Identify Asbestos Vinyl Sheet Flooring

Possible signs of asbestos mastic include discoloration and an oily texture.

Identify asbestos vinyl sheet flooring.

This type of flooring often has an asbestos backing that is considered friable and the fibres are easily released if the material is disturbed or damaged. Such products some sold under the brand name solarian were installed as recently as 1980 long after governmental restrictions on asbestos were initiated. We describe sources of asbestos in older forms of sheet flooring including felt backed flooring rubber backed flooring and vinyl cushion backed resilient flooring products. As with any asbestos containing material acm the first step to finding asbestos in linoleum sheet flooring and vinyl tiles is.

Always test for asbestos fibers before removing any older vinyl sheeting. Details for identifying asbestos or asbestos suspect sheet flooring products are at resilient sheet flooring id guide. Click here to read more. The most dangerous of these products is asbestos vinyl sheet flooring.

Asbestos containing sheet flooring or resilient flooring product identification. A vinyl sheet flooring that looks like the above has a high chance of asbestos. Like floor tiles vinyl sheet flooring is a long lasting and economical material and it also offers more aesthetic options to suit a homeowner s taste. Between the 1920s and 1960s asbestos was a popular material used in floor tiles.

Asbestos was used in vinyl wallpaper from the 1920s and in the vinyl floor tiles and sheet flooring that rose to prominence in the 1950s. But before about 1978 in products that looked like this same material asbestos fibers were used as a strengthen material on vinyl sheet flooring backing. Mastic is a type of glue used to adhere tiles and vinyl flooring to the subfloor. T he flooring during this period was usually made in 9 inch squares and is quite a bit thicker than most of the modern vinyl tiles.

If black tar is adhering to the vinyl it is almost a 100 asbestos containing fiber product. One armstrong world industries vinyl resilient sheet flooring product thought to have been installed in 1967 was tested in a lab and found to contain 70 percent asbestos. Asbestos vinyl flooring was a durable and economical material that offered many aesthetic options to suit a homeowner s taste. Vinyl or asphalt tiles that have these colors in it have a high likelihood of asbestos fibers.

This article describes sheet flooring products known to contain significant levels of asbestos.