Asbestos in ceiling?
We live in an 1865 victorian and the ceiling plaster in one of our rooms is sagging and cracking. By looking at it it seems that it has been patched up multiple times and this go around will require that the whole thing be removed. Is there any chance there might be any asbestos issues?…
We live in an 1865 victorian and the ceiling plaster in one of our rooms is sagging and cracking. By looking at it it seems that it has been patched up multiple times and this go around will require that the whole thing be removed. Is there any chance there might be any asbestos issues? I recall hearing somewhere that on occasion there was asbestos mixed in plaster. Is this fact or fiction?
Thanks for the info. I figured this might be the case.
There are occasions where asbestos is found in plaster. Around the 1920’s asbestos took off, manufactures started using it in everything. It was found that not only is it a good fire-retardant, but it also is a pretty effective sound reducer, so why not put it into plaster? That’s the bad news. The good news is that if the ceiling is original to your house, it probably doesn’t contain asbestos. The key word here is probably. The other good news is that science is now indicating that asbestos isn’t quite as bad as we thought it was. Canada really scaled back asbestos handling rules, saying it posed only a minor threat. Of course Canada had lots of asbestos mines, so they may be biased. Here’s the bottom line in my opinion. If I had kids, I would be concerned and I might break off a chunk of the ceiling and send it to be tested. What’s $30 for peace of mind? I say might because sometimes ignorance is bliss. You can dispose of the construction debris in a dumpster now. Once you find out it has asbestos, you are on the hook for a lot of additional trouble and expense. Either way, if there were kids in the mix, I would install a HEPA air filter in the room, but down rosin paper that you can just roll up and throw away at the end, seal all the doors to the interior and wash down the walls when I was done because you’re almost certainly going to have lead in the ceiling, so why bother finding out if there’s asbestos? Just about any paint made before 1970 has lead in it. So kids really gum up the works, you have to be a lot more careful with how you go about demo-ing a room. Without kids in the house, I’d pull it down using a respirator just as I would any ceiling. The other option is to laminate sheetrock over the ceiling ( I don’t like the look of the finished product, but that’s just me) or skim coat using fiberglass mesh and plaster washers.
So this is a very long winded post to answer your question, but yes, you may find asbestos in your plaster ceiling.