Asbestos tile?

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thesuicideride

thesuicideride

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So i just bought a new house. well, new to me. its a 1957. i collect old signs and all kinds of 50's diner style stuff. so i wanna do my kitchen diner style. there is carpet in the kitchen now. so me and my roomate started to pull it back gettin ready to clean it up and lay black and white checkered tile. we pull the first section back and find some old green tile under the carpet. definitely 50s looking. im thinkin its old asbestos tile. im on a budget and was planning on layin some stick on or excelon tile down. but now we find this old tile under the carpet and that sucks. for me and the bank account. has anyone here ever removed asbestos tile themselves? i know its cancer causing and pretty serious but is that prolonged exposure to it? or will doin one 200 square foot kitchen be bad? we are thinking about getting some tievak suits, goggles, respirators, and hang plastic containment on the walls and ceiling and just doing it ourselves. any input would be greatly appreciated.
 
If it won't cause any problems with door clearance, and the floor is nice and flat, tile right over the old tile. Don't rough up the tile surface, just clean them before laying the thin layer of glue down. I worked on teams that retiled spaces on Navy ships, if there was only one layer of tile, we laid the new tile right over it.
 
It's usually recommended, if the tiles are not loose or crumbling, to cover, rather than remove them. Skim coat the joints and fill any voids with leveling compound.

http://www.asbestosfloortiles.net/
 
I work with the maintenance department in a school district here in So Cal. My brother deals with environmental impact studies here in looneyland as well. He has had extensive asbestos training. Just last summer I had to do asbestos "training" myself.

The whole asbestos scare is a lawyer driven scam.
The dangers of asbestos, and especially asbestos tile have been wildly exaggerated. Remember- it is a mineral found naturally in the earth. It is not a processed chemical like dioxin.
Asbestos is only dangerous if it is friable- that is- if it is ground into a microscopic powder that you can readily inhale. Furthermore, there is only a very small amount of the stuff in the tile compound. The asbestos in your tile is not friable at all. In order for you to be at any risk, you'd have to grind those tiles to dust, and snort them every day, all day for years. Consider- People who worked with asbestos every day had about the same risk of lung disease as cigarette smokers. Actually, the stuff on your floor will provide good insulation. Wildcat's advice is sound.
If you pull it up, and try to dispose of it "legally", you'll be in for hideous hazmat disposal fees. If you want to pull it up, and throw it out, do so a little bit at a time in your regular trash pickup. Once the stuff is buried in a land fill it can't possibly hurt anyone or anything.

JWM
 
Well said JWM, I am in the heating business and run into it all the time, It's not good but nowhere near how bad as they make it out to be. Left alone there is no problems at all. I would cover the floor and forget about it.
 
Are they 9"X9" tiles or 12X12s? What you might think are VAT (vinyl asbestos tile) could in fact be not as old as you think and could be VCT (vinyl composite tile). The nine by nines have a greater chance of being VAT. All of the info above is spot on. If they are loose or seem to pop up easily but you don't want to pull them all up consider going over the entire floor with a few sheets of 1/4 inch luan and screw it down every 6 to 9 inches (not just the edges but the field too) and then use a skimcoat over all the screw heads and seams, make it as smooth as a baby's face and that floor will be super tight and ready for that black and white checkerboard pattern. I great flooring job is all in the prep! Good luck and post a pic of your finished product.
 
couple summers ago I peeled it off the exterior of my 1910 50' x 30' bungalow. I think they thought cosin Eddie was moving in or something, every stranger that passed asked me if I knew that was asbestos, I told them thats I'm doing it myself :mrgreen: like JWM says, its harmless unless you save it all and grind it up in your cereal every morning for a few years. just peel it up or break it up in big chunks. when the local dump asked what im hauling in i just told them its demolition debris from a remodel, always trailered it in tarped though. If i would of said it's asbestos i think they would of made a phone call to send out a retired cosmonaut to double bag it before they throw it in the same pile with all the other trash. Could be vinyl tile like also mentioned or old school linoleum too.
 
My house was built in 55, and I ran into the same issues when I remodeled my bathroom. Nobody at the dump cares to check for asbestos. Here they usually just check the loads to make sure it isn't meth lab waste.
 
I've never dealt with asbestos floor tile but I have with asbestos siding tiles, Luckily we had a neighbor who wanted them for his house because he had the same type on his place and kept them for spares. otherwise it would have cost a bunch to get rid of. Not a huge problem just don't breath in the dust, wear mask / respirator, Or like said before just tile over it.
 
shwww! cool! seriously, thanks for all the help and info guys. i caught my 3rd wind last night and was all in full gear ready to get started, then i found that and was completely bummed out thinking of the cost, "risks" :roll: , and time it will take. the tile is 9x9. i talked to a few friend of friend flooring dudes today and they are in the same boat as you guys. they said the floor tile isnt the bad asbestos, its the shot insulation and the ceiling tiles that release the fibers into the air. i think i'll hang containment, wet the floors, wear a respirator and just pull it up. then step up to ceramic tile and just mortor over the old asbestos glue. from what i can see from the foot of carpet i pulled back along the threshold, it looks like the old tile is chipped and loose off the floor. so i think ill have to pull it all up. but im just happy its not going to be a HUGE "risky", tedious, costly, time consuming job like i was thinkin last night. thanks again for all the insight!
 

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