Identify Your Asbestos: Floor Tiling

Asbestos was a popular ingredient in floor tiling and floor tile mastic for many years. Because of the resistance to water damage and wear and tear, asbestos was well suited for this task. If your house was built before the early 1980's, and you have floor tiling as shown in the photographs, chances are they contain asbestos fibers.

Where you find it:

• Kitchens, Basements, Bathrooms - anywhere that floor tiling was put in place before the early 1980's.

What you should do:

As with other installations of asbestos, examine carefully the condition of the material. If the condition is decent and decay or cracking doesn't exist, chances are you can safely build over the material and lay down another floor. An installation of a plywood or cement-board subfloor on top of the asbestos would work well. If asbestos is in decrepid condition, consider contacting a certified asbestos removal team to remove the materials before continuing to install a new floor.

Examples:

Example of asbestos tiling dating pre-1980's.

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