kitchen floor help (asbestos)

3 years ago

Hello. We have wood floors in our kitchen that prior owners put over linoleum. We also have wood floors in the whole house that are not over another floor. This makes the kitchen floor slightly higher at the entrances to the kitchen (there are three) and that bugs me. We are updating the kitchen and planned to remove both the wood and floor underneath in the kitchen and then re lay new wood floors. Unfortunately we found out yesterday that the linoleum is likely asbestos (ugh). We could just sand and stain/reseal the current wood floors in the kitchen but there are several areas of damaged floor. We are going to reach out to an abatement company tomorrow. No clue the cost yet so I’m wondering what our other options are for flooring? If I’m not mistaken we can still cover the linoleum? Certainly we will make sure first but supposing we can, what options are there to keep flush with the entrances (one from the dining room, front entrance hall, and living room). I’ve included pictures of one entrance that all three look like in terms of transition. My husband also wonders why the kitchen floor is so high when the linoleum is so thin. So even if we do have it removed we don’t know yet if wood floors would sit flush. Some details that might be helpful: it is a colonial from the 60’s with no issues in terms of settling (the floors don’t appear to be uneven like they’d be in a historic home), we are doing this ourselves (aside from asbestos), home is located in a middle-upper middle class neighborhood (not sure if this would make a difference in terms of who would be potential future buyers should we sell - that’s just why I’ve included it here), we have a child, cat, and plan to get a dog in the future (a big one).

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Comments (9)

sheloveslayouts
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
I'd have a sample of the linoleum tested and confirmed asbestos before calling out an abatement company. Fortunately, there's a lab in my town that had a quick turn around. There was a very low asbestos content in our previous basement's linoleum tiles, so we didn't disturb them and put flooring on top. Unless I'm missing something, I see no point in removing your linoleum layer if it comes back positive. Just keep it covered.
Chris H
Original Author
3 years ago
What other options are there aside from tile and wood floor that would look good and be flush to the other floors in the house? My first thought was linoleum but I also don’t know what else is available. My husband has some ideas but he is more of a thinker than a talker (haha) so he wants to first see if it’s asbestos before we talk about flooring. I’m the opposite; let’s talk about all the things! Ha!
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sheloveslayouts
3 years ago
I'd say wood, tile, or maybe sheet marmoleum. If you search the forums there is quite an ongoing debate about kitchen flooring with all the pros and cons.
PRO
HALLETT & Co.
3 years ago
You have a subfloor plus finished flooring in your public rooms, originally the kitchen had some flooring on top of the subfloor to bring it level with the adjacent floors before the finished flooring was installed (likely either cheaper tongue and groove pine or plywood) To get you new oak level with the old oak the linoleum AND the backer under it comes out down to the original subfloor. Then tarpaper and oak goes back…
sheloveslayouts
3 years ago
@Chris H Is the thicker floor in the kitchen? If the goal is a level floor transition, this might be the constraint that limits you to a sheet product like marmoleum.
Chris H
Original Author
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
@sheloveslayouts yes, the kitchen is higher. We are going to test it for asbestos though! Hopefully its not. I am ok with something else that is thin. Maybe something with a slate look. Not sure but I imagine we should go completly different than wood if not using wood.
charles kidder
3 years ago
I would get rid of the asbestos no matter what. Assuming it's there. Now you would know it's there, so in many places, you have to disclose it when selling or renting. And I would sleep easier knowing it was properly removed.
sheloveslayouts
3 years ago
last modified: 3 years ago
Asbestos flooring tile doesnt release carcinogenic fibers unless its disturbed. The flooring in our 1968 basement had less that 3% asbestos. We were advised to leave it alone rather than disturb - even if disturbed by pros. YMMV.
Addition
3 years ago
We have an 1890's house with multiple layers of flooring in the kitchen. one intermediate layer is 20% asbestos, LVP is the top layer. we are stripping it down to subfloor using a remediation company (about $1800) and then installing hardwood. once I knew it was there I would just rather have it out