Asbestos Floor Backing
You could also seal it with a coat of epoxy floor paint.
Asbestos floor backing. 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. Details for identifying asbestos or asbestos suspect sheet flooring products are at resilient sheet flooring id guide. In many cases the best thing to do about vinyl asbestos flooring is put a new layer of flooring on top of it. But when vinyl asbestos flooring is in good condition it is considered nonfriable.
The moisture will soften the adhesive and help reduce the amount of asbestos released into the air. Manufacturers often made this type of flooring with a friable asbestos backing which means asbestos fibres are easily released into the air if the sheet flooring is disturbed or damaged. When you remove that floor covering to make way for new flooring you may encounter the mastic and wonder whether it is safe to remove the main concern surrounding this question is that black mastic often contains asbestos. Common in homes built in the 20th century black mastic was used as an adhesive for ceramic tile linoleum and other flooring materials.
That means it is safe to walk on but not safe to scrape sand or use power tools on. I unknowingly tore up some asbestos sheet flooring. The paper backing stayed on the cement substrate. Unfortunately vinyl sheet flooring manufactured with an asbestos backing poses a serious exposure risk when it is disturbed.
But before about 1978 in products that looked like this same material asbestos fibers were used as a strengthen material on vinyl sheet flooring backing. Folks licensed in asbestos abatement tell us that removing the floor in large chunks is reasonably safe. On concrete floors the flooring should be scraped off with a floor scraper using warm water to loosen the adhesive as you go. Asbestos vinyl sheet flooring poses a significantly greater asbestos exposure risk than floor tiles or wallpaper.
Sanding sawing drilling or tearing the tiles out however can release fibers into the air.