Asbestos removal and remediation in Strathmore

What Strathmore’s housing means for asbestos

The Canadian Pacific Railway laid track through Strathmore in 1883, moved the whole hamlet four miles north in 1905 when the irrigation system was built, and ran a demonstration farm here for decades; the irrigation works passed to the Western Irrigation District in 1944 and the last rail was lifted in 1981. The town was incorporated in 1911. The Duff Block of 1908 is still the oldest commercial building on Main Street, and the King Edward Hotel from the same year survived the 1924 fire that took most of the north side of the street.

The 2021 Census counted 14,339 residents and about 5,515 occupied homes. Roughly 165 were built in 1960 or earlier, 800 between 1961 and 1980, and 520 in the 1980s — about 1,485 homes, or 27 per cent, built before 1991. Half the town’s housing was built before 2001. Growth since the early 1990s more than doubled the population, and the houses from that growth are a different job from the older streets around downtown and the schools.

Strathmore is one of the municipalities in our area that has written asbestos into the permit process. The Town’s demolition permit application requires a verification letter from an asbestos consultant confirming that Occupational Health and Safety standards have been complied with, requires an environmental certificate where hazardous materials are removed, and requires that debris go only to a certified landfill. That letter is the product of an assessment, a removal and a third-party clearance, and we plan the job so that the letter is ready when the permit is.

How a job in Strathmore 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 Strathmore rather than Calgary.

If you searched for an abatement company in Strathmore, this is the page. And if the reason you are reading is a basement renovation in Strathmore, the strip-out and the asbestos check come first — we do both, so the renovation crew starts on a clean, cleared basement.

• Testing. Samples to an accredited third-party lab, results in writing.
• 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. Building and utility inspections in Strathmore are handled for the Town by Park Enterprises, and demolition applications go through the Town’s development office with the asbestos consultant’s letter attached. We tell you what the file needs before you submit it.
• Disposal. Wheatland County’s transfer sites do not accept asbestos, drywall or demolition waste, and the Town’s recycling facility is residential only. Asbestos from Strathmore goes either west to the City of Calgary’s Shepard Landfill under a City permit ($220 per tonne from February 2026, day-ahead appointment, wetted and double-bagged in 6-mil poly) or northeast to the Drumheller landfill, which accepts asbestos on a special-waste application with 48 hours’ notice and buries it immediately on arrival. We choose the route that suits the load and the schedule, and you get the manifest either way.
• Travel. Strathmore is about 50 kilometres east of Calgary, roughly 40 minutes on 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.

Water damage restoration and mold remediation in Strathmore

Asbestos is the reason most people find this page, but the calls we get from Strathmore are just as often about water: a hail-opened roof, a sump that quit, a basement that took on water in a storm. Water damage restoration in Strathmore runs the same way it does in Calgary — stop the source, extract, pull the wet material, dry with monitored equipment, and put it in writing for your insurer. The one difference is age: in a pre-1990 house the wet ceiling texture, drywall compound and flooring have to be tested before they come out, and we do that in the same visit rather than sending you to a second company.

Mold remediation in Strathmore follows the same rule. If water sat for more than a couple of days, assume growth behind the finishes and plan for containment and negative air, not a spray and a coat of paint. We give you moisture readings at the start and at the end, and a report you can hand to an adjuster or a buyer. Travel is priced into the written quote; there is no Strathmore surcharge.

Hail, dust and the neighbours

The 5 August 2024 hailstorm did nearly $2.8 billion in insured damage to homes in Strathmore, Chestermere and the surrounding area, and Strathmore is a partner in the cooperative stormwater project built to reduce localized flooding across the district. Hail-opened roofs and siding are the usual way water gets into a house here, and in a pre-1990 home the wet ceiling texture, drywall and flooring have to be tested before anyone starts tearing them out.

Strathmore also knows what asbestos looks like when it is handled badly. After the 2017 fire at the compost facility outside town, drywall samples across the fence line tested positive, and in 2020 residents’ dust samples from the legacy drywall pile exceeded provincial guidelines before the pile was finally hauled away. The lesson is the one we work to on every job: asbestos-bearing material that is wetted, bagged, sealed and manifested is a controlled waste; the same material dry, broken and blowing is a problem for everyone downwind.

Related reading

• Water damage and insurance in Alberta
• Popcorn ceilings and asbestos: what to know
• What asbestos removal costs in the Calgary area