Asbestos Vinyl Flooring

This article describes sheet flooring products known to contain significant levels of asbestos.

Asbestos vinyl flooring.

What are asbestos floor tiles. We describe sources of asbestos in older forms of sheet flooring including felt backed flooring rubber backed flooring and vinyl cushion backed resilient flooring products. Asbestos is a mineral that lends fireproofing qualities to any substance it is mixed with. The removal procedures described in this publication address the removal of asbestos backed sheet vinyl only if.

Asbestos was used in vinyl wallpaper from the 1920s and in the vinyl floor tiles and sheet flooring that rose to prominence in the 1950s. Asbestos containing sheet flooring or resilient flooring product identification. For about 35 years flooring companies included asbestos when they manufactured the vinyl tiles. It also was installed over tongue and groove wood floors particleboard and plywood.

Even some of the early peel and stick tiles used asbestos as the main ingredient. Asbestos vinyl flooring was a durable and economical material that offered many aesthetic options to suit a homeowner s taste. Asbestos a heat resistant fibrous silicate mineral was a common element in construction materials due to its resilient durable nature until the 1980s anyway when it was banned due to the. Our photo left shows armstrong excelon 12x12 vinyl asbestos flooring made in 1972 identified in our floor tile photo guide asbestos floor tile identification photos 1949 1959 detailed photo guide to asphalt asbestos and vinyl asbestos floor tiles and resilient flooring produced in 1900 1980.

When vinyl asbestos flooring is crumbling or damaged it is considered friable. A majority of the vinyl flooring made before 1986 contained asbestos in the tiles or in the backing materials. I don t recognize that exact flooring pattern jack and am guessing it s an early 1980s vinyl sheet flooring. Unfortunately vinyl sheet flooring manufactured with an asbestos backing poses a serious exposure risk when it is disturbed.

But when vinyl asbestos flooring is in good condition it is considered nonfriable. Asbestos backed sheet vinyl flooring was commonly installed in many ways including over hardwood softwood and concrete floors. Like floor tiles vinyl sheet flooring is a long lasting and economical material and it also offers more aesthetic options to suit a homeowner s taste. In this case it needs to be removed very carefully to avoid asbestos exposure.