Vinyl flooring asbestos

[Magnus E K]

I thought I would simply lay a new floor on top; that's what I did in the other rooms of my old apartment after I found out there was asbestos in what I had already torn out. Asbestos fibers don't leak from the carpet as long as it's intact. (If there are loose seams and edges, tape them first with age-resistant tape.)

The downside is, of course, that it still remains there if one would still have to tear it out later due to, for example, water or fire damage.

 

[Frida80]

It might be a solution for the club room. Maybe best to glue a plastic mat on top, that should make it sealed. What worries me more is that I have lived with the loose edges and damaged remnants in the closet for 7 years without being aware of the danger. Well, these pieces must be removed somehow anyway, it's not possible to glue over there. Thanks anyway for the answers!

 

[useless]

What worries me more is that I have lived with the loose edges and damaged scraps in the closet for 7 years without being aware of the danger.

What would the danger have been? As long as you don't stir up a lot of dust, it's not dangerous. It's not like there's a radioactive substance emitting radiation into the surroundings...

 

[Frida80]

What would have been the danger? As long as you don't stir up a lot of dust, it's not dangerous. It's not like there's some radioactive material lying around irradiating the surroundings...

No, it doesn't irradiate, so hopefully, it's not a danger. What I mean is that the gray asbestos paper has been exposed on the edges that have come up, as the picture shows. Asbestos paper has a very high fiber concentration, and there are sources that claim that a slight puff of air is enough for the fibers to come loose. Now, I believe there's not much airflow on a closet floor... It's interesting to compare how the issue is handled in different countries. When I read studies, stories, etc. from Germany, where as a private person you are not even allowed to remove such flooring yourself, one might think that a little hole in the mat is enough to contaminate the entire house. In Sweden, the perception "if you don't touch it, nothing happens" is more widespread. It's difficult to get an objective view of the matter.

 

[Frida80]

Hello, it has now been tested and unfortunately it contains asbestos, as feared on the back of the carpet.

 

[Stefan1972]

One might have their own opinion about asbestos, but it's possible to measure levels of asbestos in all air quite naturally. This is probably the only objective factor to consider. So, you have likely inhaled millions of times more asbestos fibers naturally than what could be present in a few square decimeters of carpet in a closet........

 

[Mccpercy]

Hi! Can anyone assess if this might contain asbestos? I don't think this directly resembles the peeling material further up in the thread.
Regards/Per

 

[hscn]

Naturally impossible to guarantee, but everything indicates the asbestos-free variant from 1977 onwards.

 

[Frida80]

A little update: now the carpet is gone. I finally decided on remediation to be able to forget about the issue. This was probably the right decision since it turned out there were remnants of the carpet with asbestos even under the new one in the stairwell, not even under the entire new carpet but here and there. Now the floor is gone both under the stairs and in the recreation room. The work of restoration remains, the question of which floor we should lay, etc. Keep your fingers crossed that we make some progress before Christmas. When we tore down the closets, this lovely color scheme appeared, it will probably take a few 100 liters of paint... By the way, the remediation guys also took the old pipe insulation, so I got rid of that asbestos as well.

 

[useless]

What did the party cost?

 

[Frida80]

How much did the party cost?

A lot

 

[Stefan1972]

The funny thing is that cleanup of simpler species often involves 99% cost for the mind itself and then 1% benefit........The worry itself is often greater than the potential impact it has.

 

[Hejochhåvadetgår]

Attaching a link with a very good picture of what the asbestos layer usually looks like. [link]
The later asbestos-free variants were somewhat different. Novilon, for example, which was a popular brand, used a layer that most closely resembled stiff fairly hard foam plastic.

Hi,
Do you know which type of asbestos was used in these mats?

 

[hscn]

Hello,
Do you know what type of asbestos was used in these mats?

Usually short-fiber Chrysotile (white asbestos), typically 80 to 100 percent by weight in the actual asbestos layer.

 

[Hejochhåvadetgår]

Usually it is Short-fibered Chrysotile, commonly 80 to 100 percent by weight in the asbestos layer itself.

ok.. I had builders at home who tore up a floor covering with asbestos in it. The lab could only determine that it was asbestos, but not which type. I read that Anthophyllite was common in asbestos paper. But maybe it was different with the paper used under floor coverings.
The color of the paper was more on the white side than the gray. If that would be an indication of chrysotile asbestos.