Asbestos Removal
Nine-inch square tiles on a basement or kitchen floor are one of the best-known signs of an older house, and many of them contain asbestos. So does a lot of the black cutback adhesive used to lay them, even under tiles that test negative. The tile itself is fairly stable while it stays whole. The risk comes when it is broken up, sanded, or ground off with the mastic to make way for new flooring. Proper removal keeps the tile intact where possible, keeps it wet, and takes the mastic off with methods that do not turn it into dust.
Vinyl-asbestos tile was the cheap, hard-wearing floor of the mid-century house. It went down in kitchens, basements, rec rooms and hallways in huge quantities, usually as nine-inch squares in marbled greys, greens, browns and reds. Twelve-inch tiles from the same decades were often made the same way. In older Pittsburgh-area houses it is common to find two or three layers: original tile, a later tile on top, and sheet vinyl or carpet over the lot. Each layer is a separate material and gets its own sample.
The adhesive is often the bigger issue. Black cutback mastic, the tar-like glue used under a lot of old tile, frequently contained asbestos, and it stays on the slab or subfloor after the tiles come up. It is regularly positive under tiles that test negative. The problem is what happens next: flooring installers grind or sand the slab to get a flat, clean surface, and grinding asbestos mastic is one of the more effective ways to put fibres into the air. That is why the tile and the mastic are tested, and treated, as two separate jobs.
Floor tile is classed as nonfriable while it is whole, and the method is built around keeping it that way. The room is sealed off, the tile is kept wet, and it is lifted with hand tools so it comes up in whole or large pieces rather than shattered. The mastic is then softened with a remover made for the purpose and scraped up wet, never ground. What is left is a clean slab or subfloor that the next trade can prepare without disturbing anything, and a clearance check before the containment comes down.
Tile that is firmly stuck, intact and flat can often stay and be covered with new flooring laid over it. It is a legitimate option and it is cheaper. The catch is that the floor still contains asbestos, so it must not be sanded, and anyone who later takes the floor up has to know it is there. If you are going down to the slab anyway, as part of a basement finish or a larger renovation, removal is usually the better order. A sample of each layer settles which route makes sense.
How long does it take? A basement or kitchen floor is usually one to two days, depending on how well the tile lets go and how much mastic is underneath.
These usually come up in the same conversation:
Samples of the suspect material, analysed by a lab. You cannot tell asbestos by looking, and nobody should quote removal before the result is in.
Learn More →An asbestos survey and removal ahead of a gut remodel, addition or teardown, so the permit is not held up and the crew is not cutting into it.
Learn More →Sometimes the right answer is not removal. Intact material can be sealed, wrapped or enclosed so it stays put, for a fraction of the disruption.
Learn More →Free · No obligation
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