# Encapsulating Asbestos Floor Tile Help



## biddlecom (Apr 4, 2017)

I have a small section of 9x9 tiles in my basement that is asbestos containing.  The tile is glued down (black mastic) directly on the concrete basement floor.  95% of the tiles are in good shape but the other 5% are breaking and coming up.  I would like to encapsulating the tile and then put a nice thick sheet vinyl or something of that nature over it.  In the section that the tile is in I dont seem to have any moisture problems or flooding. 

What exactly is encapsulating and what would I use to do it?
Would a good thick sheet vinyl be able to be glued down on the encapsulated floor?
Is sheet vinyl a good option or is there something better for something like this?

Is there an entirely different way to go about this?  I dont want to pull them up because of baby in the house and would be very difficult to contain due to basement layout.  I also dont want to hire an abatement team if I dont have to.

Any help would be awesome.


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## bud16415 (Apr 4, 2017)

The fibers are 99.99 stuck in the binder of the tile. Make it wet put on a dust mask and keep the wife and baby upstairs and peel them up and put them in a plastic bag and toss them out. I personally feel the risk is quite low doing this and this is coming from a 62 year old guy that used to saw solid asbestos lumber on a table saw and sand it on a disk sander at work. I wouldn&#8217;t recommend that to anyone. 

Get it out and keep it wet when you work on it and clean it up with water. Then have fun putting the new floor down.


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## biddlecom (Apr 4, 2017)

I can understand that being the case but it was stuck down with black mastic.  I don't want that dust getting everywhere while im ripping the tiles up.



bud16415 said:


> The fibers are 99.99 stuck in the binder of the tile. Make it wet put on a dust mask and keep the wife and baby upstairs and peel them up and put them in a plastic bag and toss them out. I personally feel the risk is quite low doing this and this is coming from a 62 year old guy that used to saw solid asbestos lumber on a table saw and sand it on a disk sander at work. I wouldnt recommend that to anyone.
> 
> Get it out and keep it wet when you work on it and clean it up with water. Then have fun putting the new floor down.


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## slownsteady (Apr 4, 2017)

Not all black mastic (cutback adhesive) contains asbestos, but some from the 1970's and older, do. It is a dilemma for homeowners. Picking up the tile is relatively easy, but installing flooring of any kind over old cutback appears to be difficult. It should not be left uncovered in any case. I have heard that 6 mil plastic sheeting is sufficient to encapsulate it, but that is not an official word. A floor grinder with a vacuum attached seems to be the preferred approach. If you go that route, then you can top off and level with a self-leveling, or a trowel-on product.


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## Snoonyb (Apr 4, 2017)

Here is a simple method of determining if the adhesive is "cutback"; Boil a small container of water, then spill some on an exposed area of adhesive. If the water balls up and rolls around, the adhesive is "cutback", If the water melts the adhesive, it is not "cutback".

What makes the tile and the adhesive available to be ingested, is that the particles become "friable", IE. airborne and that is why, as bud suggested, keeping the removal area damp is crucial.

Mask the area off, keep a change of clothes handy, wear long sleeved shirts and keep the area damp, and you should be fine.


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## biddlecom (Apr 5, 2017)

Thank you for the suggestions.  But say I just want to leave the tile where it is and place new sheet Vinyl over it.  Is there a standard way to encapsulate/prep the asbestos tile before laying the new vinyl?


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## Snoonyb (Apr 5, 2017)

If there are no faults, IE. missing tile, just install the vinyl over it, and it then becomes encapsulated.

If there are faults then fill with a grout or fix-all to the adjoining level before installing the vinyl.


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## Sparky617 (Apr 5, 2017)

If the tiles are securely attached, leave them.  Fill in areas with missing tiles with leveling compound.  You can then cover it with another floor covering.  Since it is in the basement make sure whatever you use is suitable for below grade applications.

Asbestos tile is not friable unless you start sanding or grinding it.  You don't need to cover it with plastic if you're covering it with another floor.

Here is a decent article on the subject:  http://inspectapedia.com/hazmat/Asbestos_Floor_Sealants.php


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## bud16415 (Apr 5, 2017)

Some great advice in this thread. As an example, the house / kitchen we bought had a god awful worn out missing tile cheap peel and stick flooring down. My plan was to put in a laminate floor. Some of it was coming off some of it was really stuck. Below that was a vinyl sheet product that was glued 100% down to asbestos tile that was glued with the black stuff to half inch plywood that was nailed or screwed to the original T&G flooring. I peeled up the loose P&S tiles and filled them with leveling filler and put my laminate as yet another layer of history. The kitchen was gutted and I was in a hurry and taking all that mess out looked like a lot of work and it was easier to make a tapered threshold into the living room. 

The only reason I said at first to get it out of there is in 15 years your new flooring will be worn out and now you have it glued to the bad tiles as well. These things kind of take on a life of their own over time.


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## biddlecom (Apr 5, 2017)

Guess that's true.  I just don't feel comfortable taking it out when I have a 11 month old who lives in the house.  Also I don't have $2,500 to spend on abatement.  So I figured the easy way is to just cover over it.  I have been very paranoid about asbestos since having the baby and im very careful with what I do around the house now.



bud16415 said:


> Some great advice in this thread. As an example, the house / kitchen we bought had a god awful worn out missing tile cheap peel and stick flooring down. My plan was to put in a laminate floor. Some of it was coming off some of it was really stuck. Below that was a vinyl sheet product that was glued 100% down to asbestos tile that was glued with the black stuff to half inch plywood that was nailed or screwed to the original T&G flooring. I peeled up the loose P&S tiles and filled them with leveling filler and put my laminate as yet another layer of history. The kitchen was gutted and I was in a hurry and taking all that mess out looked like a lot of work and it was easier to make a tapered threshold into the living room.
> 
> The only reason I said at first to get it out of there is in 15 years your new flooring will be worn out and now you have it glued to the bad tiles as well. These things kind of take on a life of their own over time.


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## bud16415 (Apr 5, 2017)

biddlecom said:


> Guess that's true.  I just don't feel comfortable taking it out when I have a 11 month old who lives in the house.  Also I don't have $2,500 to spend on abatement.  So I figured the easy way is to just cover over it.  I have been very paranoid about asbestos since having the baby and im very careful with what I do around the house now.



Nothing at all wrong with being a good and careful dad thats for sure. I respect that position a lot. 

Thinking back to being a kid and what wasnt known then. My dad built our house and the basement went in and was capped when I was a baby and thats where we lived till I was 8 and the upstairs started coming together. The whole basement was the bright colors of asbestos tiles and was broken up into 4 sections and he had different patterns in the kitchen than the living room or the bath and two bedrooms down there. He had stacks of spare tiles I would play with laying out shapes around 2 or 3 years old. About once a month mom would put paste wax on the floor and run this machine around to buff it out. Back then it was a space age material. I was back at that house 60 years later and the floors still look great, but the people living there dont buff them.


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