Colombage and Anthrax

[cooperlola]

My husband used to be a project manager back in the UK.  He remembers big problems when old lath and plaster was unearthed during building works in that specialists had to be called in as there was a danger of anthrax being contracted from old horse-hair plaster.  Does anybody know if this is a problem with old colombage over here?  We are about to start stripping off some plaster which hides colombage which we propose to restore. 

[Hoddy]

Although I know nothing about colombage I can confirm that you are right to be careful. An archaeological dig I was working on was stopped because we unearthed a long-dead pig. The site's health and safety officer wouldn't allow us to continue without latex gloves and masks.

Hoddy

[Dick Smith]

So when I cleaned out a cob wall with just a nuisance dust mask I was risking 1001 forms of disease, then?

[IMG]http://i50.photobucket.com/albums/f338/dick_at_aulton/Wrecker.jpg[/IMG]

[Gyn_Paul]

Anthrax is a soil-borne bacterial disease, present globally, contracted - usually - from the inhalation of airborne spores, commonly liberated from handling infected carcases.  The bacteria normally rests in spore

form in the soil, and can survive in this state. Once

ingested by a ruminant, the bacteria begins multiplying inside the

animal and eventually kills it, then continues to reproduce in the

carcass. Once the bacteria consume the host nutrients, they revert to a

dormant spore state. Spores are like freeze-dried versions of the infection which can remain dormant for decades, requiring only the right conditions to leap into life. Just the right conditions exist in the warmth and damp of the human lung.

The usual host environment are ruminants rather than horses, and it is not believed (as I understand it) to be an infection which has a immune carrier phase (that is, an animal which can carry the infecton without showing symptoms of and succumbing to the infection).

This is however the first time I've heard of horse-hair being implicated, I would have thought that the heavily alkaline environment of plaster would have put paid to the spores over a length of time, but clearly it is still viewed with concern by the HSE in the UK.

Aerial spores can be trapped by a simple HEPA

or P100 filter. Inhalation of anthrax spores can be prevented with a

full-face mask using appropriate filtration. Unbroken skin can be

decontaminated by washing with simple soap and water.

[David]

Hope you survive the anthrax Dick, would hate to lose you on this forum.  Somehow, I suspect you have little to worry about with horse hair buried in lime plaster.  Good to see yo wearing a mask though.

Is that you in the photo?

If so you are a man after my own stomach, although I may have a few years, and pounds, extra over you.

Good luck,

David

[Dick Smith]

Yup, that's all me, I am afraid. It wasn't lime plaster, it was cob, and bruddy hard it was, too. I used three or four blades on that saw cutting it into blocks for Julie to carry outside...

[Thibault]

Gosh, Dick, I had barely got used to the monkey pictures and now this.........an action shot.  I shall never read your posts in the same light again  [:D]

[Catalpa]

There's only one possible response.

Eeeek.

[Hoddy]

What we really need to know here is the composition of the cob in colombage. Old plaster in the UK often contains horse hair and cow dung, is that true of colombage too ?

Hoddy

[Dick Smith]

Yup. And lotsa well trodden clay. Some lumps (dumped in the garden) lasted over a year before dissolving.

The cow dung is good because it actually consists mostly of mud and undigested plant fibres. When I was a student one of our lecturers used to make (and use) coffee mugs out of it.