asbestos or not asbestos that is the question

[Raspberrydesigns]

I’m currently decorating our porch on our 1950/60s house. We have asbestos in our garage ceiling and found a piece under our floor mounted ancient boiler when it was removed.

I’ve pulled up the carpet to find these tiles. I had a poke around to see if they were stuck down and they are brittle and cracked fairly easily where the carpet things were attached.

I was ready to scrape them up with a spade but given the age of the property and that it’s already elsewhere am I right to be cautious?

 

[RandomGrinch]

but given the age of the property and that it’s already elsewhere am I right to be cautious?

Definitely right to be cautious.
An asbestos sample test kit is relatively cheap, if there are a few broken bits around to pick up.

I can't see an exact match, but here are a few examples of the vinyl asbestos tiles that are around...

Asbestos Floor Tile & Flooring

Asbestos & vintage retro floor tile & other flooring visual references.

www.flickr.com

 

[Wayners]

Yeah. Probably asbestos tiles.
I took mine up and dumped 20 years ago.
Came up easy and in one peace.
One of my neighbours got a firm in and it cost £2000 and three days.
Took me 20 mins for the entire house.

Look at council website. Might be able to to take them to tip or look around for a company that charges sensible money to remove..

 

[Raspberrydesigns]

Thanks for the replies, probably more than likely asbestos judging by the examples. Ironically the council are collecting the one piece we removed from under the boiler tomorrow or I may have been tempted to remove it myself and chuck it in the same bag. Will be responsible and get an expert in to give us a quote for safe removal.

 

[PolarNorth78]

When was your house built and what's the size of the tile? They look very similar to the Thermoplastic Marley Tiles. The only way to be certain of absestos is to get it tested. However, if they do contain asbestos, it will likely be chrysotile and it's very heavily bonded. Put simply, unless you break it up it poses very little health risk.

Do check with your local authority as some take asbestos waste IF it's from your own home and prebooked. Give them a call if tiles are not mentioned as some will take it.

If its your own home, you may wish to go on a non licenced removal course. It's about £250 but could save you a lot of money compared to getting a firm in.

Edit: clarified it was tile size.

 

[^woody^]

What size are the tiles?

They don't look like typical asbestos tiles, and neither does the backing adhesive - which tends to be the crucial bit.

 

[foxhole]

Pretty harmless in tile form unless you intend to have them ground to dust and inhale them.

 

[Ivor Windybottom]

They look very similar to ours, built 1952. I had samples tested and confirmed that they DO contain asbestos.

However I knew this as I snapped off a sample to send off, as I saw the strands sticking out of the snapped edge. Don't rely on absence of this as evidence that it's not asbestos, but if you see hairy strands then that is it. It was added to the tiles as reinforcement, to hold them together. This was the pre-plastic era when they were made.

Get a sample tested, or just remove with care assuming they do contain it.

Ours are still sitting there, under the carpet, and they don't worry me, as the stuff is so well bonded in it's never going to get into the air. As I refurbish each room I'll spray water over the floor to eliminate dust, wear disposable PPE and scrape them up. A sensible level of care needed, definitely no need for an ET-style white tent and people in astronaut suits.