Contractor removed asbestos tiles w/o my knowledge

9 years ago

What should we do to ensure we do not have a problem in our home after tiles potentially containing asbestos were haphazardly removed?

Hired a contractor to remove laminate flooring in basement laundry room and replace with ceramic tiles. Beneath the laminate were 9x9 tiles, which we believed had been sealed due to asbestos concerns (early 1950's house). We told him such and stated explicitly that these tiles should not be disturbed for any reason.

While I was out of town at a funeral and my husband was at work, the contractor's tile man removed the floor tiles (approx 50 sq feet). The next day, he told us the tiles were not sealed so he removed them (and now wants us to pay for the additional work!). He attempt to reassure us by stating removing them was no problem bc he wetted the tiles before removing them.

I was horrified as I would have never agreed to let him do this work. I would have gladly paid a small fortune to have tiles removed correctly by a licensed company, particularly since this room is next to my son's bedroom.

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Comments (6)

gregmills_gw
9 years ago
You shouldn't worry. unless he was grinding and sanding the tiles, that's when you get issues. just tearing up the tiles is fine. if anything the guy removing got "exposed"

As for paying him for work that you didn't contract for, that's a different story.

If you're still concerned, just clean you're sons room. its overkill but honestly don't stress over this.
glennsfc
9 years ago
I agree with gregmills. And, you cannot place ceramic tile over loose Asphalt tile anyway. In most jurisdictions, removal of tile such as yours isn't even considered an asbestos removal job.

I agree...wipe everything down in your son's room and forget about it.
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You can cut off a chunk and send it off to a lab to test for asbestos content-- obviously, don't do that in an obvious place if you're not immediately planning on replacing it or covering it. If you can lift a baseboard and get material from the edge, then cover the missing section back over with the baseboard, that's often a good location. For the mastic, you can get it wet and scrape up some and send it off for testing. The lab will almost always have specific instructions on safe ways to collect material for testing and how much you need. Similar appearing materials are all over the place on actual asbestos content. Vinyl asbestos tiles tend to be square and have kind of a marbled look. They are often, but not always, 9x9. The vinyl asbestos tiles are generally quite low risk compared to the asbestos-backed sheet vinyl, because the asbestos fibers are bound in a matrix with the vinyl. Unless you pulverize them in removal, you're not going to get airborne fibers taking them out. If you contrast whatever your local recommendations are for VAT removal with sheet vinyl removal, they're usually pretty different-- the main thing people are concerned about with VAT is how you dispose of it. For sheet vinyl, though, they're really worried about how you take it up. Mastics can be pretty difficult to get up. For example, the black mastic was really easy to get up with Bean-E-Doo (whatever they call it now)-- anything else, though, forget it. The remnants of the Bean-E-Doo itself were challenging (lots of soap, water, scrubbing, etc.) However, though the same chemical said it works on old carpet adhesives, it didn't work at all for me. If you have things tested and the tile's asbestos and the mastic's not, the tiles are pretty easy to remove nondestructively with steam (e.g., a steam iron or a wallpaper steamer, or you can rent a big machine that heats the tiles for you). Then you can rent a big commercial scraper to get the mastic up, which is the most efficient. If the mastic does contain asbestos, either it shifts easily with heat or it doesn't, it's water soluble or oil soluble, etc. Use whatever people think is the best method for the specific type of mastic you have. Or paint over the mastic with one of the sealing compounds if the standard removal methods don't work. Since your tiles are loose, though, I'd take them out before putting any new flooring down.
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anglophilia- I'm sorry your husband died of cancer. However, that does not mean that since he he didn't die of an asbestos-related disease what you did with your floors was necessarily safe. Maybe it was, maybe it wasn't. Many people have exposures to toxic materials, even multiple ones, and it doesn't cause them health problems or kill them...but some are affected. In my posts above urging caution, I'm not suggesting that if you have an asbestos exposure it will kill you...it's just that you want to minimize avoidable exposures. I have a 93 year old relative who is still alive after decades of smoking and working around asbestos, and I also know of a 30-year old who died from asbestos exposure as a result of a several week summer job he had in college. Risk is a complex issue that depends on many factors, including genetics. One can't predict which individuals specifically will come down with a disease from a certain type of toxic exposure; we can only see what the overall incidences are and try to help people avoid taking risks that might make them one of the unlucky ones. We are all exposed to nasty stuff, often without realizing it. Typically, larger exposures --- such as occupation-related ones -- are more concerning. But there are some substances, such as asbestos and lead, where the medical and scientific communities have yet to find any level of exposure/intake that is guaranteed safe. People want risk to be black and white: it will kill me or it won't. But most environmental concerns aren't like that, so we have to live with a wide spectrum of gray, and make personal decisions on how cautious to be or not. I know for certain something will kill me some day, but I try to avoid making choices that will possibly speed that up....
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Thanks David. I climbed up in the crawlspace above our basement and snapped this photo of the subfloor. There’s a small chance the Black stuff is mastic from the tub, but then There’s that teal stuff too... The plywood never changed colors like that, I suspect some of the other posters were correct in assuming that I awoke a previous issue more so than doing all of this damage in such a short period of time. I believe by “selective demo” and “minor surgery” some are implying that I may just be able to deal with the boards that are damaged? I‘m not sure the whole subfloor needs to be replaced up there, but I think those tiles are going to have to come up just to let me get to these. It seems like the whole job requires different skill sets, I don’t even know who to call first! Mold guy to assess damage? Then abatement guy so I can get to it? Then Someone to actually replace subfloor? Lol, what have I gotten myself into!
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User
9 years ago
This same question has been asked here over and over and the answer is still the same.
Chances are that the tile was loose and would have sabotaged the new tile job. Quite often the glue under these tiles crystallizes and the tiles can be removed in full pieces so no asbestos is released into the air.
mmstone18
Original Author
9 years ago
Thank you Glenn and Greg. Appreciate your thoughtful responses.
hippy
9 years ago
The great asbestos hoax drummed up by reporters and followed by lawyers looking for a quick dollar.
=====

http://spiderjohnson.com/asbestos.html#anchor2054742

White asbestos (chrysotile) is very different. Its fibers are long and curly. They don't penetrate the lungs deeply, and they are expelled or dissolved. Epidemiological evidence shows that moderate exposure to white asbestos does not cause lung cancer or asbestosis. The July 1986 American Review of Respiratory Diseases reported a study of women living in Thetford Mines, an asbestos mining town in Quebec that is surrounded by mountains of tailings from the mines. These women, who don't work in the mines, are exposed to 250 to 500 times more ambient asbestos dust than the residents of the typical American city, but they show no higher incidence of respiratory disease. Miners exposed to light to moderate concentrations of fibers (average of 21 fibers per cc of air) showed no statistically significant incidence of disease. Those who were heavily exposed (95 to 194 fibers per cc) showed elevated levels of lung ailments, including cancer. Ninety- five percent of the asbestos used here and all the asbestos used in consumer products is the white variety, which has not been shown to pose any risk to consumers.
Steve Sutton
2 years ago
Hello - the same thing just happened to my wife and i and we are very concerned about health and safety. Did you ever get the asbestos remediated? Did you find a way to feel safe i your house? thank you

Contractor removed asbestos tiles w/o my knowledge

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gregmills_gw

glennsfc

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Contractor removed asbestos tiles w/o my knowledge

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gregmills_gw

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