Asbestos Floor Tiles

Asbestos floor tiles were once a popular choice for flooring and you will often find old asbestos floor tiles hidden under carpets.

Asbestos floor tiles.

Many asbestos floor tiles including old vinyl asbestos flooring is generally safe to be around. For about 35 years flooring companies included asbestos when they manufactured the vinyl tiles. The asbestos floor tile identification articles in this series illustrate that with the combination of design appearance and an idea of floor tile age many asbestos containing floor tiles or sheet flooring products can be reliably identified even before confirmation by a test by a certified asbestos testing laboratory. If the material is in good condition it normally does not pose a threat because the asbestos is enclosed in vinyl preventing the fibers from escaping.

In floor tiles asbestos is used primarily for its insulation properties and its ability to resist fire in addition to the tiles themselves a layer of mastic a type of adhesive below the tiles is also likely to contain asbestos. Textiles can be found in fuse boxes behind the actual fuse. Sanding sawing drilling or tearing the tiles out however. Workers must take many precautions to remove asbestos floor tiles safely and it is always safest to leave asbestos removal to qualified professionals.

That way no one will be endangered years from now when they start to rip up the new flooring and find asbestos tiles beneath. Asbestos is a toxic mineral american manufacturers once mixed into many building materials. But the flooring companies aim wasn t so much to make the floor tiles fireproof as it was to make the tiles more durable. Vinyl is a type of plastic that has long been a popular material for floor tiles and sheets the problem is there could be traces of asbestos adhesive that are holding them in place that is dangerous to one s wellbeing.

Asbestos floor tiles will not release toxic fibers and pose a health risk unless they are disturbed. Intact asbestos tiles are not a major risk and can in fact be left in place and covered with other materials such as carpet vinyl linoleum or concrete. Asbestos in floor tiles. Asbestos in vinyl products becomes dangerous when microscopic fibers of the mineral are released and become airborne.

Asbestos floor tiles were manufactured in three sizes. Asbestos is a mineral that lends fireproofing qualities to any substance it is mixed with. Examine the condition of the tiles. But that changes as soon as you decide to remove it.

However as a favor to future owners of your house make some note of the fact that asbestos tiles are under the new flooring. 9 x9 12 x12 and 18 x18. What are asbestos floor tiles. What makes asbestos flooring dangerous.