Handling Asbestos Floor Tiles

[TxBuilder]

When you cover over asbestos tiles do you take any precautions or just lay the floor over?

When we replaced our homes living room it had those tiles so I laid a very thick gauge plastic liner over the entire thing and then duct taped along the sides. Afterwards we had to level with compound so that was another layer, then the padding and finally flooring.

Probably overkill with the plastic lining but more peace of mind for us.

 

[PaulLynch]

I think asbestos is reletavely safe if it's left alone.
It only becomes an issue when it's disturbed i.e. cutting, sanding etc which creates dust.
I may wrong but that's my understanding.

 

[BudCline]

I think asbestos is reletavely safe if it's left alone.
It only becomes an issue when it's disturbed i.e. cutting, sanding etc which creates dust.
I may wrong but that's my understanding.

Correct. At least that was the story-line several years ago when I was certified in asbestos abatement.

Don't saw it or grind it or get an abundance of particles airborne and it is said to be manageable.

 

[Ernesto]

I've taken up thousands of sf of those 9 x 9 tiles before they passed that stupid law. Never felt any ill effects yet. cough cough.

Thank goodness they invented floating floors. But I have seen guys put ceramic tile over them.

 

[Nick]

How many feet of seems did we burn with the hot iron before they put a warning out ?

 

[Floorist]

How many feet of seems did we burn with the hot iron before they put a warning out ?

Warning? There was a warning? Someone else must have got my copy.

 

[Nick]

They had a sheet of paper in the box of heat tape not to breath it .

 

[DarisMulkin]

The warning used to be posted on the back of Orcon seam tape boxes-DON'T BREATHE THE FUMES.

Daris

 

[PaulLynch]

I've taken up thousands of sf of those 9 x 9 tiles before they passed that stupid law. Never felt any ill effects yet. cough cough. QUOTE]

I must admit I've done my share of asbestos removal....before it became an issue....and probably quite a bit after it became an issue....and I'm a smoker....and I have no respiratory issues to speak of.....YET....
I do know several guys who have ultimately succumbed to cancers they have blamed on asbestos though.
Mostly from the building/construction industry.

 

[FYIfloors]

How many feet of seems did we burn with the hot iron before they put a warning out ?

My dad sanded them for years under the instruction of the boss he was working for, he later found out the boss had been given the warning but didnt pass it on to his staff and just kept making them do it. He has asbestos scaring in his lungs and has it checked every year

 

[FYIfloors]

I've taken up thousands of sf of those 9 x 9 tiles before they passed that stupid law. Never felt any ill effects yet. cough cough. QUOTE]

I must admit I've done my share of asbestos removal....before it became an issue....and probably quite a bit after it became an issue....and I'm a smoker....and I have no respiratory issues to speak of.....YET....
I do know several guys who have ultimately succumbed to cancers they have blamed on asbestos though.
Mostly from the building/construction industry.

I know of two in the trade that have died as a direct result of Asbestos

 

[msinstallations]

One should keep in mind that Emphysema/Copd doesn't show any symtems to speak of or is not diagnosed by doctors until it is in the severe stage. Most people with mild copd simply think they are out of shape or have allergies. Only way to find out is to take some simple lung function tests, you always want to remember your lungs feel no pain so you have no idea if they have been damaged by smoking and dust.

 

[Floorist]

The first warning that I remember about asbestos tile was in about 1988. A rep from someone (EPA?) came to the retailer I was working for, and explained it to us. They said to just cover it and forget it was there if at all possible. No real instructions on removing it. Not too long after that, a retailer/installer was fined $10,000 for sanding a tile floor and had to pay for cleanup. That made a bigger impression on the stores than the health warning.

 

[Floorist]

Legal Status of Asbestos in the U.S.

