Product Description
Gold Bond Perl-Cast was a perlite-aggregate gypsum basecoat plaster marketed by National Gypsum Company under its Gold Bond building-products brand from approximately the 1950s through the 1970s. Formulated for lightweight application over gypsum lath, metal lath, and masonry substrates, Perl-Cast combined calcined gypsum with expanded perlite mineral aggregate to reduce dead load compared with sand-aggregate plasters while providing fire resistance and a suitable receiving surface for Gold Bond finish plasters.
Plaintiffs have alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Perl-Cast was formulated with chrysotile asbestos incorporated as a fibrous reinforcement throughout portions of its production run. According to publicly filed asbestos litigation records, the product was distributed nationally through Gold Bond dealer networks and applied by union and non-union plastering contractors on residential, commercial, institutional, and school construction projects.
Workers Exposed
Plaintiffs allege the following trades were exposed to airborne chrysotile fibers from Gold Bond Perl-Cast:
- Plasterers who opened bags, poured Perl-Cast into mixing boxes, and hand-troweled the wet basecoat onto lath — allegedly generating dry-side dust during bag opening, pour-off, and hawk loading.
- Laborers and hod-carriers who tended plasterers, mixed Perl-Cast in wheelbarrows or paddle mixers, and swept dry plaster residue from scaffolds and floors.
- Drywall finishers who feathered edges of set Perl-Cast into adjacent drywall assemblies, allegedly disturbing set plaster containing chrysotile fibers.
- Carpenters and demolition workers who cut, chipped, or removed set Perl-Cast during renovation and demolition — allegedly liberating fibers from the disturbed matrix.