Walls and Ceilings - Asbestos?

The ceiling in front of my furnace is sheetrock covered with what looks like cement. I wanted to cut a small hole through it in one area to acccess the floor joists but was wondering if this cement looking like stuff contains asbestos being that it is in the furnace area. It looks similar to but not exactly the same as the stuff a chimney guy used to seal around the vent pipe leading from the furnace into the wall if that helps at all. The house was built in the 1950's. Thanks.

There is no way to know if a building material contains asbestos just by looking at it. An asbestos test will tell you. Normally sheetrock does not contain asbestos, but the joint compound used between sheets may as can the plaster.

Generally speaking by the description what is this covering most likely? cement? Any thoughts?

You probably have gypsum plaster over gypusm lath. Probabaly it has no asbestos. Plasterers, however are notorious for doctoring up the mix and one common medicine was indeed asbestos. If the material is hard rather than soft and punky you can make a cut with minimal release of possible asbestos into the air. If it is soft then wet it first then scrape and when you have scrpaed down to where it is dry wet it again and scrape.

Only a test will confirm the absence or presense of asbestos. I'm guessing it does not have it.
Let us know what you find out.

The material is definately hard & greyish. How could I get it tested for asbestos?

You can purchase asbestos test kit in the hardware store on this website. Your local hardware store may also have a test kit.