Asbestos Vinyl Floor Sheeting

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.

Asbestos vinyl floor sheeting.

Must be implemented to control. This will entail peeling the sheet vinyl from the flooring beneath if the backing does not separate in the process or removing the sheet vinyl in sections with the underlayment attached. It is possible to make a tentative identification of floor tiles based on the individual tile pattern color and thickness. The vinyl sheeting itself does not contain asbestos.

Vinyl asbestos flooring comes in two types tiles and sheeting. Vinyl is a type of plastic that has long been a popular material for floor tiles and sheets. Old vinyl products that contain asbestos remain in many buildings across the u s creating a hazard for contractors and do it yourself renovators. Vinyl asbestos tiles should not be sanded and the glue that holds the tiles to the floor should not be sanded either.

Figure 1 asbestos backed vinyl sheet flooring. Asbestos vinyl flooring was a durable and economical material that offered many aesthetic options to suit a homeowner s taste. Sheet vinyl flooring should be removed to avoid or minimize disturbance of the asbestos containing backing. While asbestos is useful as a binding agent in the manufacture of vinyl and rubber floor coverings it isn t needed to make linoleum tiles or sheet flooring.

This article describes sheet flooring products known to contain significant levels of asbestos. 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. Asbestos containing sheet flooring or resilient flooring product identification. You can visually identify vinyl flooring materials that contain asbestos by reviewing the vinyl asbestos floor tiles and sheet flooring identification photo guide see resources.

Asbestos backed vinyl sheet flooring is where the backing the side attached to the floor see figure 1 contains friable easily broken asbestos material. However you re not completely in the clear because asbestos was a common ingredient in the mastic used to hold these flooring materials to the subfloor. Unfortunately vinyl sheet flooring manufactured with an asbestos backing poses a serious exposure risk when it is disturbed.