before 1991, when asbestos was a routine ingredient in flooring, textured ceilings, drywall compound, duct wrap and insulation. The town’s own 2026 housing assessment notes that nearly half of Cochrane’s housing was built between 2006 and 2021, and that the population grew 83 per cent between 2011 and 2021.

So the asbestos work in Cochrane is concentrated: the older streets near the historic downtown, houses built in the first waves of growth in the 1970s, and the acreages on the town’s edges and along the 1A, where farmhouses and outbuildings can be far older than anything in the subdivisions. Cochrane High School dates from 1962, which is a reminder that the town’s public buildings are older than most of its homes.

For anything built before 1990 the rule is the same as in Calgary: test before you disturb it. For the large majority of Cochrane homes built after that, asbestos is rarely the issue, and the work we do is mold, hail and water damage, and strip-outs.

How a job in Cochrane 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 Cochrane rather than Calgary.

If you searched for an abatement company in Cochrane, this is the page. We also take work west along Highway 1A and the Trans-Canada, including Canmore and Banff, with the travel priced into the written quote.

• Testing. Samples go to an accredited third-party laboratory and you get the written result. Where vermiculite insulation is involved we say so plainly: not all vermiculite contains asbestos, and testing before removal can save you the cost of a full abatement.
• 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. The Town of Cochrane requires a Safety Codes permit to demolish any structure of 10 square metres or more. Its permit information does not currently mention asbestos, but the provincial rule applies: material that can release fibres must be removed before demolition. Ask us before you apply and we will tell you what the inspector will expect.
• Disposal. The Cochrane Eco Centre takes household hazardous waste but sends construction waste to Calgary, and it does not accept asbestos. Asbestos from Cochrane goes to the City of Calgary’s Shepard Landfill under a City permit, with the load wetted, double-bagged in 6-mil poly and sealed, and a disposal appointment booked by 10 a.m. the business day before. You receive the weight ticket and manifest for your file.
• Travel. Cochrane is about 35 kilometres from downtown Calgary, typically 30 to 40 minutes depending on traffic on the 1A or the Trans-Canada. Travel is priced into the written quote for every job outside Calgary — there is no separate mileage line and no surprise on the invoice.

The Bow, the hail and the acreages

Cochrane draws its water from the Bow River, and in June 2013 the river ran to levels the town had not seen before, with nearby Bragg Creek and Redwood Meadows evacuated and homes on the Ghost River destroyed. Cochrane itself was spared the worst, but the storm showed how fast a river town can go from dry to underwater. On 5 August 2024, Environment Canada recorded hen-egg-sized hail near Cochrane in the same storm that caused the second-costliest insured loss in Canadian history across Calgary. Grass fires west of town along the 1A have forced evacuations more than once.

Each of those events produces the same kind of work: water in a house that then needs drying and a mold inspection, roofs and siding opened up by hail, and, on the older properties, damaged materials that have to be tested for asbestos before anyone tears them out. On acreages the added factor is outbuildings — older barns, shops and garages that may contain asbestos-cement siding or pipe insulation and that need the same care as a house when they come down.

Related reading

• A flooded basement: the first 24 hours
• Black mold in the basement: what it means
• What asbestos removal costs in the Calgary area