Asbestos in old horse hair plaster?

shop deals on amazon
Shop deals on ebay
Advertise with us
SpartanEpoxies
House Repair Talk

Help Support House Repair Talk:

This site may earn a commission from merchant affiliate links, including eBay, Amazon, and others.
J

james1234

New Member
Joined
Nov 3, 2014
Messages
3
Reaction score
0
Recently my dad asked me for some help putting up metal heating ducts in a old house he was installing a heating system in.... long story short my dad had to cut through a old wall to fit some of the metal vents through... the wall was very old and was plaster with horse hair in it.... I asked him about halfway of him cutting through the wall if there was asbestos in it and he said no thats its old horse hair plaster no asbestos. We both weren't wearing any kind of mask or filter, and there was a big cloud of plaster dust before all was said and done and we stayed down there breathing it for a good hour putting the vents up..... Now I am a bit paranoid that I was breathing asbestos because we did not even test it to make sure it was asbestos free... what are the chances of there being asbestos in with horse hair plaster? I have googled it and it came up with images of horse hair plaster with asbestos in it? was it common to use asbestos and horse hair in the same plaster? :2cents: Anyone have experience with this stuff? thanks
 
Last edited:
Welcome to the site. Tough question to answer with out testing to make sure. Keep in mind that not that many years a go people worked in that and other industries for a whole life time and not got sick with this stuff.
The bigger problem is the fact that what might have asbestos was allowed to be airborn in someones home and the leagle implications about that.
We can only hope that you and your father are smarter next time and have things tested. Some old drywall has it too.
 
I think the chance is very slim. That's not saying breathing plaster dust is that good. Even sanding drywall compound is hard on the lungs. Like Neal said old timers have taken in a million times what you saw in an hour. Next time min get a dust mask the type you throw out.


Sent from my iPhone using Home Repair
 
Im guessing taking a test sample is the only way to know for sure?
 
how many samples should be taken from the wall? is one enough?
 
The trouble you might have, is not knowing if things were changed over the years, a wall ten years newer or older might not be the same product. I would take bits from several places and call it one sample. For a small disturbance like you likely had a good dust mask, plastic on the wall and floor. vacume while cutting, wet it down with a water sprits and roll up the plastic and leave no dust behind.
 
You must log in or register to reply here.

Latest posts

Back
Top