My home improvement project

[DngrMse]

Is spiraling out of control!

Arrrggghhh!

It started out as a simple kitchen upgrade, with a replacement of the lower cabinets, counter top, and sink. Then the wife, (agent of satan), chimed in, and suggested I replace the upper cabinets too. Ok, that's not too bad. It's just more cabinets! The originals were custom built for the place, and it took quite a bit of work to rip them all out.....3/4 inch plywood construction, for chrissake. But I got em all out. It was about then that I noticed the plaster was crumbling, and I could pick it out with my fingers. I could see the lath slats through the gaps.

Background on the house It's about 125 years old, give or take, an authentic Pennsylvania farm house, for what it's worth. I even have a barn! Anyway, back 'in the day', they had horses. Lots of horses, and naturally enough, lots of horse hair. "What to do with all this horse hair?", these authentic Pennsylvania farmers asked themselves. And the answer, mix it with plaster, then smear the plaster on the walls! Brilliant!

So I have crumbly, horse hair plaster to deal with now. Patch it, or rip the whole thing out, and do it up over with sheetrock? It looks like some patching was done in the not too distant past.....say 60 or 70 years ago, maybe more, and they did not insulate the walls where they did this patching. Ok, if I have to rip out the crumbly horse hair infected plaster, and rip out the 'newer' patches, might as well tear it all out.

Additional background on the house When the authentic Pennsylvania farmers of yesteryear were working out solutions to their horse hair problems, they were also dealing with other important matters, like how to insulate their authentic houses. They settled not on horse hair, (phew!), but on vermiculite, a natural mica material, that's loose, and poured in between the wall studs. Vermiculite is completely harmless, unless it hails from the mines near Libby Montana, which contain some asbestos.

Not knowing where my particular vermiculite came from, I decided to play it safe, and I taped off the kitchen, covered everything in plastic, and provided air filtration/circulation through my 5 hp shop vac, (with hepa filter). Everyone working in the demolition zone wore dust masks, hats and gloves. Of course today was rainy, muggy, and dark. With all the lights in the kitchen out, and no sun, it was like a cave in there.

But I got it all ripped out! I don't see any other problems, and it looks like a 'go' to begin reinstalling everything. I'll take the morning to put in new outlet boxes, and do a little minor re-routing of some plumbing lines, but then it's insulation, (nice modern fiberglass!), and sheetrock.


Hopefully this project won't take more than a couple more days.

[Fidget]

And I can't even get a man to take out the garbage

If your wife kicks you out for smelling all sweaty you can come live with me

[Mystlet]

Dude, A dust mask won't protect you from asbestos.

[Xavier Tremely]

I've got tons of work to do around here, & I'm sittin'
here surfin the net! Okay, you've got me motivated now!

[Angelone's Wife]

Originally Posted by myst

Dude, A dust mask won't protect you from asbestos.

That's why I am glad we had our house built. No asbestos to worry about, because Myst is correct, no dust maks will save you. Some people enjoy the torture of remodeling Not me...

[Mystlet]

Originally Posted by Angelone's Wife

That's why I am glad we had our house built. No asbestos to worry about, because Myst is correct, no dust maks will save you. Some people enjoy the torture of remodeling Not me...

They don't put asbestos in new homes, so building one won't expose you...

[Angelone's Wife]

Originally Posted by myst

They don't put asbestos in new homes, so building one won't expose you...

That is why I built new home, so I wouldn't have the worry about dealing with the possibilty of asbestos in an older home.

[Red]

asbestos, shmestos.


goes great on fries!

[Pappy&Me]

Every since they took the asbestes and lead out of building materials people have been dying with more health problems . Just like DDT , it was usefull in killing lots of insects, but it worked too good, and cost too little . Now they can charge you more for less . It's the money .

[Pappy&Me]

Originally Posted by myst

Dude, A dust mask won't protect you from asbestos.

It also won't protect you from frankenmeat, but it won't hurt to try .

[DngrMse]

Originally Posted by myst

Dude, A dust mask won't protect you from asbestos.

I don't believe there is any, the masks, gloves, hats, were purely precautionary.

Had I evidence that the vermiculite came from Libby Montana, (I don't believe it did....I checked around, state websites, and whatnot, and there is no mention of vermiculite as a health hazzard in my area....other than copious amounts of dust), or that my plaster was laid down in the early 20th century, (it was after 1900 when the number of horses started declining.....and with increasing shortages of horse hair, they began using asbestos as a replacement. I have authentic horse hair. Mostly brown, and black.), I would never have touched it.

The dust masks did at least filter out dust, as advertised. Else I'd be coughing up a lung or three this morning.

[DngrMse]

Originally Posted by Angelone's Wife

That is why I built new home, so I wouldn't have the worry about dealing with the possibilty of asbestos in an older home.

Part of our home inspection included a cursory check for asbestos. They found none, (The basement had some at one time, (pipe insulation), but it was removed years ago). The standard disclaimer noted that this inspection was cursory, and that asbestos could still be present, but in areas they could'nt get too.

[DngrMse]

Originally Posted by Xavier Tremely

I've got tons of work to do around here, & I'm sittin'
here surfin the net! Okay, you've got me motivated now!

The 'fun' part of this was examining 125 years of wall paper designs. None of which were removed prior to the application of the next layer. It is my opinion that none of this home's owners had any taste whatsoever. All the designs were tacky.

[Mystlet]

Originally Posted by DngrMse

I don't believe there is any, the masks, gloves, hats, were purely precautionary.

Had I evidence that the vermiculite came from Libby Montana, (I don't believe it did....I checked around, state websites, and whatnot, and there is no mention of vermiculite as a health hazzard in my area....other than copious amounts of dust), or that my plaster was laid down in the early 20th century, (it was after 1900 when the number of horses started declining.....and with increasing shortages of horse hair, they began using asbestos as a replacement. I have authentic horse hair. Mostly brown, and black.), I would never have touched it.

The dust masks did at least filter out dust, as advertised. Else I'd be coughing up a lung or three this morning.

The best thing to do is dampen the material you're removing, because once that dust is airborne that it becomes lethal.

BTW, next time, you do something like that, tell me & I'll buy you a hepa filter mask. I'd hate to hear you got asbestosis.

My ex-husbands Dad has it, from working with it years & years ago.

[92Notch]

Good luck on the project!

[buggy]

Awesome, DngrMse. Take some before and after shots. We re-did our kitchen a couple of years ago. It really gives the place a face lift.

[DngrMse]

Originally Posted by myst

The best thing to do is dampen the material you're removing, because once that dust is airborne that it becomes lethal.

BTW, next time, you do something like that, tell me & I'll buy you a hepa filter mask. I'd hate to hear you got asbestosis.

My ex-husbands Dad has it, from working with it years & years ago.

Gee, Myst, thanks.

I'll buy a hepa respirator, next time I engage in anything like this.....which is a distinct possibility, since I'm considering rerouting stairs to the attic, and converting that to living space.

I have no desire to get asbestosis, I've read about it, and it's nasty.

[DngrMse]

Originally Posted by buggy

Awesome, DngrMse. Take some before and after shots. We re-did our kitchen a couple of years ago. It really gives the place a face lift.

Hmm....good idea, though it's a little late for the before pictures. I can get a pic of the roughed in electric though, and bare studs.

[Fidget]

Yeah Buggy!!! Good on ya for that thought! It'd suck if he did all the work and hadn't thought to take a 'before' picture.

And Yay myst for keeping him safe!

[Jay GW]

thats what you get for not hiring illegal immigrants to do it


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