asbestos tiles - need advice

13 years ago

I recently purchased a home and noticed that after I ripped up the rug, there was a 10X14 section of the floor that contained 9X9 tiles. The house was built in the late 1950's. I went back and forth for over a week on whether to remove these tiles or just re-carpet over them. Either way, new carpet is going to be installed. The tiles are covering concrete slab. They looked in tact for the most part. After a week, my Dad stated he would come remove the tiles for me. I hung a paper/plastic drop cloth over the doorway and taped it down with blue painters tape to avoid anything traveling throughout the house. I also taped over the central air ducts with metallic tape. The room is 20x14 so only part of the room had the tiles, the other section is an addition with only concrete slab. My Dad wet the area with a hose to keep the particles down and scrapped up the tiles. He said majority of them broke because it was glued to concrete. I was not present for this removal and the tiles were already bagged and sealed with duct tape when I arrived. When he was done, my mother wiped down the walls with a damp wash cloth which had some bleach on it as well. When I arrived an hour later, I used a 3M air mask with dual magenta filters and entered the room. I also wiped down the walls and ceiling with a damp cloth and soaked the floor again to keep particles down. I then wiped along the bashboard closest to the floor with a damp cloth and placed a heavy duty tarp over the exposed concrete to try and keep everything down after the floor dries. My carpet will not be installed for at least another week or two, as I need to repaint all the walls and ceiling (another way to seal the dust, if any came up). Here are my questions: 1. Was this done correctly for removing tiles yourself? 2. Does it pose any threat that I removed them using these methods? 3. Should I continue to use the 3M 99.97% mask when entering this room to do my painting? 4. Can I remove the drop cloth I had up to prevent anything from traveling throughout the house. 5. Is there anything else I should do to limit exposure or do you think this was done well? 6. Are particles still going to be floating a day or 2 later or do you think this room is fine now? I really would like to be able to travel through this room now without the mask. 7. Being that I wasnt there for the actual removal and followed all of these safety processes, including using the special 99.97% 3M mask when entering afterwards and wiping down ceilings and walls and resoaking floor, did I expose myself to any danger? 8. How long until I can walk freely in this room? Good advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to all for understanding and answering my concerns.

Sort by:Oldest

Comments (6)

glennsfc
13 years ago
From what you describe, I believe your dad did an excellent DIY demolition of the floor. You have nothing to worry about.

As a final item to put your mind at ease, you can exchange the air in the room by placing a window fan in one window to exhaust room air to the outside and open a window on the other side of the room or somewhere else in the house to bring in fresh air. In no time your room will have clean and fresh air.

Then, of course, you could spend money to have the room air tested. However, in my opinion, you would be wasting that money.
brickeyee
13 years ago
The asbestos in the tiles is tightly bound into the material.

Short of grinding up the tiles (or sanding them) you are not going to release anything.

The tiles are NOT 'friable' under the EPA rules and a a very low hazard.

