Sheet Vinyl Flooring Asbestos Paper Backing

Remove a piece of floor molding or a floor heat register to access an edge of the sheet vinyl flooring.

Sheet vinyl flooring asbestos paper backing.

My concern is that there may be asbestos behind the sheet vinyl perhaps in the paper backing or glue adhesive. With a utility knife and while wearing rubber gloves cut a one inch long 1 8th inch wide sliver of sheet vinyl flooring. Unfortunately vinyl sheet flooring manufactured with an asbestos backing poses a serious exposure risk when it is disturbed. 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.

Asbestos vinyl sheet flooring can be more dangerous to remove than tiles if proper precautions are not practiced. 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. The house i live in was supposedly built in1990. He said that asbestos in flooring was more in the 1950s and thought that the sheet vinyl was probably a replacement floor anyway.

The backing would be one suitable for use as a surface covering for example a felt perferably a rubber bonded asbestos backing a vinyl sheet backing a cellulosic felt or other backing which lendsitself to surface covering applications. Asbestos vinyl sheet flooring poses a significantly greater asbestos exposure risk than floor tiles or wallpaper. We are told that the paper layer can contain from 40 to 70 percent asbestos. Oct 22 2015 dennis said.

Asbestos vinyl sheet flooring has two layers a top layer of vinyl and a bottom layer made from paper that contains asbestos. Sheet vinyl flooring should be removed to avoid or minimize disturbance of the asbestos containing backing. I started removing old flooring in the bathroom when upon an internet search on how to i started seeing articles about asbestos in vinyl flooring. 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.

It is sheet vinyl with a paper type backing. My father wasn t particularly concerned about this when i asked him. 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. Probability of asbestos in sheet flooring in a 1990 home.

The backing of the vinyl sheet didn t crumble or anything like that but it did separate when i ripped the sheet off the floor. Never worked with asbestos before maybe i ll use a paper filter.