If the tiles in question are crumbling torn drilled sawn or sanded you ll definitely want to consult with a professional who can help gauge risk and offer recommendations for reducing asbestos exposure the epa is among the best resources available to help educate on risks and abatement techniques.
Covering asbestos tile with laminate.
If the floor is true linoleum damage does not present a danger of asbestos inhalation.
If you aren t removing the old floor you may be creating a new floor that is too thick for doors to open and shut or for thresholds to have clearance.
One of the best ways to deal with asbestos tile is to leave it in place and cover it with new flooring.
One of the biggest factors of installing a new floor over the old is thickness.
The most common tiles that are positive are ones that measure 9 x 9.
If asbestos tiles are covered with carpeting or a floating floor made of wood bamboo cork linoleum or vinyl along with the appropriate vapor.
What most people tend to do with asbestos tile is cover it and forget it partly because professional abatement is so expensive and partly because the risks with tiles in good condition are low.
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.
Many tiles in older homes do contain asbestos and there is no way to tell just by looking.
You want to avoid cutting drilling sanding or doing anything that abrades the old tile.
With any voids filled a glued laminate will prevent any problems with asbestos.
You would need to level the floor for laminate.
Mastic that is black is also a tell tale sign.
Vinyl tile is an excellent option for sealing in asbestos tiles.
Asbestos only becomes an issue if particles become airborne.
I would fill the voids with self leveling mix 600 is quite a large area to do the entire floor and would be quite expensive.
Many older resilient floors have cracks cuts and other damage.
In many homes the fiber insulation is painted to encapsulate the asbestos as long as it is left intact and covered to will be safe.
So after much reading on asbestos tile and due to my limited budget i ve decided to just cover them with traffic master floating laminate flooring but everyone i ve talked to has said they won t install the flooring with the asbestos tiles.
Flooring over asbestos tile hello.
If the existing floor is in good shape the cheapest easiest solution is to cover it.
If possible cover it with another layer of flooring.
While those are the most common asbestos containing floor tiles many other tiles and floor coverings can be positive as well.