Asbestos Backed Vinyl Sheet Flooring

Unfortunately vinyl sheet flooring manufactured with an asbestos backing poses a serious exposure risk when it is disturbed.

Asbestos backed 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. Another possibility is to lay 1 4 inch underlayment on top of your existing floor and then lay new flooring on top of that. Asbestos backed sheet vinyl flooring was commonly installed in many ways including over hardwood softwood and concrete floors. 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.

Asbestos vinyl sheet flooring has two layers a top layer of vinyl and a bottom layer made from paper that contains asbestos. Manufacturers often made this type of flooring with a friable asbestos backing which means asbestos fibres are easily released into the air if the sheet flooring is disturbed or damaged. Dry asbestos particles are lighter than air wet ones are less prone to become air borne. Additional guidance can be found in the how to safely remove asbestoscode of practice 2011.

Or if your existing flooring is in good condition your best option may be to simply. The removal procedures described in this publication address the removal of asbestos backed sheet vinyl only if. Vinyl sheet flooring comes in large pieces and is usually cut to the size of the room and laid down in one piece. 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 sheet flooring can be more dangerous to remove than tiles if proper precautions are not practiced. Removing your asbestos backed sheet vinyl flooring. 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. 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.

Rather than removing it consider installing a new floor directly on top of it. The most dangerous of these products is asbestos vinyl sheet flooring. We are told. Asbestos vinyl sheet flooring poses a significantly greater asbestos exposure risk than floor tiles or wallpaper.

It also was installed over tongue and groove wood floors particleboard and plywood. Where asbestos backed vinyl sheet flooring is to be removed it must only be removed by an a class asbestos removal licence holder in accordance with the workplace health and safety regulation 2011. This article describes sheet flooring products known to contain significant levels of asbestos.