I'm still just a mess. Thank you all so much for your responses. It's funny, I'm not the least bit of a "germaphobe." I have several dogs and likely sleep with a least one dog butt in my face every night. Dust doesn't bother me nor do I lay awake at night worrying about bed bugs or the swine flu. But this got me. I feel like everything in the house is coated with asbestos. As I said, this small back den ajoins the kitchen and I figure all the dishes, items in the pantry, walls, everything is tainted. Toxic waste dump! Okay, rant over for the time being. Vinyl tiles are 9X9 size and there's absolutely no doubt that they are the asbestos kind...not in my mind anyway! Hubby whacked up about a 12X12 section of them before he got clued in. He then stopped so there are many tiles still down. Some tiles came up in tact, some were in pieces. He bagged the tiles and today he mopped down the whole area. He then spread this Ardex stuff I believe it's called on the floor to seal off the asbestos that is also in the black crap that they used to adhere the tiles. One bright note, he had just put these cut to fit hepa filter thingeys in our heating/ac vents. That's a bright note, right? Tomorrow he is going to try to wipe down as many surfaces as he can. How do you wipe every nook and freakin cranny? What else can we/I do.....seek out a therapist? Divorce court maybe? aggghhhhhh! Thanks for the hand holding, pup

Jane- Many people read about asbestos and get spooked, which sounds like what you have done. Don't get me wrong, asbestos is bad stuff; I know because I spent most of my career as an environmental engineer working in this area. However, in your case, I think it is unlikely you had any exposure from that work in the hallway. If they were removing asbestos insulation from old ducts and furnaces, or popcorn ceilings, then, yes. But just because they tore out what looks like a lot of old plaster and made a lot of dust means nothing. There may have been some lead dust in the air from the old paint, but that is a different story. As far as getting rid of your possessions, that's the uninformed panic talking...there is no need for that. (Even if there had been asbestos dust involved, a cleaning with an HVAC vacuum would have taken care of that, if it were necessary.) Please, you have been reading a bunch of scary stuff on the Internet and, having no background to properly assess the situation, have gotten upset. Take a deep breath and relax. Many people are ignorant of environmental risks and get into trouble unknowingly; in your case, you may be over-aware and too concerned about possibilities. I'm not trying to make light of your concern; I'm just trying to get you out of panic mode on this. It's fine and you will be fine.

So, I have a concern about asbestos exposure. I’ve recently read a lot about 9x9 asbestos tile and the danger it poses with removal. Basically, the consensus seems to be these tiles pose no real threat unless they are cracked open, degraded, or sanded down. For the past 16 months, I have worked in a tiny office (69 square feet) at the school where I work, which has the original asbestos floor tiling. When I moved into the office, the floor underneath the rolling metal chair was significantly deteriorated due to the scraping of the chair over the years. I never thought twice about it because my understanding was the asbestos was under the tile and only releasable if the tile was cracked. However, information I have recently read indicates that sanding or powersanding these tiles would be especially bad, resulting in friable asbestos. I fear that the grinding of the tile from the chair over the years exposed and released the asbestos, which I breathed in for the past year, and which probably adhered to my personal items and clothes. There did seem to be dust under my chair, but I always assumed it was just regular dust accumulated over time. The janitor staff never cleaned or washed the floors in my office. Of course, I am quite scared about this. I only recently began to research this after reading a news story about the renovations that will begin soon in my building, which includes removal of the asbestos floor tile. This phrase – asbestos floor tile – changed everything for me because I had not previously known that the tile itself contained asbestos. I did not know about friable asbestos, or about the specific way asbestos causes cancer. Since renovations are under way, there is no way for me to go back to my office to verify anything. I am planning to send some personal clothing out for testing: shoes, a jacket that fell under my chair and which I accidently ground, etc. I don’t know how to put my mind at ease about this. Perhaps there is no way, and I should have been wiser to these risks.

The first house my husband I bought was built in the 1950s on a slab that had this tile/adhesive under various other layers of old (disgusting) tile and carpet throughout the first floor. Due to the height variations, we had to remove everything down to the slab. At the time, we didn't know much but we knew that, so we set about removing it all (approx 1,000 sq ft) and never heard a mention of asbestos in tile or that this was "a thing"; not until after we were done busting through it, that is. So we were a little worried, asked some questions to see if there was a real danger and ultimately, there was NOTHING we could do but hope the information we had received which was as what Nikki T relayed above - that the vast majority of issues came from day in/day out exposure over a long period - and moved on armed with a little more knowledge and a bit more hesitation to just jump into things without some research. 20 years later, neither of us has any sign of cancer or any other health issues stemming from our foray into asbestos-laden tile removal. I've heard this scenario likened to smoking one cigarette and thinking you will get lung cancer. While it's certainly possible, it's not probable. So, now that you know what you are dealing with, figure out the best way to move forward (encapsulate, professional removal/abatement) and move on.