asbestos tiles - need advice

16 years ago

I recently purchased a home and noticed that after I ripped up the rug, there was a 10X14 section of the floor that contained 9X9 tiles. The house was built in the late 1950's. I went back and forth for over a week on whether to remove these tiles or just re-carpet over them. Either way, new carpet is going to be installed. The tiles are covering concrete slab. They looked in tact for the most part. After a week, my Dad stated he would come remove the tiles for me. I hung a paper/plastic drop cloth over the doorway and taped it down with blue painters tape to avoid anything traveling throughout the house. I also taped over the central air ducts with metallic tape. The room is 20x14 so only part of the room had the tiles, the other section is an addition with only concrete slab. My Dad wet the area with a hose to keep the particles down and scrapped up the tiles. He said majority of them broke because it was glued to concrete. I was not present for this removal and the tiles were already bagged and sealed with duct tape when I arrived. When he was done, my mother wiped down the walls with a damp wash cloth which had some bleach on it as well. When I arrived an hour later, I used a 3M air mask with dual magenta filters and entered the room. I also wiped down the walls and ceiling with a damp cloth and soaked the floor again to keep particles down. I then wiped along the bashboard closest to the floor with a damp cloth and placed a heavy duty tarp over the exposed concrete to try and keep everything down after the floor dries. My carpet will not be installed for at least another week or two, as I need to repaint all the walls and ceiling (another way to seal the dust, if any came up). Here are my questions: 1. Was this done correctly for removing tiles yourself? 2. Does it pose any threat that I removed them using these methods? 3. Should I continue to use the 3M 99.97% mask when entering this room to do my painting? 4. Can I remove the drop cloth I had up to prevent anything from traveling throughout the house. 5. Is there anything else I should do to limit exposure or do you think this was done well? 6. Are particles still going to be floating a day or 2 later or do you think this room is fine now? I really would like to be able to travel through this room now without the mask. 7. Being that I wasnt there for the actual removal and followed all of these safety processes, including using the special 99.97% 3M mask when entering afterwards and wiping down ceilings and walls and resoaking floor, did I expose myself to any danger? 8. How long until I can walk freely in this room? Good advice would be greatly appreciated. Thanks to all for understanding and answering my concerns.

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Comments (6)

glennsfc
16 years ago
From what you describe, I believe your dad did an excellent DIY demolition of the floor. You have nothing to worry about.

As a final item to put your mind at ease, you can exchange the air in the room by placing a window fan in one window to exhaust room air to the outside and open a window on the other side of the room or somewhere else in the house to bring in fresh air. In no time your room will have clean and fresh air.

Then, of course, you could spend money to have the room air tested. However, in my opinion, you would be wasting that money.
brickeyee
16 years ago
The asbestos in the tiles is tightly bound into the material.

Short of grinding up the tiles (or sanding them) you are not going to release anything.

The tiles are NOT 'friable' under the EPA rules and a a very low hazard.

'Friable' means you can crush the material with your bare hands to release fibers.
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yowdie06
Original Author
16 years ago
Glennfsc and brickeyee,

Thank you so much for the feedback. Its greatly appreciated. Its been 48 hours since the tiles have been removed. Should I go ahead and take down the drop cloth or wait til after the new carpet is installed, in case any "dust" is kicked up from the mastic that is present on the concrete floor? Do I need to wear the special mask still when entering this room? Does all the mastic need to be removed from the floor before the new carpet is installed? I would rather not scrape the stuff off the floor if I dont have to. Thanks again for your excellent advice.
echoflooring
16 years ago
I believe everyone should wear the mask for the next 36 months (Even after it is done) Take pics and win 10 grand on Americas funniest LOL. No it does not need removed if they are putting cushion down which I sure hope they are. PS get on with life...you will die much quicker worrying like you do......
glennsfc
16 years ago
In my opinion, you don't need to wear a respirator, but any kind of dust is not good for lungs, so it wouldn't hurt to wear one if there is construction dust around.

Get some Henry's or Armstrong Feather Finish (a cementious floor skim coating product made the the Ardex company), mix with water as directed and skim coat the product over the mastic with a steel edge trowel. This thin coat of this product will isolate the carpet from the mastic and prevent any staining. It will also permanently seal the mastic.
yowdie06
Original Author
16 years ago
Right now I have a heavy duty tarp, which covers 70% of the floor, and a few sheets covering the floor of the rest of the room. When my carpet is installed (PS - where should I go to start looking?) should I put the drop cloth back up and block the vents again so the "dust" from under the tarp/sheets doesnt kick up and spread throughout the house? Or is that not necessary? Even though I wet the tiles before removing them, they are dry now, so my thinking is when they come to install the carpet and the tarp is removed, and they throw padding and carpet down, the "dust" on the floor is now dry and can become easily airborne again, no? Advice?