What on earth is this floor?

[JamesAsus]

Just about to get a kitchen fitted, told the fitter its vinyl on the floor, after lifting vinyl up ive found another layer of flooring. At first thought it was porcelain tiles but appears to be some kind of plastic copy.

What are these? And what is all that black stuff underneath?

Is my kitchen floor now going to need screeding before they fit the units??

Black stuff feels relatively smooth but theres a tiny hole every now and then from removing the brittle plastic tiles on top so wont be the smoothest surface?

If it doesent need screeding for the units will it need screeding for the click type luxury vinyl tiles with underlay??

Thanks

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

I would guess that if the black is quite a thin coating, it is the tile adhesive.

 

[JamesAsus]

Just reading up and online it mentions about black mastic, which apparently contained asbestos so now im worried as hell!!

I dont know when this floor was laid BUT the house itself was built in 1995.

 

[JamesAsus]

If it makes any difference it looks like the black stuff was put on the floor first then tiles laid on top of it rather than tiles having it on the back and stuck down.

 

[JamesAsus]

You can see front of tile and then back of tile has black stuff on it, looks like the tiles were laid on top of the black stuff as stated above.

Tiles are about 2mm thick or so.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

I dont know when this floor was laid BUT the house itself was built in 1995.

The absolute ban on asbestos in construction materials (including flooring adhesives) came into force at the end of 1999, but for many years prior to that, starting in the 1980s, asbestos was phased out. The type of asbestos used in flooring adhesives when it was used was chrysotile asbestos which fortunately is the least harmful of the three widely used types of asbestos. For peace of mind you may be better to get a lab (UK based) to test a sample before proceeding

If it does turn out to contain asbestos the best approach is not to disturb it - far better to document where it is then encapsulate it if at all possible.

If as a last resort you must remove it then keep the areas you are working on well damped down (stops fibres becoming airborne), wear a P3 mask and don't under any circumstances use a domestic vacuum to clean it up afterwards (as that will blow fibres straight through the filter material and all over the place.

If it is asbestos and you decide to remove it any waste, including masks, glovrs and other potentially contaminated materiaks) will need to be doubled bagged and the council will take it away for you for safe disposal - this is a chargeable service which councils are legally obliged to offer, and they will probably insist on you using their bags as well (our local council has bright red bags to stop the bin men taking this). There are heavy penalties for incorrect disposal of what is regarded as potentially hazardois materials

 

[big-all]

i would suggest take reasonable precautions and carry on with your life ??
asbestos is evil but i think in this instance may be minimal to none if you are worried get a test done for peace off mind but i think [only an opinion] less than 20% chance off being carcinogenic but off course iff it does come up clean and easy when the 20% danger may be reduced to perhaps 5% where as a hard removal with loads off breaking up where the danger can be perhaps 30% exposure
now this isnt a "you will get cancer prediction" but exposure level will off course effect you some will never ever suffer any effects as time exposed [usually many months ] and amount off dust will dictate the outcome so take precautions possibly in line with covid or traffic pollution that will kill far more in life than historic but diminishing levels off off evil asbestos ----
but just an opinion ??

 

[JamesAsus]

I wasent planning on removing it. Just chipping the tiles off it, they come up very easily to be honest. Then either lay a new floating floor on top if its smooth enough or screed on top if required?

House was 95 but not sure if its the original floor or pur in after.

Tiles dont look oily and no discolouration of tile either.

 

[JamesAsus]

Also found this website stating that asbestos was used in adhesive up til 1986, looks like a asbestos company based in uk.

https://www.djsurveying.co.uk/asbestos_adhesive.htm

Also found this link stating asbestos was used in bitumen til 1992, again a uk website.

https://innercityenvironmental.co.uk/asbestos-in-bitumen-2/

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

Just reading up and online it mentions about black mastic, which apparently contained asbestos so now im worried as hell!!

I dont know when this floor was laid BUT the house itself was built in 1995.

That stuff is much thicker and will cover the entire floor. What I see in your photo is the black stuff does not spread out to the skirting board, because I think I am seeing bare concrete there. As I said - it is the tile adhesive.

 

[JamesAsus]

That stuff is much thicker and will cover the entire floor. What I see in your photo is the black stuff does not spread out to the skirting board, because I think I am seeing bare concrete there. As I said - it is the tile adhesive.

Is bitumen just as thick as black mastic then?

It looks 2mm thick or so at most i would say, is that really an indication its just adhesive? Its a full layer on the whole floor not just on bits of the back of the tiles.

Why would the black mastic be spread all the way to the edge of the skirting?

 

[Harry Bloomfield]

It looks 2mm thick or so at most i would say, is that really an indication its just adhesive? Its a full layer on the whole floor not just on bits of the back of the tiles.

Yes - thin is tile adhesive and can be/needs to be removed from the concrete. Thick - 10mm or so is not adhesive, it is the original floor and should not be disturbed.

 

[JamesAsus]

Yes - thin is tile adhesive and can be/needs to be removed from the concrete. Thick - 10mm or so is not adhesive, it is the original floor and should not be disturbed.

Okay thank you.

Just cant get my head around why they have used so much adhesive on the floor for such thin cheap tiles haha.

 

[dazlight]

Take the tiles up then put a 3mm smoothing compound over the top like ardex NA , Tilemaster pro flow , fball 1200 pro

 

[JamesAsus]

Take the tiles up then put a 3mm smoothing compound over the top like ardex NA , Tilemaster pro flow , fball 1200 pro

Will that set okay over the adhesive? Or do you mean just the bit without adhesive?