Mystery Threads in Paster Walls – Horsehair or Asbestos??!!

[erixhouse]

Hello All,

I just removed two walls-worth of plaster and drywall for my bathroom remodel and now I’m a bit freaked out.

Our house was built in 1958-1958. The walls are made of 3/8″ drywall followed by 3/8″ of plaster. The plaster was applied in two coats. The first coat (next to the drywall) is medium-grained, white, and has 1″ long fibers in it that range in color from a dirty blonde to white. The fibers are are sometimes frayed on the ends and are about the thickness of a paint-brush bristle, sometimes thinner.

The second coat is finer-grained and has no fibers.

I’ve heard of horsehair in plaster used as a binding agent but I’d never head of asbestos in plaster until I did my frantic research last night. Now, after a night without sleep, I’m no less at ease.

There is a university in the town I live so I will take a sample there tomorrow but if anybody can give me a quick rule-of-thumb I’d appreciate it!

Nervous in MN,
eric

[KBCampbell]

I’m no expert in this area but if you’re able to separate the fiber strands into soemthing the size of hair then its doubtful its asbestos. What makes asbestos dangersous is the very small size of the fiber which, in the lungs, is too small to be expelled by the lungs’ self cleaning ability. But apparently asbestos was used in a lot of building applications. View this: http://enviro.nfesc.navy.mil/esc425/AsbInBlg.htm

I’ve seen horsehair used for binding in plaster in older homes before but it was coarse and black in color.

[Author]

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