PPE for Working with Asbestos-Containing Floor Tile
I am ripping out carpeting in a house built in 1960s and encountered vinyl tile under the padding. Did some searching and I am assuming that peeling off the old tile is not a good thing due to probability of asbestos.
I am inclined to encapsulate the tile with a primer and then place the laminated vinyl floor planks over the tile. However, I am open to removal providing I can find the correct PPE.
any suggestions from the pros out there?
08/27/2023 update
Carpet and tacks have been pulled up. Used TSP and bleach to create a wetting solution to minimize dust. Got the RH up to 65%. Tack removal went smoothly, except for safety glass steaming up with a mask.
It appears that the rest of flooring in the house was placed on top of tile, so I will be using Perfect Primer and Patch for the floor — which is designed for tile and mastic. Removal estimates were $3500 for 500 sq. Ft. — compared to $400 for primer and patch, I.e. a DIY effort.
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Might be worth (carefully) pulling a sample and having it tested. You can get the kits pretty inexpensively on Amazon, and for a small lab fee they'll test the tile and the adhesive for asbestos. Turnaround time is usually pretty short, most places will have results back to you a few days after they get the sample.
Though, I usually assume that anything old and 9"x9" is asbestos.
If nothing else, it'd give you a better idea of how careful to be.
If you go the removal route, plastic off the area. Use a nice respirator. I usually wear one of those disposable Tyvek suits (not actually Tyvek, but they're just as uncomfortable as wrapping yourself in Tyvek). In a perfect world you could pop the tiles without breaking them (and potentially releasing fibers into the air). You can mist them down with water to keep particles out of the air. If the adhesive is a bear, sometimes hot water will loosen up some of those old cutback adhesives.
Keep in mind that depending on the specific type of asbestos, content %, friability, and most of all, local laws, it is often considered hazardous waste and needs to be removed, contained, transported, and disposed of accordingly or you can face potentially huge fines.
You may also need a permit from your AHJ with corresponding testing from a licensed lab both before and after removal, and there may be notification and a plan submission to a local air pollution control board to make sure you aren't letting out clouds of asbestos dust into your neighborhood.
Also once you test positive, if you don't remove it you may become liable to disclose it when selling your home.
You may live somewhere where you can go ahead and remove it without any of the headaches I've mentioned, but its worth looking into so you know what you're up against.
Here in DC homeowners can remove it and take it to the household hazardous waste dropoff.
Pros have to do everything you listed.
The way I see it, you now know the house has asbestos!
Sooner or later, you will sell the house and will have to disclose the fact that the home has asbestos encapsulated in the floor. Will buyers walk away if you disclose? Maybe.
If you conveniently forget about the asbestos and do not disclose, will you get sued? Maybe.
Will it cost less money in the future to remove the asbestos? NO!
Will you sleep better in a home free of asbestos? Yes.
Encapsulation only kicks this can of worms down the road until the next remodel.
Walta
You don't know anything until it's tested.
AFAIK 9 inch =asbestos, 12 = not
vinyl asbestos tile is in virtually every baby boom house, and IIRC the least troublesome variant of asbestos to have. It is everywhere, schools, whathaveyou, everywhere.
Unlike boiler piping, it seems to cause little trouble in place, but when you start breaking it up....
I really feel like unless you have a need to pull it up, it is better off leaving it be. I noticed houses I looked at that had it, but didn't need to deal, since my 1970 house had no tile.
My opinion, if you are going to dig up or drive nails into the slab, you may need to remediate
Like no installing old school hardwood over.
New flooring over represents virtually zero risk in this case. Pulling the carpet tack strips up was the biggest risk
Solid vinyl tile lasts for decades
Why did they feel the need to put asbestos in there in the first place.
Gus,
I've also always heard that if it's a 9x9 tile, it's a safe bet to assume it's asbestos - though I have no idea why that is. Does anybody know the logic on this one?
And, good point about driving fasteners through asbestos / pulling other layers that were fastened through asbestos. That'd also make removing those tiles in one piece more difficult, probably.
I'm going to add something here because I used to be certified for small-scale abatement (up to a 2' square area), mainly to allow for drilling holes and the like since I used to be a datacom cable installer.
*** The asbestos isn't always in the TILE, it's often in the GLUE! ***
That means ANY size or type of tile can be "asbestos containing", because the GLUE used to install the tile may be where the asbestos is!
Chip off a bit of tile and glue and have it tested. My preference is usually to remove the stuff, but that runs into the risks of working with the stuff so it's usually not something you want to DIY, but it can be done. Encapsulation is another option if you do it correctly.
I would absolutely, positively, 110% NOT NOT NOT recommend Walta's "coveniently forget about it" and not disclose to a future buyer. If it ever gets shown you did that, and there are lots of ways to check if someone wants to try, you're up against a lot of legal stuff that will probably bankrupt you. Don't go down that road. Do it right now, disclose what you did if/when you sell, and then you're off the hook.
Bill