Vinyl Vs Asbestos Flooring

You have to keep from making dust.

Vinyl vs asbestos flooring.

Asbestos vinyl flooring was a durable and economical material that offered many aesthetic options to suit a homeowner s taste. Unfortunately vinyl sheet flooring manufactured with an asbestos backing poses a serious exposure risk when it is disturbed. That means it is safe to walk on but not safe to scrape sand or use power tools on. Asbestos was used in vinyl wallpaper from the 1920s and in the vinyl floor tiles and sheet flooring that rose to prominence in the 1950s.

The black cutback adhesive had more asbestos than the vinyl. If you have to scrape up cutback keep it misted with water. Vinyl floor tiles or sheet flooring were made or installed before 1986 should be treated as a floor covering presumed to contain asbestos or else have a sample tested and report the results here please. In many cases the best thing to do about vinyl asbestos flooring is put a new layer of flooring on top of it.

You could also seal it with a coat of epoxy floor paint. In standard sheet vinyl and vinyl tiles the base layer is usually fiberglass which is then coated in pvc vinyl and a plasticizer. Vinyl flooring is a 100 percent synthetic material. Asbestos backed sheet vinyl flooring was commonly installed in many ways including over hardwood softwood and concrete floors.

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. Even tho they quit making flooring in 1978 with asbestos they sold remaing stock probably into the mid 1990 s. The resulting sheet is printed and embossed with a surface print layer. Stain proof fireproof stylish and affordable.

If the flooring was installed between 1952 and 1986 your vinyl flooring might contain asbestos. Our photo left shows armstrong excelon 12x12 vinyl asbestos flooring made in 1972 identified in our floor tile photo guide asbestos floor tile identification photos 1949 1959 detailed photo guide to asphalt asbestos and vinyl asbestos floor tiles and resilient flooring produced in 1900 1980. Identifying asbestos tile flooring by date. I don t recognize that exact flooring pattern jack and am guessing it s an early 1980s vinyl sheet flooring.

It also was installed over tongue and groove wood floors particleboard and plywood. Asbestos vinyl floor tiles were far from rare. The removal procedures described in this publication address the removal of asbestos backed sheet vinyl only if. But when vinyl asbestos flooring is in good condition it is considered nonfriable.