OK then! :) My stupid floors are kind of uneven, though. Does that make a difference for the engineered hardwood? I should add that although we've never had any problems, the previous HO (original HO) did install a basement waterproofing system. It could certainly have been paranoia on her part, and I've never known our sump pump to run in almost three years, but I thought I'd put that out there. Many basements in my area DO have flooding issues, which is why I am somewhat paranoid. The rest of my house is hardwood though, and I vastly prefer that. I have always hated carpet. If you know of any good deals on EH, I'd be very interested in at least pricing it out. Is it something I can install myself?

My parents were redoing their bathroom floor and found asbestos tile on the bottom layer, above the subfloor. They had a private inspector to come out and confirm it and then tried to get estimates to remove it, but was told it would be too expensive for such a small space and to DIY themselves. My husband and Father researched the proper removal and did it them selves. They wore suits and masks N95, and plastic and duct taped off the area. Sprayed the tiles and glue down well with water during removal and tried to get the tiles up in whole pieces. It's not only the tile that can contain the asbestos but the glue- as well so you have to be careful.

Asbestos in tiles is quite inert, especially if left undisturbed. Sanding is another story, so yes, you're wise to get it tested, but it sounds like you'd be unlikely to have been exposed just from being in the basement, doing laundry, etc. You could take some sort of swab sample of the dust in the ducting, I suppose, if there's even enough material to test. You'd need to consult with the lab in advance to make sure you'd get what they needed, and in an adequate amount. Most of the labs that test for asbestos commercially are looking at things like your tile and they are trying to tell if it is 1% or more asbestos, because that is regulated differently. You'd probably get a "non detect" result from your HVAC unless you went somewhere very specialized.

I'm afraid that a proper installation will require that the old tile and its mastic come up and off - leaving a clean permeable surface of old concrete. You'll want engineered flooring for this application. Once the old flooring is gone, the new should be glued down with a premium gule designed for the purpose (Bostic's Best). We're setting about 1500 sqft exactly this way and finishing on-site with Waterlox.