Product Description

Kelly-Moore Paint Company (San Carlos, California — founded 1946) manufactured architectural paints, joint compounds, and texture ceiling and wall compounds distributed through company-owned stores and independent dealers across the western and central United States. Kel-Fill was Kelly-Moore’s branded ready-mix and dry-mix texture compound line used to produce “popcorn,” “orange peel,” and knockdown ceiling and wall finishes on residential and commercial interiors.

Plaintiffs alleged in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation that Kel-Fill texture compound contained chrysotile asbestos as a bulking, fire-retarding, and crack-resisting filler through the documented era, and that drywall finishers, painters, and plasterers who mixed, sprayed, sanded, and later scraped or demolished Kel-Fill textured surfaces were exposed to airborne asbestos fibers.

Dry-mix texture compound is among the highest-fiber-release drywall/painter trade products in the documented litigation record: pouring the dry powder into a mixing bucket, mechanically agitating it, spray-applying it overhead, and later sanding or dry-scraping the cured finish each release respirable fibers into the worker’s breathing zone.

Kelly-Moore Paint Company has been named as a Manufacturer Defendant in publicly filed U.S. asbestos personal-injury and wrongful-death litigation.

Workers Exposed

  • Drywall finishers and tapers mixing and spraying Kel-Fill texture on new-construction ceilings and walls
  • Painters applying and later re-coating Kel-Fill textured surfaces
  • Plasterers using Kel-Fill on interior finish work
  • Carpenters cutting into textured ceilings during remodel work
  • Demolition and remodel workers scraping, sanding, or removing Kel-Fill textured ceilings during renovations
  • Homeowners and DIY workers who applied or removed Kel-Fill textured ceilings