Old Vinyl Sheet Flooring Asbestos

This article describes sheet flooring products known to contain significant levels of asbestos.

Old vinyl sheet flooring asbestos.

We describe sources of asbestos in older forms of sheet flooring including felt backed flooring rubber backed flooring and vinyl cushion backed resilient flooring products. Before you begin the project to remove old vinyl flooring in your home you need to determine if the flooring contains asbestos. Asbestos vinyl flooring was a durable and economical material that offered many aesthetic options to suit a homeowner s taste. Asbestos containing sheet flooring or resilient flooring product identification.

We are told. Asbestos vinyl sheet flooring can be more dangerous to remove than tiles if proper precautions are not practiced. Asbestos vinyl sheet flooring has two layers a top layer of vinyl and a bottom layer made from paper that contains asbestos. A majority of the vinyl.

Such products some sold under the brand name solarian were installed as recently as 1980 long after governmental restrictions on asbestos were initiated. One armstrong world industries vinyl resilient sheet flooring product thought to have been installed in 1967 was tested in a lab and found to contain 70 percent asbestos. The asbestos floor tile identification articles in this series illustrate that with the combination of design appearance and an idea of floor tile age many asbestos containing floor tiles or sheet flooring products can be reliably identified even before confirmation by a test by a certified asbestos testing laboratory. Like floor tiles vinyl sheet flooring is a long lasting and economical material and it also offers more aesthetic options to suit a homeowner s taste.

Asbestos removal is a hazardous process best undertaken only by a qualified professional. This will entail peeling the sheet vinyl from the flooring beneath if the backing does not separate in the process or removing the sheet vinyl in sections with the underlayment attached. Dry asbestos particles are lighter than air wet ones are less prone to become air borne. Asbestos was used in vinyl wallpaper from the 1920s and in the vinyl floor tiles and sheet flooring that rose to prominence in the 1950s.

A vinyl sheet flooring that looks like the above has a high chance of asbestos. Removing old vinyl flooring techniques. Sheet vinyl flooring should be removed to avoid or minimize disturbance of the asbestos containing backing. Unfortunately vinyl sheet flooring manufactured with an asbestos backing poses a serious exposure risk when it is disturbed.

If black tar is adhering to the vinyl it is almost a 100 asbestos containing fiber product.