Scenario: HO has those old brittle square floor tiles installed over a concrete slab which in turn serves as a finished off basement area. They break easily like a potato chip. HO believes the tiles contain asbestos fibers. A number of years ago HO covered these tiles by gluing down carpet over top of them. Fully glued, not perimeter glued. This owner would like to do one of two things as follows:
First option, rip up the carpet and lay down vinyl flooring. Second option, lay a new floor, either new carpet or vinyl over top of the old carpet that is there now.
I know not the best path here. I know the key with asbestos is to seal whereever it is so that it does not get into the air. Thus in effect it’s sealed now by the carpet over top it. If I remove the carpet I risk putting fibers in the air AND breaking the tiles and then having pits and voids that require filling in.
In this situation, what is the best solution to ensure the fibers are sealed for good and allow the HO to update the look of their home safely?
Replies
Purely my personal (and unscientific) opinion:
A trapped carpet between layers of flooring in a basement would be much worse health-wise than tearing it all out and exposing a bit of asbestos.
That sounds like an ideal recipe for mildew having that carpet sandwiched between layers.
We have (er, had, mostly) asbestos tiles in our basement. In the research I did, it didn't appear to be all that dangerous to remove...wear a respirator, keep the tiles wet, and use a scraper to bring up the tiles in large chunks.
My understanding is it's the adhesive that has the asbestos not the tile. The product is sometimes called cut-back. You can remove the tile but I wouldn't sand or remove the adhesive by any grinding, maybe wet scraping. The market has solutions to dissolve the stuff but they're messy. And you can't apply any other adhesive to my knowledge over it because the new adhesive will cause the old to lift away from the concrete.
My solution was to put a floating wood floor down. In the kitchen we're going to screw down durorock and tile over it.
I think the asbestos was in the tile.I laid this type of tile many years ago.The adhesive was bitumen/spirit based.
The asbestos is likely in both the tile and the adhesive.
The best solution is to remove it all down to the concrete, IMO, but that will get expensive. As a professional you need to do differently than a HO on his own home. I would plan to sub out the removal to a company specializing in that, and bid accordingly, along with an added ins liability rider.
If you atempt to go halfwayinto this, you are still likely to disturb the aasbestos, but you are then doing it without the financing for it covered in your bid.
And if you leave the carpet there and go over it, you greatly increase odds of mold growth that endangers the health of the occupants. I don't think your insurance will cover for you knowingly doing that.
So this is a damned if you do, damned if you don't and purgatory for being half in the middle.
So I'd go for doing it right and them paying for it. If they want half azxed, there is always somebody else willing to put his head on the chopping block.
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What size are the tiles? 9"x9"? If so, it is about 99% assured that they have asbestos in them. Same goes for the mastic, as others have stated.
The good news is that the asbestos that is in both of these products is considered "non-friable", which means it does not readily become airborne, and you are fairly safe working with it. Do not sand either product, obviously, but you will be fine scraping up the tile - even if they start cracking and breaking. A respirator is still a good idea. The mastic below can be removed with commercial products designed for such. If you are going to be putting a new adhesive down on the now "clean" slab, you will have to let it dry for a period of time after the asbestos containing mastic has been removed.
On a side note, and feel free to take this with a grain of salt, but the fear of asbestos is blown out of proportion. Asbestos in and of itself is not some sort of poison which immediately makes you sick. Asbestos is comprised of tiny glass-like fibers which lodge in your lungs, irritates them and then starts causing problems. For the most part prolonged, chronic exposure is necessary to have any ill effects. Scraping up some floor tile, or even removing some old transite panels is not going to kill you. And please do not read the above as that I am advocating going willy nilly will anything containing asbestos, it's just a little background info.
Now, all that being said, if you do decide to remove all this tile and mastic, it all needs to be properly disposed of. Do not throw it in the general trash - if you get caught there are serious legal penalties.
Shawn
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Checker Contracting - SE Michigan
I agree with Piffin, hire it out and have the removal done correctly, like it should have been done years ago.
That is a one day job for an experienced crew. About 4 years ago we had a crew come in to do some floors and other work around my house. They came in under $2000, basicly that was their flat rate for one day in a residence.
The hard part is finding a residential remediation company - most just do commercial work.
Rebuilding my home in Cypress, CA
Also a CRX fanatic!
Save the Whales! and Guns!
Ditto on the 9" x 9" and professional remediation.
Jeff