Asbestos Felt Flooring

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

Asbestos felt flooring.

No longer used in the manufacture of roofing felt asbestos can still be found in old pre 1990 rolls of the material. In many cases the best thing to do about vinyl asbestos flooring is put a new layer of flooring on top of it. Older flooring felt may contain asbestos making its removal critical. Asbestos vinyl sheet flooring has two layers a top layer of vinyl and a bottom layer made from paper that contains asbestos.

If you have time and about 40. Asbestos floor tiles will not release toxic fibers and pose a health risk unless they are disturbed. You could also seal it with a coat of epoxy floor paint. At asphalt based sheet flooring we report that some tests of red backed asphalt core vinyl sheet flooring found that the floor did not contain asbestos.

Sanding sawing drilling or tearing the tiles out however can release fibers into the air. We are told. Asbestos vinyl sheet flooring can be more dangerous to remove than tiles if proper precautions are not practiced. Dry asbestos particles are lighter than air wet ones are less prone to become air borne.

Asbestos was phased out of production in the 1980s. But other asphalt impregnated felt products and floor backers did contain asbestos so unless you have had a lab test performed it would be prudent to assume that the material contains asbestos. Originally used for its fire resistance and ability to strengthen the cloth asbestos once made up 15 percent of the material. You can also have a flooring sample tested for asbestos using one of the certified asbestos testing labs in this asbestos testing lab list.

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. However old asbestos felt remains in the floors and roofs of millions of american buildings constructed between 1900 and 1980. Asbestos containing sheet flooring or resilient flooring product identification. That means it is safe to walk on but not safe to scrape sand or use power tools on.

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. Asbestos flooring felt is one of the few asbestos products completely banned in the u s and regulations now require other products to contain less than one percent asbestos. Lab testing of flooring for asbestos content.