Cleaning out heat register box in my house and I found some sort of paper lining inside the ductwork. Ducts appear to be formed by floor joists bays with this paper lining. Anybody ever seen this?
House was built in 1890s. Heat registers appear to be original – large ornate, black iron. Based on the coal chute and large circle in the basement floor it looks like house may have originally had a gravity coal furnace.
They wouldn’t have put asbestos inside the duct chase would they?
Replies
Very likely. Have it tested.
It very well could be asbestos, though the odds are probably against it. Asbestos would be cloth-like material or very fibrous felt-like material. Offhand, can't see why they'd line heat runs with it -- it's usually a hair too porous to do that much good in this sort of situation (where I'd gather the paper was used to air-seal the "duct").
But having it tested would be prudent.
Oh, and until it's tested don't do any more cleaning of the ducts. Leave the stuff as undisturbed as possible.
I concur with Dan and Mike. When demoing hardwood floor and sub floor on the second story of a building, I found a layer of gray papery stuff underneath that looked like the asbestos they used to wrap around ducts. Had it tested, it was 40% Chrysotile asbestos.