Take care when removing asbestos tiles

Hey there, time traveller!
This article was published 04/11/2007 (6625 days ago), so information in it may no longer be current.

Q. MY one-and-a-half-storey home was built in 1946 with the original floor coverings on the main floor hallway and the entire upper level. This flooring is vinyl-asbestos tiles. Simply installing carpeting over the tiles seems like a Band-Aid fix. I would like to remove them and try to eliminate some of the squeaking from the floor before I choose a new covering.

What do I need to know about the health risks associated with these tiles and how are they removed safely?

— Eric Meadwell, e-mail

A:Building materials containing some asbestos were quite common when your home was built and may be a potential health hazard, depending on the product and type of asbestos fibres present. The good news is that vinyl asbestos tiles generally have the asbestos fibres well embedded within the vinyl body of the tiles, where they remain harmless, unless the tiles are damaged. It is important not to overreact and to remember that many potentially hazardous materials within our homes are only dangerous if mishandled or deteriorated.

Asbestos has long been linked to certain respiratory diseases including cancer, which can be fatal. Most of the cases of individuals with serious forms of these diseases have had long-term exposure to asbestos due to work-related environments. Lately, there have been some people with asbestos-related illness that has been traced to their home environment, but that is mostly seen with insulation, not floor tiles. Regardless, it is always best to take precautions to prevent inhalation of any known hazardous material when doing renovations. The important thing to remember is that unless the fibres can become loose and airborne, there is little to no risk, at all.

With the old vinyl floor tiles in your home, the only way for the embedded fibres to become loose or friable is due to damage to the tiles. This may occur when you remove them, as they may be quite brittle after all these years. To remove the tiles you may have to pry or scrape them off the subfloor, often with a flat end shovel or tile scraper, which may cause the thin vinyl to shatter. This damage may theoretically release some fibres into the air and while the amount may be small, it is better to be safe than sorry. While prying the tiles may be a necessity, you should avoid excessive scraping and never, ever sand them, as this can cause excessive release of asbestos into the air. While doing this you should always wear an approved respirator rated for asbestos as well as head and body coverings. These can be purchased at safety supply stores or home centres.

One reason that asbestos is so dangerous is that the fibres are very small and can be easily blown throughout a building by normal air currents and HVAC systems. For this reason, the area that you are removing the floor tiles from should be isolated from the rest of the home while working. This can normally be done by installing polyethylene sheathing at all doorways, hallways, and other openings to the rest of the building. Also, heating registers within the worksite should be blocked or covered with poly to prevent the spread of dust and debris from the renovations by the heating system. Once the tile removal is complete, the area should be well-cleaned with a vacuum equipped with a HEPA filter or vented directly to the exterior. The poly should be carefully taken down and immediately discarded in plastic garbage bags to prevent spreading of dust and debris that may contain any asbestos fibres.

Once cleaned up, you should have much easier access to the subfloor boards or sheathing which will allow you to re-secure this old material to the floor joists, minimizing floor squeaking. Covering this with another layer of plywood or other subfloor sheathing will complete the preparation for new floor coverings. The type of subflooring material and fasteners used will depend on your choice of replacement flooring.

I commend you for your initiatives to obtain more information before jumping into renovations that may release harmful materials into your home. While there may be some desire to dismiss the danger as minimal, it never hurts to take the proper precautions to prevent even the smallest exposure to these contaminants. History is full of cases where building products once thought to be harmless have turned out to be potentially dangerous, much later on. More information on asbestos within our homes can be found on the Canada Mortgage and Housing (CMHC) website at: www.cmhc.ca or Health Canada at: www.hc-sc.gc.ca.

Ari Marantz is the owner of Trained Eye Home Inspection Ltd. and the president of the Canadian Association of Home & Property Inspectors – Manitoba (www.cahpi.mb.ca). Questions can be e-mailed or sent to: Ask The Inspector, P. O. Box 69021, #110-2025 Corydon Ave., Winnipeg, MB, R3P 2G9. Ari can be reached at (204) 291-5358.

trainedeye@iname.com