Asbestos Floor Tiles

For about 35 years flooring companies included asbestos when they manufactured the vinyl tiles.

Asbestos floor tiles.

Many asbestos floor tiles including old vinyl asbestos flooring is generally safe to be around. Workers must take many precautions to remove asbestos floor tiles safely and it is always safest to leave asbestos removal to qualified professionals. Asbestos floor tiles were manufactured in three sizes. Old fire blankets and heat resistant gloves can also be made out of asbestos textiles.

But the flooring companies aim wasn t so much to make the floor tiles fireproof as it was to make the tiles more durable. Asbestos is a mineral that lends fireproofing qualities to any substance it is mixed with. Examine the condition of the tiles. 9 x9 12 x12 and 18 x18.

Asbestos in vinyl products becomes dangerous when microscopic fibers of the mineral are released and become airborne. Asbestos is a toxic mineral american manufacturers once mixed into many building materials. Asbestos floor tiles will not release toxic fibers and pose a health risk unless they are disturbed. Asbestos vinyl floor tiles.

What makes asbestos flooring dangerous. 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. 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.

Asbestos in floor tiles. That way no one will be endangered years from now when they start to rip up the new flooring and find asbestos tiles beneath. 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. 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.

Asbestos floor tiles were once a popular choice for flooring and you will often find old asbestos floor tiles hidden under carpets. What are asbestos floor tiles. You could also cover the tiles with new vinyl flooring linoleum or even ceramic tiles. 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.