Asbestos removal and remediation in Olds
Olds is the largest town between Airdrie and Red Deer, and it barely grew between 2016 and 2021. A town that adds almost no new housing is a town where most of the housing is old, and in Alberta that means asbestos until a lab says otherwise.
What the housing stock in Olds means for asbestos
Olds started as a railway siding in 1891, named for a CPR traffic manager, was incorporated as a village in 1896 and became a town in 1905. The 2021 Census counted 9,209 residents and 3,810 occupied homes — up just 0.3 per cent on 2016, against 8,235 in 2011 and 7,253 in 2006. Growth ran hard through the 2000s and then flattened.
That pattern matters for our work. Between 2016 and 2021 the town added barely a hundred occupied dwellings, which means almost everything standing in Olds today was standing before the last census. The proportion of the stock built before 1990 is correspondingly high, and it is spread through the town rather than confined to a heritage pocket.
The historic core is Uptowne Olds along 50 Avenue and the 50th and 51st Streets, where the town has plaqued a series of buildings — the Armstrong Bakery at 5010 50 Avenue, Lamont House at 5206, the former Maybank Drug Store at 5004, the Pokotilo Block on 51 Street, and the old AGT building that now holds the Mountain View Museum and Archives. A fire in February 1922 destroyed much of the business district, so a good deal of what stands there dates from the rebuild onward.
In practice the materials are the same everywhere: floor tile and the black mastic under it, textured and stipple ceilings, drywall joint compound, pipe and duct wrap, and vermiculite in the attic. A test costs a fraction of what an uncontrolled removal costs to put right, and a clean result ends the matter.
How a job in Olds runs
The steps are the same ones on our asbestos removal page. Nothing is skipped because the job is in Olds rather than Calgary.
- Testing. Samples go to an accredited third-party lab and you get the result in writing before anything is disturbed. A clean result ends it there.
- Notification. Alberta OHS must be notified at least 72 hours before any work that could release asbestos fibres, and the notice is filed per address. We file it for every restricted-area job.
- Permits. Olds runs its own building permits — the Town is an accredited municipality in the Building discipline, with inspections by its own certified Safety Codes Officer. Planning and Development is at 3501 70 Avenue (403-556-6981). A demolition needs both a building permit and a demolition permit, and the Town’s own conditions require utilities disconnected and a plan for disposing of the materials before it will sign off. We provide that plan as part of the quote.
- Disposal. Olds belongs to the Mountain View Regional Waste Management Commission, and its landfill bans asbestos outright. So the waste goes north to the City of Red Deer’s Waste Management Facility, which accepts asbestos as special waste with 24 hours’ notice (403-340-2583), or south to Calgary. Shepard Landfill in southeast Calgary is the only City site that accepts commercial asbestos, under a free Industrial Waste Permit and a booked appointment requested by 10 a.m. the day before. The rate is $200 a tonne, rising to $220 in February 2026. Material is wetted before bagging, double-bagged in 6-mil polyethylene and sealed, and you get the weight ticket and the manifest. Whichever route the load takes, the weight ticket comes back with your paperwork.
- Travel. Olds is about 90 kilometres north of Calgary, five kilometres west of the QEII on Highway 27, on the same run as Didsbury and Carstairs. Travel is priced into the written quote — no separate mileage line.
Institutional and commercial work
Olds is not only a residential town. Olds College opened in 1913 as the Olds School of Agriculture and Home Economics and now runs a 3,600-acre Smart Farm network; there is a hospital and care centre, and health care, retail and education together account for around forty per cent of local jobs. The town took its big-box retail centre in 2008.
Buildings of that kind carry materials a house does not: sprayed fireproofing, boiler and pipe lagging, transite panel, suspended ceiling tile, and vinyl sheet flooring in corridors. A pre-renovation survey on a commercial or institutional building is a different scope from a house, and it is worth doing before the tender rather than after — an asbestos finding mid-project is what turns a fixed-price contract into a change order. We quote interior demolition and abatement together so the hazmat work and the strip-out are one contract and one mobilization.
If you searched for an abatement company in Olds, this is the page.
One call covers it all
Asbestos Removal
Asbestos Removal in Olds and the surrounding area.
Asbestos Testing
Asbestos Testing in Olds and the surrounding area.
Vermiculite Removal
Vermiculite Removal in Olds and the surrounding area.
Popcorn Ceiling Removal
Popcorn Ceiling Removal in Olds and the surrounding area.
Mold Remediation
Mold Remediation in Olds and the surrounding area.
Fire Damage Restoration
Fire Damage Restoration in Olds and the surrounding area.
Water Damage Restoration
Water Damage Restoration in Olds and the surrounding area.
Demolition
Demolition in Olds and the surrounding area.
Cleaning
Cleaning in Olds and the surrounding area.
Questions we get from Olds
Where does asbestos from Olds go?
Not to the Mountain View regional landfill, which bans it. Either north to the City of Red Deer’s Waste Management Facility, which accepts asbestos as special waste with 24 hours’ notice, or south to Shepard Landfill in Calgary under an Industrial Waste Permit and a booked appointment. You get the weight ticket and the manifest either way.
The Town asked for a plan for disposing of the material. What does that mean?
Olds requires utilities disconnected and a disposal plan as conditions of a demolition permit. In practice that means naming the landfill, showing that it will accept what you are sending it, and being able to produce the weight tickets afterwards. We provide that as part of the written quote, which is also what the permit office is looking for.
Is a house in Uptowne Olds likely to have asbestos?
If it predates about 1990, treat it as possible until a lab result says otherwise. Because Olds grew very little between 2016 and 2021, older housing is spread across the town rather than confined to the historic core.
Do you do commercial and institutional buildings?
Yes. Commercial surveys cover the materials houses do not have — sprayed fireproofing, boiler and pipe lagging, transite, suspended ceiling tile, sheet flooring. We are licensed, insured and WCB covered, and we carry contractors pollution liability alongside general liability. Documentation for your consultant or general contractor comes as standard.
Do you charge extra to come to Olds?
Travel is priced into the written quote, with no separate mileage line. For a standalone sampling visit, the published travel surcharge applies and is shown on the pricing page.
Need help now?
Speak with Aden Integrated Services Ltd about your project.