Covering Asbestos Floor Tiles With Carpet

In many cases installing a new floor over the tiles encapsulates the asbestos fibers and is an acceptable way to manage the material.

Covering asbestos floor tiles with carpet.

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. Porcelain floors are extremely versatile and durable with tile sizes up to 24 inches available for a clean modern look with fewer grout lines. One of the best ways to deal with asbestos tile is to leave it in place and cover it with new flooring. If your floor can be thicker without causing problems install a porcelain floor over the old asbestos.

That said it can be difficult to get a level surface for the new floor especially if the old tiles have chipped away. To choose flooring it s best to start by determining what you need. Identifying asbestos floor tiles. If the carpet glue is negative for asbestos but floor tile and or mastic are positive conduct a test pull to determine the likelihood of the floor tile remaining intact or being disturbed during the actual carpet removal.

If the floor is to be covered with a new layer of flooring such as sheet vinyl or vinyl tiles or even carpet padding and carpeting there is essentially no risk that asbestos particles can move up from the old floor into the occupied space. You could also cover the tiles with new vinyl flooring linoleum or even ceramic tiles. Plan and budget for an asbestos abatement to remove the carpet and asbestos flooring materials. Price varies widely so you need to know what you can afford.

Young children or pets need spill proof and scratch resistant flooring budget. However as a favor to future owners of your house make some note of the fact that asbestos tiles are under the new flooring. Carpeting and a suitable pad will do the trick. Armstrong produced the excelon tile series beginning with a plastic asbestos floor tile series in 1954 referring to the product as vinyl plastic asbestos floor tiles beginning in 1955 and vinyl asbestos tiles from 1957 to 1980.

The old tiles are relatively thin around 1 8 inch. Hey deltaskye thanks for your great question and welcome to the community. Some types like carpet or hardwood aren t ideal for every space family situation. Resilient sheet flooring containing asbestos was also produced finding wide use as early as 1968.

How to choose flooring.