I know that the only way to be certain whether there's asbestos in the plastic mat and adhesive is to send it for analysis. But I thought I'd throw the question out to all you more experienced forum users anyway, so I know whether I should even hope for good news or not.
It's very unclear when the staircase was "dressed" in beautiful beige. There are several other plastic mats in the house laid over older linoleum floors, which were done sometime in the 70s, but the staircase might have been clad later. However, it's not possible to know for sure. There's no documentation, and unfortunately, everyone who might have known is dead. The mat is quite soft and has some "bounce," and the underside is fairly smooth. The adhesive was a bit sticky, but it was easy to pull up the mat to check underneath.
So what do you think? Asbestos or not?
I'm itching to reveal the old staircase... (plus, I slipped and hurt myself because of the slippery plastic the other day, so it's climbed higher on my priority list)