With all the evidence clearly showing the dangers of asbestos usage it would seem that asbestos would be illegal by now. Unfortunately, this is not the case. Though it was banned in 1989 the ban was repealed and in 1991 and asbestos is still legal today.
Due to litigation from workers injured during the asbestos mining process, asbestos is no longer produced in the US; it does however continue to be imported and processed within our borders.
In Europe a number of countries including Germany, Italy, Netherlands, Sweden, Norway, and Switzerland have passed all encompassing bans on Asbestos production, usage, importation, and exportation. Other countries, such as France have all but ended asbestos usage within their borders yet have been aggressively pushing their products in Asia, and Latin America.
In the mid-eighties, Canada, being the world's second largest producer of asbestos, went so far as to lobby in the United States to promote the continued use of asbestos when the Environmental Protection Agency attempted to ban it. Their effort succeeded and the ban was not implemented. The Canadian government later went on to pay $4 million to the Asbestos Institute to promote the use of asbestos around the world.
Since its founding in 1991 a European federation called Ban Asbestos has held numerous meetings across the globe in as they continue to push for a world wide ban. Other organizations such as the International Labor Organization (the employment division of the UN) have pushed for international treaties establishing the rules for safe asbestos handling and labeling. The European Union has managed to pass laws regulating the safety procedures for handling asbestos and requiring labeling on all asbestos containing products. The subject of banning the use of asbestos in the Union has been heavily debated.

 

[BudCline]

Source of this information is..........?

 

[Floorist]

Found it on another forum and thought it was interesting.

 

[BudCline]

I saw it on that other forum after I posted here. I think it was a publication from some legal office or something. That information is actually contrary to what we have been hearing for years.

 

[Floorist]

I have read several times before that the ban was overturned.

 

[BudCline]

I have read several times before that the ban was overturned.

Probably so...

Years ago when I got my certification for asbestos abatement in flooring products the ban was in force. They were also quick to point out how little the ban really meant and they had a long list of products that still contained asbestos in their makeup. There was a maximum of asbestos that could be used but it was surprising at that time how much was still being allowed.

My guess is the ban was put in place to appease the tree-hugger's and when things got quiet again the ban was silently removed without any fanfare.

 

[Floorist]

In the first 7 years of this century (2000-2007) the U.S. consumed 50,000 metric tons of asbestos and added it to asbestos containing products sold in America, according to the Commerce Department’s U.S. Geologic survey. The last asbestos mine in the U.S. closed in 2002. However, the U.S.G.S. only tracks mineral use in the U.S., not imports of finished goods containing asbestos.
The U.S. EPA successfully banned the use of most friable materials during the 1970s through the Clean Air act. The EPA then attempted a phase out/ban on all asbestos materials in 1989. Much of the original rule was vacated and remanded by the U.S. Fifth Circuit Court of Appeals in 1991. Thus the original 1989 EPA ban on the U.S. manufacture, importation, processing or distribution in commerce of many asbestos containing product catagories was set aside and did not remain in effect. The ruling was not that there was insufficient evidence of a hazzard, but that the EPA could not prove they had jurisdiction to create and enforce the ban.
ACM products currently BANNED:
Under the toxic Substance Control Act: Corrugated paper, commercial paper, specialty paper, rollboard, flooring felt and new uses of asbestos.
Under the Clean Air Act: Most spray applied surfacing materials, wet applied asbestos pipe insulation, sprayed on building applications containing more than 1% asbestos unless encapsulated in a bituminous or resinous binder, preformed asbestos block insulation for boilers or water tanks and pre-formed asbestos pipe insulation.
Asbestos products NOT BANNED: asbestos cement sheet (flat or corrugated), asbestos clothing, pipeline wrap, roofing felt, VINYL ASBESTOS FLOOR TILES, asbestos cement shingles, millboard, asbestos cement pipe, clutch and friction facings including brake components, gaskets and coatings. All of these products can still be made in the U.S. or imported.
In 2001, the EPA inventoried 3,000 products still containing some asbestos for sale in the U.S.
Makes me wonder what else might be in Chinese drywall?

Most U.S. flooring products were asbestos free by 1982, not by law, but by the manufacturer's choice.