Asbestos is safe and legal to remain in homes or public buildings as long as the asbestos materials are in good condition and not tampered with.
Covering asbestos tile with hardwood.
One of the biggest factors of installing a new floor over the old is thickness.
You have lot of options when it comes to covering asbestos tiles and it only is a health risk when the floors asbestos particles come airborne.
Hey deltaskye thanks for your great question and welcome to the community.
If the tiles are not solid you can insert an intervening sheet of underlayment.
However as a favor to future owners of your house make some note of the fact that asbestos tiles are under the new flooring.
That way no one will be endangered years from now when they start to rip up the new flooring and find asbestos tiles beneath.
Thin luan wood or cement board.
Examine the condition of the tiles.
Asbestos floor tiles were manufactured in three sizes.
One of the best ways to deal with asbestos tile is to leave it in place and cover it with new flooring.
If you aren t removing the old floor you may be creating a new floor that is too thick for doors to open and shut or for thresholds to have clearance.
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.
If the tiles in question are crumbling torn drilled sawn or sanded you ll definitely want to consult with a professional who can help gauge risk and offer recommendations for reducing asbestos exposure the epa is among the best resources available to help educate on risks and abatement techniques.
Just like tom hd116 stated encapsulation and enclosure is really the best thing a homeowner can get sort of a professional abatement company to remove the tiles.
If your tiles are in perfect condition it s true that they could be removed but doing.
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.
Common in homes built in the 20th century black mastic was used as an adhesive for ceramic tile linoleum and other flooring materials.
You could also cover the tiles with new vinyl flooring linoleum or even ceramic tiles.
Tiles that are disintegrating should be.
As long as the asbestos tiles are solid you can cover them with sheet vinyl luxury vinyl plank laminate engineered wood solid hardwood or just about any other type of flooring.
Vinyl tile is an excellent option for sealing in asbestos tiles.
Intact asbestos tiles are not a major risk and can in fact be left in place and covered with other materials such as carpet vinyl linoleum or concrete.