1960s home. In the basement. Every tile seemed to crack when stepped upon.
Probably.
The only way to tell is to take a sample to a lab, for investigation under a microscope. In my area that takes 3 days and $40.
Tiles are an odd asbestos material: some areas treat them the same as friable asbestos. Others, more sensibly say some version of don’t grind them up and blow the dust into a preschool during removal.
In my area tile removal does not appear to require an asbestos abatement permit or notification of the local air board. If the tiles are bowed up they don’t make a good subfloor, and will continue to crack and thus potentially release asbestos fibers.
Modern vinyl floor tiles are 12 inch square. The old asbestos tiles were 9 x 9. The two ways to deal with them are 1.) complete removal, or 2.) encapsulation. The first method is most expensive because any company that does it will likely have to be licensed specifically for asbestos abatement. the second method is more common, simply lay a new floor on top. I’m sitting on carpet covered 9x9 tile in my office.
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Agree with the 9"x9" (assumption until tested).
Not allowed to encapsulate when the tiles are loose and/or damaged!
IMO… a ‘damaged’ ACM tile requires remediation by professionals, which is how it should recommended in your report (once disclosed testing to confirm ACM).
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I wouldn’t tell anyone what’s allowed or not. I’m not enforcement and I’m not doing the work.
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Isn’t that what you just did?
My post was to dispute the advice/recommendation that you gave!
I told the OP what was commonly done. You told them what was allowed, implying a legal/code standard. Allowed by whom?
I gave neither advice nor recommendation. Just the facts!
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Bob, they also made 12" VAT for a few years, I installed them.
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They made a lot of 12x12 VAT for sure. and here you can still pull it up and throw it in the trash
All we have are some visual guidelines. Without testing it would be impossible to say what a floor tile is made of. The 9x9 story is just a cautionary note so the home buyers aren’t shocked when a remodeler hits them with the bill. The lead paint story is similar. Sure ir wasn’t made after '78 but plenty still remained and its greatest use was outdoors where it excelled in resistance to sunlight. (Govt. still uses it on bridges.)
I know that, I was just trying to point out that they made 12" VAT in the 60’s well before the VCT came out in 12x12". Just the way you worded your post seemed to indicate that only 9x9 tiles were or contained asbestos.
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they were making 12 x12 VAT well into the 70’s
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Yep, 'cause I removed some loos ones…filled the area and covered the floor with different tiles…per owner request.
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