In many cases installing a new floor over the tiles encapsulates the asbestos fibers and is an acceptable way to manage the material.
Best flooring over asbestos tile.
Porcelain floors are extremely versatile and durable with tile sizes up to 24 inches available for a clean modern look with fewer grout lines.
Laminate is a cheap fast flooring solution that easily goes right over ceramic tile.
Armstrong produced the excelon tile series beginning with a plastic asbestos floor tile series in 1954 referring to the product as vinyl plastic asbestos floor tiles beginning in 1955 and vinyl asbestos tiles from 1957 to 1980.
Some of the flooring tiles have come off and you see.
So after much reading on asbestos tile and due to my limited budget i ve decided to just cover them with traffic master floating laminate flooring but everyone i ve talked to has said they won t install the flooring with the asbestos tiles.
It is a thin solid flooring system that doesn t require adhesive and comes with a padded underlayment that helps smooth out any contour from the ceramic.
Resilient sheet flooring containing asbestos was also produced finding wide use as early as 1968.
You have lot of options when it comes to covering asbestos tiles and it only is a health risk when the floors asbestos particles come airborne.
You could also cover the tiles with new vinyl flooring linoleum or even ceramic tiles.
That said it can be difficult to get a level surface for the new floor especially if the old tiles have chipped away.
That way no one will be endangered years from now when they start to rip up the new flooring and find asbestos tiles beneath.
Hey deltaskye thanks for your great question and welcome to the community.
However as a favor to future owners of your house make some note of the fact that asbestos tiles are under the new flooring.
You could also seal it with a coat of epoxy floor paint.
In many cases the best thing to do about vinyl asbestos flooring is put a new layer of flooring on top of it.
Laminate flooring goes very well over ceramic tiles.
Over time asphalt which was a main ingredient in asbestos tiles can degrade and cause the tiles to look grimy or discolored in spots.
If the tiles in question are crumbling torn drilled sawn or sanded you ll definitely want to consult with a professional who can help gauge risk and offer recommendations for reducing asbestos exposure the epa is among the best resources available to help educate on risks and abatement techniques.
Just like tom hd116 stated encapsulation and enclosure is really the best thing a homeowner can get sort of a professional abatement company to remove the tiles.
If your floor can be thicker without causing problems install a porcelain floor over the old asbestos.