I don't know the right answer, but we did something similar. Scraped up some sort of old vinyl (ca 1960?) and the black mastic that held it on. Sanded the daylights out of it and we have lovely clear maple floor. A couple coats of sealer and I haven't looked back.

If all the gunk is removed then IF there were some in the glue, conceivably there could be some still remaining in the grooves and pores of the wood but I dont know if Id worry about it, seems to me the hazard would have been when removing the tiles... which IMHO would have been more likely to have asbestos than the glue holding it down.... if there was any at all.

You could have what remains of the glue tested for $20 (thereabouts) thru state lab if you really want to know - might be worth it for peace of mind. What is the wood, maple? If so that is a very hard wood and residue would have been very unlikely to have seeped in, unlike more open-pore woods like oak.

Whatis the name of degreaser product DH is using? I happen to have some black tarry stuff myself waiting for me to get back to removing someday.

We believe it is oak. He is using Citruspray by Betco. It is a
commercial foaming degreaser that he got at a local commercial cleaning
supply place. You do need to spray it on and let it sit for a while
before scraping the now gunk off but the floor is really clean. Be
sure you have plenty of ventilation. You can see from the photos that it is doing a really good job.

If there is residual adhesive in the pores and cracks of the wood, and the adhesive contains asbestos (not uncommon in that era):

1) dust masks don't protect one from asbestos fibers...only fitted respirators do.

2) floor sanding will release fibers and no vacuum attachment will capture them as the particles are so small that they will get blown through the filter and into the air.

3) sanding will cause fibers to drift through the house unless the space is completely isolated with duct tape and visqueen, in which case the contamination will be in only one place.

While it looks like you are getting the floor fairly clean of adhesive, which would minimize risk, the best route would be to have a sample analyzed to get an answer on whether there is a risk or not.

I second the suggestion to get the glue sample tested - at worst you would just have to take the precautions you are already talking about taking.

Your mileage may vary, but Ive had about 4 different things tested in my house, and none of them contained asbestos. It was certainly worth the time and minor expense just to know.

Does anyone have links to labs that can test for me? Our state simply says send to an out of state lab...

There should be labs in every state. When you say your state simply says to send to an out of state lab, what agency are you talking with? What state do you live in?

Wry grin Wyoming and the site says this about collection and testing .

"Because there is no registration or licensure program in Wyoming,
there is no list of Asbestos Building Inspectors that can be provided.

We suggest that you look in the local area phone book for the project
under the headings “Asbestos Consultant” or “Environmental &
Ecological Services”.

Please be aware of the potential for conflict of interest if you hire
someone from an asbestos abatement firm to perform an inspection or
collect samples."

So no our state lab doesn't do asbestos testing as far as I have been able to find out. The state doesn't require a homeowner to have a liscenced pro collect samples but strongly recommends it. The state also says homes don't fall under the state laws about asbestos...

It is very hard for me to find informaton specifically for my state...

I suggest you call EPA, Region 8, which is the Federal agency with authority for your state if the state is doing nothing. Ask to speak with someone in the Asbestos Program concerning testing labs. They should be able to give you accurate info and a list of testing labs. Given the sparse population of Wyoming, there may be no in-state labs, but the EPA should be able to give you a list of reliable, certified labs in your region:

EPA, Region 8

Colorado would have labs or labs in the Denver area.

Look into the "screening" sanders that use an oscillating square pad and remove very little wood. They are easier to control. I've done small rooms with a hand-held oscillating 1/3 pad sander - by the time the room was edge-sanded and the jogs hand sanded, there would have been a tiny area left for the big floor sander.

Asbestos as a threat is over-stated. The people getting mesothelioma (like actor Steve McQueen) were almost exclusively those who were working with asbestos every day, spraying it into ships hulls with no protections, mining it with no protection, working in factories making asbestos products with no protection, or working with asbestos-containing brakes every day with no protection. AND being a heavy smoker or living with one seems to be a requirement - very few non-smokers got lung cancer despite having the same exposure.

So a non-smoking homeowner with a tile removal job like yours increases their risk of death very little if at all.

lazy_gardens-

While I agree with you that higher exposures are worse, many epidemiologists would not be as certain as you are that low dose exposures are not an issue. I'm not going to start an argument, but it needed to be said.

kudzu9,

Well said.

s/ Retired Asbestos Worker

I'm waiting for the same hysteria assoc'd w/ asbestos to arise from the use of certain adhesives found in plywood, chip board, engineered flooring, etc., as well as, "new studies" showing batt fiberglass insulation is hazardous to one's health as fibers emanate from (ie) electrical outlets. Hysteria is directly proportional to how much money lawyers can make from associated lawsuits.

For the OP, thoughtful precautionary measures, proportionate to the accumulate harm of possible exposure present; balanced against the time and cost of a full-blown EPA-approved remediation team, is all that matters. A homeowner is not req'd to follow the precautions of a professional because it's presumed a professional would experience multiple such exposures throughout the course of a career.

Incredible.

I'm speechless as well. Homeowners are not allowed to do whatever they like with all asbestos-containing materials. Above a certain square footage, there are requirements in many states to follow certain precautions. The reality is that many homeowners aren't knowledgeable and you can't realistically police them to protect themselves, but you can protect the public from asbetos abatement companies who are incompetent and expose their workers and clients to unnecessary risk. It has nothing to do with: "the homeowner is going to only get a small exposure, rather than an occupational exposure, so it's ok." And classifying adhesives, fiberglass, and asbestos similarly is irrelevant.

You should be fine using those floors. We did something very similar in our house in St Louis nearly 40 years ago. Yes, my husband DID eventually die of cancer - prostate cancer - the kind that is inherited. That kitchen floor had nothing to do with it.

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....

During the training I get every year to maintain my asbestos inspector license, regardless of who is delivering it, always says that 'there is no safe level of exposure to asbestos particles.'

I second the testing of the adhesive and go from there. Don't sand it till you know what it is. Did you ever find a lab?

Wyoming doesn't have much but it has an Asbestos Inspector and I'd be surprised if they didn't know ONE lab in the state that could test a sample.

http://deq.wyoming.gov/aqd/asbestos/

Besides you can use Google - just type in 'asbestos testing lab Wyoming.'