Hi - I'm currently remodeling a bedroom in my basement and found vinyl tile when I ripped out the carpet. It's been there for at least 50 years, but it did not occur to me that it contained asbestos. My plan was to simply lay down a floating laminate floor over the existing tile. I'm also repainting the room and have had to do a lot of patchwork in the walls. I sanded them down and was left with a lot of dust that I simply swept into a corner until I could vacuum it up. I wore a face mask so I didn't breathe in the dust particles, but when I researched online how long before the room would be safe to sleep in after so much sanding, I found an article mentioning asbestos found in tiles.

This is my concern: I have been sleeping in this room for a few months now with the tiles exposed. I read that if the tiles are not damaged, they should not present a threat. The tiles, for the most part, are completely intact and undisturbed, but when we pulled up the carpet, tile around the edges of the room did break off. This left the cement of the basement floor exposed in a few spots at the edges. In the meantime I've swept and dusted and sanded and swept and kicked up a lot MORE dust during the different phases of the project. I'm wondering what my options are and if the broken pieces pose enough of a threat that I should halt all work. Again, 95% of the flooring is intact, but edge pieces are chipped away. Would I be able vacuum up the remaining particles left on the floor, clean it with hot water, and put down the laminate as planned???