Is There Asbestos In Linoleum Flooring

Unless the owner is planning to restore the wood flooring underneath the linoleum placing new materials over the asbestos containing materials safely seals the asbestos fibers in place.

Is there asbestos in linoleum flooring. There is another path to your new floor other than paying for proper asbestos abatement. 59 12535 out of print text and. Asbestos products and their history and use in various building materials such as asphalt and vinyl flooring includes discussion which draws on asbestos its industrial applications rosato 1959 d v. Even in the mid 90 s when i got started in the flooring business there were some vinyl products in circulation that had asbestos.

Because linoleum was invented long before vinyl people often refer to both types of flooring as linoleum but there s a big difference. Vinyl asbestos flooring comes in two types tiles and sheeting. If you have a wood underlayment you could simply install hardibacker board on top of the vinyl and have a nice clean and prepared substrate to install on to. If the flooring requires removal the minnesota department of health recommends hiring a licensed asbestos removal contractor to complete the job.

The jute backed sheet flooring below is a linoleum floor product not normally containing asbestos though some of that older flooring when it uses an asphalt saturated felt tar paper backing may sport asbestos in the backer. While there are some 12x12 vinyl tiles that don t contain asbestos we ve certainly had asbestos test lab reports back that did find asbestos in 12x12 vinyl flooring so in my opinion it makes sense to treat your 1970s flooring as containing asbestos or to have a sample tested before removal. Vinyl asbestos tiles should not be sanded and the glue that holds the tiles to the floor should not be sanded either. As with any asbestos containing material acm the first step to finding asbestos in linoleum sheet flooring and vinyl tiles is.

Rosato engineering consultant newton ma reinhold publishing 1959 library of congress catalog card no. Tiles are safer to remove than the sheeting because the asbestos is held together by the vinyl which is not hazardous.