Asbestos Containing Vinyl Sheet Flooring

Always test for asbestos fibers before removing any older vinyl sheeting.

Asbestos containing vinyl sheet flooring.

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 vinyl sheet flooring has two layers a top layer of vinyl and a bottom layer made from paper that contains asbestos. Asbestos containing sheet flooring or resilient flooring product identification. We are told that the paper layer can contain from 40 to 70 percent asbestos.

For more information. 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. Such products some sold under the brand name solarian were installed as recently as 1980 long after governmental restrictions on asbestos were initiated. One armstrong world industries vinyl resilient sheet flooring product thought to have been installed in 1967 was tested in a lab and found to contain 70 percent asbestos.

Asbestos backed vinyl sheet flooring and asbestos containing vinyl tiles or any vinyl sheet flooring or tiles which are presumed to contain asbestos must be entered into the asbestos register for the workplace. As with any asbestos containing material acm the first step to finding asbestos in linoleum sheet flooring and vinyl tiles is. Asbestos vinyl sheet flooring can be more dangerous to remove than tiles if proper precautions are not practiced. Sheet vinyl flooring should be removed to avoid or minimize disturbance of the asbestos containing backing.

This will entail peeling the sheet vinyl from the flooring beneath if the backing does not separate in the process or removing the sheet vinyl in sections with the underlayment attached. This article describes sheet flooring products known to contain significant levels of asbestos. If the material is in good condition it normally does not pose a threat because the asbestos is enclosed in vinyl preventing the fibres from escaping. Unfortunately vinyl tiles and sheet flooring that contain asbestos pose a potential exposure risk.

Like floor tiles vinyl sheet flooring is a long lasting and economical material and it also offers more aesthetic options to suit a homeowner s taste. Unfortunately vinyl sheet flooring manufactured with an asbestos backing poses a serious exposure risk when it is disturbed. If black tar is adhering to the vinyl it is almost a 100 asbestos containing fiber product.