How To Know If Flooring Has Asbestos

Many old flooring tiles that contained asbestos were designed and arranged in a 9 in 23 cm by 9 in 23 cm pattern.

How to know if flooring has asbestos.

The only sure way to know whether your tiles contain asbestos is to have a licensed asbestos inspector check your house and send a sample of the material to a certified laboratory. You should examine the material to determine its condition. Details of asbestos floor tile identification if you can identify your floor tile collection name or model number or if you recognize it in the extensive library of flooring color and pattern photographs provided in these pages laboratory testing of the sample to screen the flooring for asbestos may be unnecessary. If the tiles are older than 1980 and there is a dark discoloration in your floor it s a sign that you may have asbestos underneath.

Step 1 examine the tiles closely for decay. Gather information about the age of the tiles. You can t see it if the floor is intact but you can spot the black adhesive if some of the tiles have already popped off the floor. If you re renovating a building or redoing the flooring in a room look for the pattern of older tiles that could indicate that asbestos tiles were present.

Look for residue of old flooring tiles that may have contained asbestos. The mastic itself usually has asbestos in it. Asbestos flooring often has black mastic which is a type of adhesive on the back. You can either engage an asbestos remediation expert or obtain a test kit for which you ll remove a flooring sample.

It s when the material is broken up that you risk releasing the. The definitive way to find out if tiles contain asbestos is to have them tested. Asbestos mastic is made with asphalt which can degrade the tiles over time as it grinds against the backs of the tiles. The tiles may have asbestos too.

While it can be costly to do so the safest course of action is to assume that there is in fact asbestos in your tiles and get it treated especially if your floor was installed in the 1980 s or before the heyday of asbestos tiling. To help you with here are 4 signs you need to know if your flooring may possibly contain asbestos. As long as the tiles are fully intact and in good condition there is little. If you know when the building was built or renovated this might help you estimate when the tiles were installed.

Look carefully at your tiles to see if they have a uniform color or pattern. If your flooring is installed between 1920 and 1960 it has a higher chance of containing asbestos.