Vinyl and thermoplastic floor tiles, sheet vinyl and some lino products were made with asbestos, and so were the paper backings and bitumen adhesives underneath them. A kitchen floor of the right age is therefore three possible materials in one build up, and the one people forget is the backing paper, which is the most friable of the three and stays stuck to the screed when the covering lifts.
The three layers of asbestos in flooring
The tile or sheet itself, usually with a low asbestos content bound in vinyl. The backing paper on sheet products, which can be a much higher content and is far more friable. And the bitumen adhesive bedding it to the floor. Each is sampled separately, because a negative on the tile says nothing about the paper underneath it.
Why old floors are left alone
An intact floor covering in good condition, or one covered with a new floating floor, is a normal and defensible way of managing the material. Lifting a bonded vinyl floor is the disturbance; laying over it is not. Where the floor is being lifted anyway, plan the removal properly rather than as an afternoon of scraping.
Lifting an asbestos tile floor properly
Tiles are lifted whole and cold rather than heated, ground or sanded, and the adhesive and backing paper are treated as their own material. Heat guns soften the bitumen and also drive off fumes; grinders turn the residue into dust. The waste is double wrapped and consigned, and the room is cleaned afterwards rather than swept.
Asbestos kitchen floor tiles and bathroom floors
These are the rooms where old floors survive under later coverings, often two or three layers deep. A refit is the moment they are found, usually by a fitter with a scraper. Sampling before the fitter arrives costs very little and saves the stoppage that follows an unexpected black adhesive bed.
Questions people ask about asbestos vinyl tile
Do asbestos floor tiles have to be removed before new flooring?
No. Laying over a sound floor is a recognised way of managing it, provided the decision is recorded so whoever lifts it next knows what is underneath.
Is the black glue under old tiles asbestos?
Bitumen adhesives were made with asbestos and are sampled as their own material. The colour tells you it is bitumen, not whether it contains asbestos.
What about asbestos linoleum?
Some linoleum and sheet vinyl carried asbestos in the product or in the backing paper. The backing is the layer that matters most and is the one most often missed.
Is asbestos lino the same thing as asbestos vinyl tile?
Not quite, and both are common. Sheet flooring, the old lino style covering sold in rolls, sometimes had a paper or felt backing that contained asbestos, and the sheet itself sometimes did too. Tiles are the other product, with the fibre in the tile body and often more of it in the black bitumen adhesive underneath. Both are usually treated as lower risk bonded materials while they are stuck down and intact, and both become a real risk when they are lifted, broken, scraped or sanded, which is exactly what a floor replacement does. In a house of the right age the sequence is a sample before the floor comes up.
Is all old vinyl flooring asbestos bearing?
No, and the age alone does not settle it. Some vinyl tiles and some sheet vinyl of the same period contain no asbestos at all, while others carry it in the tile itself, in the paper backing of sheet vinyl or in the black bitumen adhesive underneath. The only way to know which floor is in front of you is a sample analysed by an accredited laboratory, which is why the sensible order is to assume it until it is tested and to leave it alone while it is sound.