Ceramic Tile Over Vinyl Asbestos Tile

Alternately you can hire an asbestos removal company to safely remove all the flooring.

Ceramic tile over vinyl asbestos tile.

Photo by russell kaye i m told that the old vinyl floor tiles in the basement of our 1950 house contain asbestos and that i should not try to remove the tiles but cover them with wall to wall. New vinyl laminate flooring hardwood engineered floating flooring and carpeting can all be successfully installed over asbestos tiles. Above we show a 9 x 9 cork patterned vinyl asbestos floor tile found in a 1960 s ranch style home in new york. Cork pattern vinyl asbestos floor tiles were produced in at least three hues by armstrong as well as montgomery ward and sears and possibly kentile and other companies.

Installing vinyl flooring is a similar process. Asbestos found in the vinyl floor tiles at the toh tv project house means a state licensed and well protected abatement crew must do the removal. No other specialized prep work or treatment is necessary. You can assume this floor tile contains asbestos.

But that changes as soon as you decide to remove it. Vinyl tile is an excellent option for sealing in asbestos tiles. 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. If you aren t removing the old floor you may be creating a new floor that is too thick for doors to open and shut or for thresholds to have clearance.

The best solution in this circumstance is to cover over the asbestos flooring with a thin layer of plywood underlayment before putting down cement board and ceramic tile. In many cases installing a new floor over the tiles encapsulates the asbestos fibers and is an acceptable way to manage the material. Unlike many asbestos containing materials vinyl asbestos flooring is generally safe to be around. Vinyl is a type of plastic that has long been a popular material for floor tiles and sheets.

This is trickier as you can t simply slap mortar down on top of old asbestos tile put down the new tile and expect a good result. That said it can be difficult to get a level surface for the new floor especially if the old tiles have chipped away. One of the biggest factors of installing a new floor over the old is thickness.