How To Know If You Have Asbestos Flooring

Before you begin removing floor tiles or sheet flooring that contains asbestos you must isolate the work area to prevent any dust raised during the cleanup from migrating to other parts of the house.

How to know if you have asbestos flooring.

One of the main ingredients used in old asbestos tiles was asphalt so they were primarily made in dark colors only. Asbestos flooring was made into the 1980s though its heyday was the 1920s through the 1960s. Even if the vinyl flooring is pulled up intact the old adhesive underneath may also contain asbestos. How to remove asbestos tiles.

Look for residue of old flooring tiles that may have contained asbestos. Step 3 date the tiles. If you break the flooring into pieces while removing it you have effectively turned it into a friable material. Asbestos tiles have traits that make them easier to spot.

Look around the edges of the floor and you ll see what appears to be the same for 12 but it s a creamy white with black. Gather information about the age of the tiles. Identifying building materials containing asbestos helps you plan for removal if you want them gone. Asbestos flooring only causes potential health problems when it gets disturbed so don t panic if you think your home has asbestos tiles.

If you know when the building was built or renovated this might help you estimate when the tiles were installed. Vinyl or asphalt tiles that have these colors in it have a high likelihood of asbestos fibers. Many old flooring tiles that contained asbestos were designed and arranged in a 9 in 23 cm by 9 in 23 cm pattern. You should also find a disposal site that accepts asbestos before you start so you know what you re going to do with the hazardous asbestos floor.

With that in mind here are the keys to identifying asbestos floor tiles. Sam i can t see enough to be certain but it looks to me like that s of asphalt asbestos floor tile that may have been later covered over with a black mastic adhesive to glue down another floor layer that was later removed. If you decide to remove nonfriable vinyl asbestos flooring you have to be cautious for two reasons. If you re renovating a building or redoing the flooring in a room look for the pattern of older tiles that could indicate that asbestos tiles were present.

Another time period that asbestos floors were popular in was between the years of 1920 and 1960. Most often you won t know unless someone disclosed the information or you ve checked the original building documents. It s trickier to be certain if your home ever contained asbestos.