Asbestos Paper Under Hardwood

Widespread use in building materials wasn t until the 1930 s.

Asbestos paper under hardwood.

Older flooring felt may contain asbestos making its removal critical. I have just the right amount of click type bamboo flooring suitable for below grade with 3mm thick underlayment and would like to use that. If it has no asbestos it can simply be sanded off with a drum sander and a very low grit paper 12 16 or 24 whatever it takes. Now we d like to put hardwood flooring in avoiding removal of the existing floor since it contains asbestos.

The asbestos threat is a little overblown but serious enough to take heed. We had no choice but to relay new flooring over that part. 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. When you remove that floor covering to make way for new flooring you may encounter the mastic and wonder whether it is safe to remove the main concern surrounding this question is that black mastic often contains asbestos.

Iirc asbestos was first used in the 1890 s in small and specialized applications. However old asbestos felt remains in the floors and roofs of millions of american buildings constructed between 1900 and 1980. Hmmm ending in the 1950 s but when did they start using asbestos in that stuff. The real problem was the installer glued the carpet with a product that melted the residue from the tar paper into the wood.

Not uncommon on old fir or pine subfloors. Flooring felt or tar paper is sometimes laid under tile flat carpeting or old linoleum. Used to be we just took a machine to it not knowing about asbestos. Hardwood floor underlay until maybe the 1950 s up to 85 asbestos.

First a word of caution prior to the 1980s tar paper and roofing felt often contained asbestos so it s important to have the material tested before attempting to remove it. If what you found under the vinyl is roofing paper commonly used under flooring and it dates to before the late 1970 s it is possible there is asbestos fiber in it asbestos fiber was commonly used in roofing materials until it was outlawed as stated the only real danger in this is if you create an airborn dust otherwise the asbestos is locked into the material. Vapor concerns concerns about roofing felt stem from the bituminous impregnating agents tar and asphaltic bitumen and whether fumes from the felt may rise into rooms. A house we bought had carpet in the kitchen.

We we pulled it up it had tar paper under it. Common in homes built in the 20th century black mastic was used as an adhesive for ceramic tile linoleum and other flooring materials. If the material tests positive for asbestos your best bet is to either leave it alone and cover over it with new flooring or have the material professionally removed by an asbestos remediation company.