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[quote=Anonymous]I wanted to share my experience over the past 2 weeks with working with plaster walls in my house, having now lived there 13 years and never thought of this before, yet still having done several small various projects.

Old plaster walls can contain asbestos fibers.  Old drywall can contain asbestos fibers, as can old drywall joint compound.  Its not advertised, even on EPA's asbestos website.  Discussions online are unhelpful for definitive research.  2 builders I spoke to, 30 years experience, it was news to them.

After cutting out 4 sections of wall, 16" wide each, with a sawzall (and actually generating very little dust due to very good vacuum/venting setup), I inexplicably started wondering what the composition of the wall material was as far as possible asbestos.  It is rock-lathe plaster; 3 layers.  A "drywall" layer that is paper-covered gypsum board, a brown coat of plaster, then a 1/8" pure white veneer coating of plaster.

You DO NOT need a "test kit" from a place like Home Depot.  Those things are just a bag and gloves.  You still need to pay the lab, you still need to pay the shipping!  All labs have instructions and forms online, use a little Ziploc bag.  And the good ones turn it around in 1 day and not a week.

Took samples of each layer, and sent to "Western Analytical Lab" out near Los Angeles.  $30 for the first sample, $20 per additional.  Overnight shipping was $20.  They had my results emailed to me by the end of the next day after I put them in the mail.  Mailed Monday, results Tuesday night!

ACM, a local remediation outfit, says they usually see asbestos in the outer veneer layer.  But my lab results showed both plaster layers were clear.  The bottom drywall layer, though, tested positive for "trace" amounts of Chrysotile asbestos.  Less than 1%.  At that level they do not measure more accurately unless you do a point count ($80 test) but the lab guy (who answers ALL your questions, he's great) said there's no real difference between say 0.2 and 0.4%.  Anything less than 1% is not legally and technically called "Asbestos Containing Material" BUT you should still use very good dust control practices when working with it.  Keep it wetted down and HEPA vac the dust.

The lab told me its rare they see it in that lathe layer.  This is not a Big deal, but something to be aware of.  You never know what is where in your home, [u]it is not like it will jump out and bite you[/u] but if you are going to do work...spend a few bucks for tests.

As a further note, Chrysotile asbestos (white asbestos) is the serpentine type, and is NOT the type connected to the rare disease mesothelioma (see every other mid-day cable TV lawyer ad).  While the law and OSHA classifies asbestos as one thing, Chrysotile is a [i]very[/i] different mineral from the amphibole asbestos used in pipe insulation and other thing.  (Sometimes Chrysotile asbestos in mines has been adulterated with amphiboles, but end-user products are a different situation.)  Chrysotile has a very short bio-persistence, days in fact.  Amphiboles go in you and just...kind of...stay...there.  Ew.  Chrysotile IS connected to asbestosis and lung cancer.  But asbestosis is lung scarring from very high concentrations for long periods, and lung cancers from this require also being a smoker.  Its like the two combine in some unholy alliance.  But all silica dust is worth keeping out of your lungs.

As a side note, don't ever mess around with the white-wrapped pipe insulation type asbestos if you find it.  Don’t mess with it.  [u]If in doubt, test.[/u]  Wet it properly for taking a sample if absolutely necessary.  Then call the pros.  One of the horrible things about amphiboles is that people who work a day or two unprotected and get a [u]heavy[/u] dose of that stuff have gone 30-40 years and then gotten mesothelioma.  A short, sharp dose of amphiboles is enough to put a hurt on you in a few decades.  (And yet everyone is different....you're 11x more likely to die in a car crash than from that disease.)

A friend of my dad's (from years ago) died of lung cancer last year.  He was a former smoker, but quit in the past.  But he was also a [i]builder[/i].  Always working with wood dust, stone dust, etc.  Especially woods like cedar and redwood.  Not protecting your lungs from things like that, over years, can overwhelm your body's immune system and ability to fight off DNA mutations.  If you're doing dusty work, get yourself a mouth-nose respirator mask with HEPA cartridges and wear that, don’t bother with the cheapo white dust masks, they don’t do crap.  Spend a few dollars to keep your lungs clean and healthy.  Gosh knows we all have enough in the air any given day to knock us on our backsides!

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