Asbestos Testing Floor Tiles

Unfortunately vinyl sheet flooring manufactured with an asbestos backing poses a serious exposure risk when it is disturbed.

Asbestos testing floor tiles. If your floor tiles or sheet flooring are actually linoleum you have less to worry about than if they are another material. The risk for many people who live or work in buildings with old flooring is that it s hard to know if the building has asbestos floor tiles just by looking. You can also have a flooring sample tested for asbestos using one of the certified asbestos testing labs in this asbestos testing lab list. Identifying asbestos floor tiles.

Found in many manufactured products prior to the mid 1980 such as pipe insulation ceiling and floor tiles paints caulking fire resistant clothing and brake pads. 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. The definitive way to find out if tiles contain asbestos is to have them tested. If you face a costly dusty messy demolition it may be appropriate to have a sample of the flooring tested.

Asbestos exposure may pose serious health risks. Containing asbestos might mean encapsulating the asbestos tiles in the basement instead of removing them altogether. But that changes as soon as you decide to remove it. Lab testing of flooring for asbestos content.

Asbestos is actually a silicate based material that used to be commonly used in building construction for surfaces as common as walls or floor tiles. Containing the asbestos typically costs 15 25 less than removal because you won t have to pay for disposal costs. If you have time and about 40. When encased in floor tiles that are in good condition asbestos is not in a friable state and can t become airborne but that isn t true if the tiles are cracked or damaged.

However once considerable testing proved that it was a killer the miracle became a nightmare to deal with and remove. You can either engage an asbestos remediation expert or obtain a test kit for. Vinyl is a type of plastic that has long been a popular material for floor tiles and sheets. Unlike many asbestos containing materials vinyl asbestos flooring is generally safe to be around.

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.