Hi Everyone,

I know this particular topic is belabored as heck so I'll try to keep this as succinct as possible.

Background: Worked in construction and various contracting roles in my youth and grew up in an ecosystem of old school "Blue Collar" tradesmen types. Having said that, I think I'm having a bit of paralysis by analysis and bad peer group recommendations and hoping to get some guidance on my next move regarding my kitchen floor.

The kitchen itself isn't very large, maybe 10X10 and then there's a longer hallway adjacent to the kitchen running towards our living room that will be remodeled as well. - The plan is to go either hardwood or ceramic. Originally on top there was a plywood and linoleum floor on top that has been removed and now lies a vintage vinyl.

My issue? - As you can deduce from the pictures, there seems to be a 9X9 presumably asbestos filled or adhered tile underneath. Unconfirmed via lab or anything like that but I'm fairly certain it is, and my neighbor across the street had a similar tile that he felt was asbestos as well. I'm aware of the particulate nature being a concern for asbestos and all the ways it gets mobilized via sanding and cracking etc. - There's a few tiles that have been chipped and are breaking ever so slightly, but most are intact.

I personally DO NOT want to risk taking up this tile. We've removed the top wood/linoleum type flooring and all that remains is this fairly thin level of old tile and what looks to be some kind of particle board type underlayment. - My (older) contractor pals have given the following advice: "just wear a mask", "spray water on it, be careful, you'll be fine", "you NEED to remove this because you have to get as low as possible to get a nice flush transfer to the rest of your rooms". - Basically saying that it needs to be done and not to worry about it.

So my questions to ya'll good folks is.... is this too much of a risk to even try to take it out? I guess the better question is, given my current flooring setup via the pictures attached, would it be feasible to achieve a nice transfer height and flush overlay on the vinyl and to other rooms if I just go right over the vinyl flooring? Any thoughts on materials and work flow that would suffice here would be huge!!

Any help would be greatly appreciated everyone! Thanks so much!!