Anyone know about floor tile and asbestos?

[khabibissell]

I pulled up some vinyl tile in my bathroom while redoing it, and it as well as the subfloor underneath had some black tarry residue on it. I did some research and found that it is possible that some vinyl flooring as well as the adhesives used could contain asbestos. I ripped off a piece of the tile to have it examined and sealed the spot the best I could, but I was curious is anyone here is familiar with the risks involved or has run into a similar situation. My house was built in 1979. The tiles are 12in x 12in, are very thin and brittle, and have a decorative pattern on them. The adhesive used appears to be black in color and somewhat sticky. I know that there was a ban enacted to stop the use of asbestos in building materials in the late 70's. Any advice would be appreciated, as I'm a novice at working with this kind of stuff.

[St.James]

As long as you don't breath in or swallow the dust particles you should be ok, BUT if it is asbestos I would have prefessionally removed ASAP.

[khabibissell]

Bump!

[fett]

As long as your don't sand anything like the subfloor you should be OK. One fix is install a new subfloor over the old one. As for the tiles. You can go to your waste place and get bags to hold the tile. Seal them up with duct tape and take the stuff back to them. Where a mask. I had to lift about 500 tiles from a slab floor that were laid in the 50's. If you have concern, have it professionally done.

[xenophobe]

Asbestos tiles in 1979? Possibly, but not likely.

Seal it up with clear urethane or some sort of clear coat.

Asbestos abatement is not fun and is not cheap. Disposing of it isn't cheap either. It is considered hazardous and most landfills will not accept it.

If it is asbestos, just seal it and cover back over it. It's the cheapest and easiest thing to do. If it's sealed, it's not doing any harm either.

[missionguitars1]

1979? Highly doubt it.

If it's still of concern, tape off the doorway to keep the mess in the workspace, lightly spray water on the affected area to kill the dust, and pop tiles (all while wearing a proper mask - as in not a ten cent surgical one!). If you think "asbestos abatement pros" do anything different, you'd be sorely mistaken.

If that's still spooking you, you can just floor right over it - what is it, 1/8" or so we're talking about? Spread RedGard on it and let cure - that will waterproof and firm up your base. If you are tiling, consider throwing down a sheet of 1/4" HardiBacker (if you're on a wood floor/2nd story, probably no need on a slab) on top of some thinset morter, seal the seams and - voila - you're ready to tile.

Needless to say, these are pretty general instrux, and I am not responsible for screwing up your bathroom ...or so says my attorney!

[Firebird V]

I just tiled a mud room and it had the vinyl tiles down that I knocked up. They were not put in before the late 70's so I am almost certain it was vinyl with no asbestos. They were layed down in the late 70's too so I would think they were vinyl. The brittle ones are usually made of asbestos though.

I would just seal it and put a sub floor over the top of it if you think they are asbestos. If they are down really good you probably wont even have to seal it because you will technically have 2 floors on top of it. The subfloor and the new floor.

Lay the thinset down on top of the old floor. Put the hardibacker or wonderboard down on top of that. Then screw it down to ensure it is going to stay. Countersink the screws so this way you have a very smooth and even surface. Let that dry 24 hrs. After that you are good to lay down your new flooring on top of it. I assume you will be tiling again. If you go with ceramic tile or porcelean you will need thinset anyway so get enough to put down uner the subfloor. A 2 gallon bucket will do approx 30 sq. ft. using a 1/4" by 1/4" notched trowel. I use the premix stuff that you get at Home Depot. A big bucket (3.5 gallons) goes for $40 for the thinset. The premix stuff works great and is a huge convenience.

If you have any questions feel free to PM me here.

[OnlineStageGear]

I believe the last asbestos tiles were produced in 1980 so the odds of you having asbestos are slim.

Matt

[khabibissell]

Thanks for the help guys. I'm really not sure what I'm going to do at this point... If they are asbestos, I want them out of there.

[xenophobe]

If it's still of concern, tape off the doorway to keep the mess in the workspace, lightly spray water on the affected area to kill the dust, and pop tiles (all while wearing a proper mask - as in not a ten cent surgical one!). If you think "asbestos abatement pros" do anything different, you'd be sorely mistaken.

In California, you would be sadly mistaken. DHS Certification is difficult, but nothing comparing to actually running a lead/asbestos abatement company.

Most of the abatement companies end up going out of business because they are sued for contaminating their jobsites.

You can't just walk into a place with a HEPA mask and a water bottle and do anything except look stupid.

Asbestos isn't a problem if it's properly sealed. The problem is when it is deteriorating or you want to remove the stuff.

[fett]

What he said. Seal it and cover it. All the shit happens when you try and remove it. Then it becomes a big production costing big bucks. Like I said, the house I owned in Marin County, Ca. had the would interior covered with tiles that were, for sure, full of asbestos. Most people, including me, would just pop the pups up and throw them in the garbage. When I was getting ready to sell the house, I did do the correct thing and used the bags they gave me. The danger with asbestos are the very, very fine particles that can be inhaled. You get those from the tape that used to be wrapped around pipes as insulation or sanding down the tiles. Or in the spray they used to put on ceilings.

[xenophobe]

Of course, you could remove it yourself with your hepa mask and water sprayer... cause the whole place to become contaminated with asbestos dust/fiber... You can't see it, vacuums alone do nothing but blow it around.

Even the flooring or concrete that you put the abated asbestos, properly sealed in bags, is required to be sealed after hosting it.

Unless you do everything by the book, you're only causing an asbestos problem by doing anything but sealing it.

I just found this.... you may wish to read it before removing it yourself:

http://www.pscleanair.org/regulated/asbestos/homeowners/asb-vinyl.pdf

[bombtek]

Guys,
Go to Home Depot, Lowes or any other place that sells floor tile. Every one of these places sells tiles that contain asbestos. The year for that does not matter as floor tiles are a non regulated product, and do not fall under any asbestos laws. They are exempt, and still produced and sold today. The only time that they can and WILL fall under any ruling is if you choose to hire someone to remove them, as any contractor will be responsible to dispose of the waste in the correct manner. To answer your question, yes they may be asbestos containing floor tiles.
(Just went 40 hour to asbestos removal/cleanup class as supervisor for some of our upcoming projects here at work)

[fett]

The asbestos is sealed in the tiles. Just don't sand them. I am much more concerned about the diesel particulates that float in all the air we breath. If you want to be worried, be worried about that.

[khabibissell]

I called around and you can take a sample to a lab for testing for $100. I'm not sure that I want to do that... If I try to remove the tiles, they will chip up, so if it has any asbestos in it, it will be released into the air for sure. I'll bet professional removal will be very expensive.

This sucks! I was trying to fix that bathroom up on the cheap and its not working out that way.

Thanks for all the responses.