Duct work insulation

[hgawluk]

We're looking at purchasing a 78 year old home in old south London Ontario. There is some whitish fibrous paper like material wrapped around the original heating duct work. I am suspicious that it is asbestos. Does anyone know if this was the practice of the day? The original furnace is long gone and you can see where the transition between old and new duct work is. The old duct work has this wrap in basement and up to registers. I am going to have a sample analyzed but until then I'm curious if anyone has come across this sort of thing.

[hgawluk]

Thanks for the confirmation. Paint sounds good. Would it be wrapped all the way up through the walls do you think? I wonder how big of a job to have it removed from say, 3 vertical risers ending on 2nd floor.

[Darryl]

Yes, in Kitchener in a century home. When working around it, wear a good mask (vented NIOSH masks are nice).

Darryl.

[KLS]

You are correct in your suspicion, and it'll be perfectly fine in place as long as you leave it alone and don't cut it or otherwise disturb the fibers. I lived with such wrapping on the heat ducts from the octopus furnace in my 1910 house and had no problems. Go ahead and paint it to further seal in the material.

[Calvin Henry-Cotnam]

Leave it alone unless there is a real good physical or safety reason to remove it, like the insulation is breaking apart, or the duct is undersized and must be replaced.

Asbestos is not a problem if it is intact. The removal process, no matter how carefully done, will expose you to far more airborn fibers than you would ever be exposed to if it were left alone.