'Friable' means you can crush the material with your bare hands to release fibers.
Related Discussions
advice for covering black mastic (possible asbestos)
Q
Comments (4)
The only real concern about asbestos is when you sand it and it gets micro size and then inhaled. Just being on the slab is not a concern health wise. You say your slab "sweats" you may have issues with any type of flooring. Aside from tile. If this project is designed to spend as little as possible and just to cover the slab than i think your plan will be fine. Ideally if money and time was not an issue, you would want to test for asbestos. Clean the slab, diagnose the moisture issue, fix said issue(s) and then lay youre perferred flooring.
...See More
Possible Asbestos Tiles Need Advice
Q
Comments (6)
The mastic may or may not contain the fiber. And, even if it does, it's not going anywhere and is not a health threat; fibers are not going to leap out of the adhesive matrix on their own. It is OK to install your floating floor over the mastic residue. It usually is a bad idea to install tile over a resilient tile. However, I can think of a situation where tightly-bonded resilient tile flooring could provide an acceptable substrate, provided the bond strength of the resilient tile to the slab remains strong and any surface waxes or polishes are removed. If the previous owner removed a sheet vinyl product with a mineral fiber backing and sanded that off...I'd be a little concerned. Removal of a VAT or an AT tile releases very few fibers when compared with mineral fiber backing. You have nothing to worry about in my opinion. You could have an environmental testing firm test your home's air to find out if fiber levels are any different from the usual background fiber level for your location.
...See More
Asbestos tiles that need to be drilled into
Q
Comments (25)
As someone with experience in asbestos removal, I can say that vinyl asbestos tiles often become brittle over many years, and can fracture into a lot of pieces when you're trying to remove them. The Minnesota Dept. of Health web site has a lot of good info, but the assumption that one can "work under the edges of the tile and pop it loose" is not correct in some cases, especially where one is dealing with old tiles held tenaciously by black mastic. Old vinyl tiles are not like the "peel and stick varieties. We don't know how old the OP's tiles are, and, even if we did, the approach to such a situation can vary from site to site. I'm not trying to get in an argument over removal techniques, or say there is only one way to deal with this situation. But I am pointing out that slowly drilling some holes in vinyl tile with an encapsulant capturing stray fibers may be a better approach than thinking you can easily pop up some tiles. This is a case where one could try to remove tiles, end up fracturing them into multiple pieces, scraping at the mastic, and having a mess on your hands. I'm not holding myself out as an expert. I'm counseling the OP to look at a low-tech approach that may result in less risk compared to trying to do a "better" job by removing tiles.
...See More
Reno with asbestos - advice needed
Q
Comments (8)
Airborne is just that, in the air. Anything that was in the air will have settled onto/into anything that is NOW in the space. That includes air vents, air ducts, exhaust fans, air return outlets, electrical sockets, etc., etc., etc. A professional mitigation company can come in a deal with the building envelope and the stuff attached to the building (air vents, HVAC, etc). Walls can be dealt with by the same company, etc. The soft furnishings are now "contaminated". Like any dust particle, the drapes, bedding, etc are now covered in that asbestos dust. They can be professionally cleaned (ask the remediation company who they would recommend). The bedding, clothing, etc can be tossed into washers/driers...that should do it....but again you want to be proactive about cleaning vents etc. Exposure is negligible - in other words I wouldn't worry about it re: a health scare. It takes quite a bit of time (think miner in an Asbestos mine without masks) to get sick from it. But the problem still remains: remediation was not done and asbestos was ?illegally? removed/disposed of. Dust now exists on every surface, in every air vent, in every nook and cranny. You are now aware of the existence of asbestos in the building envelope and will be legally required to properly remediate any/all surfaces that contain asbestos AND lead (possible if the earliest paint layers are pre-1978). I would look at this from a legal stand point...not necessarily a "health" stand point. Start with the remediation experts in your area. Follow their advice - to the letter. If this will become a rental building and not just a family home, consult a lawyer. Stop hubby from doing anything else on his own - for now. Testing is to be done FIRST...then he gets to swing hammer. The age of the building will tell you what the risks are....anything prior to 1978 had a HUGE risk of both asbestos (confirmed) and lead (paint and pipes). And just to be clear, the clean-up at this point could be more expensive simply because it now includes EVERYWHERE (every surface on all three stories). Had a remediation company come in and dealt with this single room for you, they could have contained the dust to this area....no need to worry about dust in the air vents and the air returns, etc throughout the building. Draping off a single room is easy/cheap. Cleaning up a 3 story building = expensive.
...See More
yowdie06
Original Author
13 years ago
Glennfsc and brickeyee,

Thank you so much for the feedback. Its greatly appreciated. Its been 48 hours since the tiles have been removed. Should I go ahead and take down the drop cloth or wait til after the new carpet is installed, in case any "dust" is kicked up from the mastic that is present on the concrete floor? Do I need to wear the special mask still when entering this room? Does all the mastic need to be removed from the floor before the new carpet is installed? I would rather not scrape the stuff off the floor if I dont have to. Thanks again for your excellent advice.
echoflooring
13 years ago
I believe everyone should wear the mask for the next 36 months (Even after it is done) Take pics and win 10 grand on Americas funniest LOL. No it does not need removed if they are putting cushion down which I sure hope they are. PS get on with life...you will die much quicker worrying like you do......
glennsfc
13 years ago
In my opinion, you don't need to wear a respirator, but any kind of dust is not good for lungs, so it wouldn't hurt to wear one if there is construction dust around.

Get some Henry's or Armstrong Feather Finish (a cementious floor skim coating product made the the Ardex company), mix with water as directed and skim coat the product over the mastic with a steel edge trowel. This thin coat of this product will isolate the carpet from the mastic and prevent any staining. It will also permanently seal the mastic.
yowdie06
Original Author
13 years ago
Right now I have a heavy duty tarp, which covers 70% of the floor, and a few sheets covering the floor of the rest of the room. When my carpet is installed (PS - where should I go to start looking?) should I put the drop cloth back up and block the vents again so the "dust" from under the tarp/sheets doesnt kick up and spread throughout the house? Or is that not necessary? Even though I wet the tiles before removing them, they are dry now, so my thinking is when they come to install the carpet and the tarp is removed, and they throw padding and carpet down, the "dust" on the floor is now dry and can become easily airborne again, no? Advice?

asbestos tiles - need advice

Comments (6)

glennsfc

brickeyee

Related Discussions

yowdie06
Original Author

echoflooring

glennsfc

yowdie06
Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

asbestos tiles - need advice

Comments (6)

glennsfc

brickeyee

Related Discussions

yowdie06Original Author

echoflooring

glennsfc

yowdie06Original Author

COMPANY

BUSINESS SERVICES

GET HELP

CONNECT WITH US

yowdie06
Original Author

yowdie06
Original Author