Asbestos vinyl tiles

[Wallike]

I deal with asbestos laden buildings on a college campus every day. So I have a good relationship with several abatement contractors. The issue is that the abatement process to remove the asbestos is the same for every type of asbestos in every asbestos laden material. So if you have steam pipe insulation that is extremely 'friable' and a floor with the 9" square tile and bark brown glue, which would would have to grind into a fine powder and snort to get exposed, is the same abatement process which has to be done the exact same way...expensively. I have my own thoughts on how justifiable asbestos abatement is and how dangerous asbestos is. Asbestosis is a real illness but explain to me why my uncle could live to be 89 years old, never had any lung issues his whole life and was a union pipe insulator when asbestos was used in every thing.
So to answer your question, in my opinion, buy a good respirator, remove the tile carefully no to break the tile up to much (causing friability) use a good quality citrus based mastic remover to remove the glue, vacuum up when your all done with HEPA filter in your shop vac and go out fishing when your done.

 

[espringers]

fwiw, i am not exactly proud i did it and think about it from time to time. it wasn't an easy removal process. the glue was amazing shit. on my hands and knees in an unvented space with a hand scraper sweating and breathing heavy like a MOFO. nothing, including the tiles, came up easy. at the time, i didn't realize asbestos was in those tiles and that glue. coincidentally, it was just a few months later that i was made aware of it. as someone else said, ignorance is bliss... i hope.

 

[Davey Crockett]

Anyone that was in the oilfield in the 70s and 80s might remember the asbestos brake blocks for drill rigs. Quite a few of the smaller rigs back then didn't have a dyno or hydro-matic so the brakes would get smoking hot when we were running pipe in the hole so we would stand in a cloud of asbestos smoke , Worst was when we had to change out the blocks every couple of months and breath that burned asbestos dust . Food didn't taste good for a day or so after a good dose of that crap. By the Mid to late 80s asbestos brakes were no longer used.

 

[Rowdie]

I deal with asbestos laden buildings on a college campus every day. So I have a good relationship with several abatement contractors. The issue is that the abatement process to remove the asbestos is the same for every type of asbestos in every asbestos laden material. So if you have steam pipe insulation that is extremely 'friable' and a floor with the 9" square tile and bark brown glue, which would would have to grind into a fine powder and snort to get exposed, is the same abatement process which has to be done the exact same way...expensively. I have my own thoughts on how justifiable asbestos abatement is and how dangerous asbestos is. Asbestosis is a real illness but explain to me why my uncle could live to be 89 years old, never had any lung issues his whole life and was a union pipe insulator when asbestos was used in every thing.
So to answer your question, in my opinion, buy a good respirator, remove the tile carefully no to break the tile up to much (causing friability) use a good quality citrus based mastic remover to remove the glue, vacuum up when your all done with HEPA filter in your shop vac and go out fishing when your done.

I used to work for HSI out of Fargo, well the main office is in Rapid City. The rules are slightly different when dealing with friable vs non-friable, and the process isn't exactly the same, but, yes on the expensive part. And if you're demolishing a building with just non-friable, it fits in a much less expensive category. Yes the mastic glue had small amounts of asbestos also. We would use a chemical that would eat away the glue, and that stuff would stink!! We used chemical filters. We'd laugh that we wore our masks tighter and better on those days with virtually no asbestos in the air because of the smell, than on the days we were ripping and tearing it off.

Asbestos is only harmful because it breaks down so tiny and is shaped like a needle. It's so light it doesn't settle. It's all about scar tissue in the lung. Any scar tissue can be cancerous down the road. The latency period for any effects may be 20 plus years when exposed to asbestos. And there were a lot of guys working in a cloud of the stuff every day, and they were fine. But they drug it home on their clothes and there kids breathing it in from that. Kids and growing lungs isn't good. Getting scar tissue at such a young age is bad.

Just do EXACTLY what WALLIKE said in his last paragraph and you'll be fine!!

 

[Allen]

If you remove it yourself, are you allowed to say the asbestos is gone and/or not disclose it if you sell the house? I always thought you had to have a certified 'abatement' done with paperwork if you were going to say the place was 'abated' and the asbestos 'gone.' I thought it was that way with lead too.

Either way, as long as it's not disturbed it's harmless. Aside from the whole cancer thing asbestos is/was probably the best material for its applications. Lead, too. Lead paint was incredible stuff from what I hear.

Interesting aspect of it, and one I do not know the answer to.

 

[Rowdie]

If you remove it yourself, are you allowed to say the asbestos is gone and/or not disclose it if you sell the house? I always thought you had to have a certified 'abatement' done with paperwork if you were going to say the place was 'abated' and the asbestos 'gone.' I thought it was that way with lead too.

Either way, as long as it's not disturbed it's harmless. Aside from the whole cancer thing asbestos is/was probably the best material for its applications. Lead, too. Lead paint was incredible stuff from what I hear.

If it were me, I'd do it and play dumb. Unless its been documented somewhere that it was there and tested positive, how do you know for sure the material removed was actually asbestos containing? And yes that stuff is the best insulation there ever was. They added a little to everything as it strengthened it. Those big pieces of asbestos insulation that came off of boilers, you can take a cutting torch to it and then put your hand on it.