never built any in the 30’s but built plenty and cant think of any reason they would use it…

hi

no just wear a dust mask

Well that would depend on if there was any used during it’s construction.

Easy way to tell is when you are tearing out the old fireplace look for insulation, if you find it there is a very real possibility that it is asbestos and old disintegrating asbestos is nothing to play with. The fibers break down with many pieces being microscopic and you do NOT want any in your lungs. Even if you don’t get enough in you to cause problems you don’t want any there that could make things worse if you do develop other lung problems later on in life. It’s too easy to avoid breathing any in to take even the slightest risk with your health from doing so. Don’t you think?

If you do find insulation of any sort then stop right then and go to the paint section of a hardware store like lowe’s or Home Depot and buy a big roll of painters plastic(9-12 feet wide, thin plastic is easier to tape in place and isn’t as slippery as the thicker stuff, and it’s much cheaper to buy as well)
Then go to the wood section and buy some cheap 1X1′a or 2X2’s and use them to build “wall panels” to go around the fireplace so you can attach the plastic to them.
(I’m going to try and describe how to build the panels in a way that won’t mess up your ceiling)
You want to make the panels about 6 feet long so you have working room inside the box so lay out two boards on the floor about 6 feet apart and lay another against their top and screw it in making sure the screws are counter sunk in(no need to get the special drill bit for this, just use your drill with a screwdriver bit to power it down below the surface. Measure how far it is from your ceiling to the floor EXACTLY, and measure how wide the board is. Next measure and cut the wall assembly to length so that when you add in another board across the bottom it is about 1/16th of an inch taller than from floor to ceiling. But don’t attach the bottom board. Stand up the wall and then use a hammer to tap the bottom into place(it should be a tight fit) The reason to do this instead of just building it completely and then standing it up is that doing so will scrape the ceiling. This way the ceiling never gets rubbed. Do this so that the walls you make make a 3 sided enclosure around the fireplace and that it is pushed tightly against the walls on both sides of the fireplace then staple plastic up and use cheap tape to completely seal the plastic to the wood. Cut a slit in it to enter/exit and use blue or green painters tape to seal the slit(these tapes are designed to be low stick so are easier to untape from the plastic without tearing it)

Then get you a full painters throw away paint suit(very reasonably priced, well under 20 bucks) And a high quality OSHA respirator and tear it out, bag it up and close the bags tightly. Then vacuum everything in the room you built WELL when you have it all removed.

no because of the small amount if any that would attached to the fire place for insulation