are these DRYWALL debris? or ASBESTOS debris?

5 years ago

last modified: 5 years ago

hello home improvement experts,

Earlier this year, i bought my first home from a flipper and have had a lot of issues with the house... sigh...

recently, I have tried to fix my sprinkler system in the front yard and found some interesting looking stuff on the floor (where woodchips were laid down) around the exterior wall of the house.

Initially, i thought they were stones, but they look more like debris from the construction.

the house was built in 1951 and was expanded in 1961. a flipper bought a house last year and remodelled the house and sold it to me 4 months later.

here are some photos of them. could you tell from the pictures what they are?

1. very lightweight. it looks like a compressed solid of fibrous materials. (~1/2 inch thick)

2. looks similar to 1) above. it also has spherical particles along with fibrous materials. (~1/2 inch thick)

3. two lyers of fabric of paper surrounding a soild with white powers.

4. looks like a white power compressed into something. they have werid shapes. some have rounded shape, and some have sharp edges.

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Comments (5)

millworkman
5 years ago
The first picture looks to me like building board or beaver it is called in some locales. The later looks to by some sort of gypsum.
James Kim
Original Author
5 years ago
Thanks millworkman! I googled beaverboard and it does look very similar indeed. Is there anyway to tell if any of these is asbestos?
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millworkman
5 years ago
Not without sending it out to be tested.
toxcrusadr
5 years ago
^^ He's right you know.

#1 seems to be a wood product, I'd have called it Masonite because I haven't heard of beaverboard.

2 is hard to tell, it looks like some type of plaster or mortar.

3 looks like drywall.

4 again could be plaster or drywall fragments without the paper backing.

Problem is that 2 thru 4 could theoretically all have asbestos in them, but they don't automatically.

It's possible the flipper already had all that work done and this stuff is not asbestos containing so they didn't have to be neat about cleaning it up. You could ask if they did a survey at some point.

If you just bought it, check Google Street View to see if it had a completely different siding and roof, and what they look like.

If you don't get satisfaction from that, you can always have them tested at a lab. You'd have to find a lab either local or one you can mail samples to. It may cost in the range of $40-$50 per sample (rough guess).
PRO
CoolAir Inc.
5 years ago
Yes get it tested. You can take a sample by yourself. Asbestos testing labs will test the samples then you will be sure what this stuff it.