Thanks, John. I actually did pull corners (the wettest area) and then called a friendly flooring place and someone actually was there. He prescribed lots of air conditioning and fans, but came to the same conclusion as you-- probably this will be ok. I've been moving around the fans and in just three hours, drying is proceeding very nicely. Thanks for taking the time to respond -- and I think it might not be a bad idea to get one of those wet/dry vacs to have around anyhow. I hear they are very good for all sorts of projects, not just "emergencies."

My dad was a floor layer for years. When I was 5-6 my dad drew a line on a floor with chalk & told me to take a few asbestos tile & not cross the line or I would fall out the opening but toss the tiles into a truck parked down below. Our house had asbestos tiles in the basement, all 5 of us played on the floor all the time. About 10 yrs ago dad & I removed all the asbestos tiles from basement of church. None of us have had cancer. Dad is 95 & often pried up old tiles, if I did it again I would use a face mask & open windows. People used to have an asbestos mat right next to their stove to put hot items on, I saw people rub the pan across those things, all schools had asbestos tile floors when i was growing up, lot of them remain, park I go to every week has it on gym floor. It's been on since my kids went there for cub scout events 38 yrs ago. I wouldn't sand the stuff that remains, that probably would give you some in your lungs. Leaving it is going to cause lumps under carpet & especially if you move furniture around. Most of my house has asbestos tile under the carpet pad as my house is over 40 yrs old,required to have flooring on floors even tho you were going to carpet it or house couldn't be sold, all new tracts of houses were like that. So my dad put in bathrooms & kitchen before we moved in. So there are hundreds of thousands of houses with asbestos tile in them. It's kind of like lead paint, won't harm you unless you eat it or sand it like crazy, then you can ingest it. What kind of floor is it, wood or cement? You can paint the Kilz on & then put a carpet pad down & carpet over it. The pad helps keep heat in as the back of it is kind of like a plastic stuff & top is dense foam. Makes the carpet more comfortable & seem more plush also.It's well worth the money.

We have a similar townhome - the end unit of a row of six. Two of the homes are owned by singles, both middle aged, one divorced. No young couples. So your market may be fairly broad. All our houses have hardwood throughout the downstairs, including the kitchen and powder room. When we bought, we had the carpet ripped out upstairs and hardwood installed. That secured our tenant because she has asthma. When we moved in, we had the floors refinished. Hardwood floors are a big selling feature in our area. Had they been laminate, I would have had to add in the cost of ripping that out, because I can’t stand it. Changing flooring can be very disruptive - much worse than painting or even replacing windows and doors. More people dislike carpet than dislike hardwood. In addition to the cost of flooring, consider the value of a quick sale. But you should definitely get more information and talk to a good local agent.

Nidnay.....do NOT put water in the iron. Put water on the cloth. Iron set to regular, not steam. All the steam will be coming from the cloth. Water in the iron is prone to rusting and/or squirting ugly stuff on your precious garments. Also, if you use a towel as your "cloth", use a tea towel, not a fluffy towel. The goal here is FLAT. And, on no account, use your favorite towels. This process is going to destroy the "cloth", by bleeding, burning, staining, mashing..... That's why you use a cotton rag to do the job.