Flood in basement with old asbestos floor tiles

8 years ago

Hello: I have a basement with asbestos vinyl tile that I painted over it with floor paint and it looked great (for a basement). I had a flood in my basement and water was standing for at most 8 hours. This was 6 days ago. Some of the paint peeled. A moisture meter today shows high moisture, but the remediation guy tells me this could be because it is on a concrete floor. If the tiles are moist, it seems best to remove the tiles as they might cause long term problems, right? If the tiles have moisture and they are covered by paint and don't breathe, then it seems they might rot at some point? But if they are going to be okay, I would just as soon leave them in place and put another coat of paint on top. Thanks for any insight.

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Comments (4)

kudzu9
8 years ago
Vinyl tiles are not going to "rot" from water exposure. It is possible that the flood may interfere with the adhesive and some of the tiles may become loose...but that may not even happen. Right now I would get it dried out: a large exhaust fan would help. Once it's dried out, you can see if there really are any problems. but don't undertake unnecessary actions now.
HU-655806221 thanked kudzu9
ci_lantro
8 years ago
Circulate the air; run a dehumidifier.
HU-655806221 thanked ci_lantro
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PRO
Creative Ceramic & Marble/ Bill Vincent
8 years ago
I agree with the others. VA tile will not "hold" moisture. Even better than an exhaust fan would be a dehumidifier. It'll do a better job, and do it faster.
HU-655806221 thanked Creative Ceramic & Marble/ Bill Vincent
HU-655806221
Original Author
8 years ago
Thanks to all of you! There was an industrial dehumidifier down there for about 30 hours, from the remediation company, and the high powered blowers. Now I have my regular one running down there. I thought maybe those old tiles had sawdust but research shows they are probably mostly limestone. Thank you so much!!!!