Stucco
Stucco is a common and popular construction material which is used to create decorative exteriors on all types of buildings. The material has a rough plaster-like appearance, and can be textured to achieve different looks. It can also be colored, and is used both as an overall covering and as a covering for accent or structural areas of buildings, to highlight architectural details or to add character and some insulation to chimneys and other elements. Stucco also adds insulation and fire retardant properties to the areas it covers. Stucco is sold as a thick paste-like material which is applied using a trowel.
Stucco and Asbestos
Requiring heat and water resistance, as well as strength and flexibility, stucco is a material that must meet a wide range of requirements on a consistent basis in order to be suitable for the exterior applications for which it is primarily used.
To meet those requirements prior to the mid-1970s, manufacturers turned to asbestos. This silica-based mineral was widely mined beginning in the mid-1800s, offering manufacturers a cheap and readily available additive that offered strength and durability, as well as flexibility, insulation, heat resistance and resistance to corrosion. Occurring as tiny fibers, it was easily incorporated into many materials, and could be formed into virtually any shape wihto0ut losing strength.
But by the mid-1970s, safety experts had discovered that exposure to these tiny fibers posed a serious and even deadly health risk to those who manufactured it, worked with it, or even lived or worked in buildings where materials containing asbestos were used. By 1977, the United States government had banned the use of the fiber in the manufacture of construction and industrial products, allowing existing stockpiles of materials to be used until they were depleted. As a result, millions of buildings constructed until the mid-1980s contain asbestos, and millions of men and women have been exposed to the fibers.
Asbestos fibers are very lightweight, easily released into the air when disturbed, and easily inhaled or ingested. Once in the body, they lodge in the tissues and organs where they can cause a series of devastating and life-threatening illnesses, including lung cancer, mesothelioma, and asbestosis.
Symptoms can take years to manifest, and anyone exposed to these fibers should seek medical advice immediately.
Last modified: December 28, 2010.
