Asbestos tiles....help?

7 years ago

We bought a house this past summer and we’re informed by our inspector that the basement floor was covered with asbestos tile. Their intact for the most part except for about three sections I’m concerned about. One section had broken tile pieces and some rust colored dust (concrete or rust from the oil tank that used to be there? Not sure? Or dust from the tile??), one tile is cracking, and one tile is missing, but not crumbling or dust is present. We recently swept up the brokeN pieces and some of the dust, and I became terrified that we have airborn asbestos because of the rusty crumbly stuff and broken tiles. doea anybody know what the hazards are of non-vinyl asbestos tile that is broken into pieces? Or any insight into what might be under it? I’m really worried.

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Comments (5)

DavidR
7 years ago
Don't worry. You're not in any danger.

Actually, the stress of worrying about asbestos is probably far more hazardous to your health than the asbestos itself.

The people who got asbestosis were the ones who worked with asbestos products 5 days or more a week, in the factories, or sometimes installing it. Obviously, you shouldn't deliberately seek exposure to asbestos, but don't lose sleep over occasional and incidental exposure at home.

PS - did your inspector actually test the tile? Or is this the usual "some tile of that era contained asbestos"? Unless he/she did, you can't be sure it really does. Asbestos tile was a premium product, valued more and priced higher because of its fire resistance.
kudzu9
7 years ago
Asbestos is tightly bound in vinyl asbestos tile. The rust colored gunk is just that...rust-colored gunk that has nothing to do with the tile. A couple of cracked tiles is not an issue. And if you had an air test done in your house, the concentration of asbestos (if any) would be indistinguishable from the minimal background levels that are always present in the air from other sources. Don't stress about this.

However, if you continue to have tiles come loose and crack, then you should have the floor covered over with a seamless flooring product, or have them all removed using a certified asbestos contractor.
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WeShipFloors
7 years ago
Level up where tiles are missing and install a new floor over the top. It's nothing to worry about.

Alan
toxcrusadr
7 years ago
Agreed with all the above. I would avoid vacuuming dust from broken or crumbling tiles in the future, use a wet rag instead. The amount involved here, even if that dust was from the tile, does not sound like enough to contaminate your house or even the room it was in to an unsafe level.

BTW asbestos was used in tile as a strengthening fiber, same as in asbestos cement, plaster, etc. The vinyl part is still burnable so it really doesn't make it fireproof IMO.
Bruce in Northern Virginia
7 years ago
If you are sure there is asbestos in the tile or the adhesive (very common), then you may want to have it removed. I hired a licensed removal company to take out about 350-400 sq ft of tile in my basement, and the cost was about $1,600. They used scrapers and some type of liquid cleaner to remove all the tile and cut back adhesive, leaving a clean, smooth concrete floor that was colored dirty gray. However, they told us it was clean and ready for paint, and the concrete paint from HD covered it very well.

Bruce