vinyl asbestos tiles
Asbestos circulating in my house?
Our house flooded about a week and a half ago. One of our first projects after it dried up a little was to remove the carpet. Under the carpet were 9×9 tiles which for the most part scraped up pretty easily. They did not bend like regular vinyl tiles, instead they would crack if you tried to bend them. We removed the most of them about a week and a half ago, and I finished removing the last few of them today. My sister called me a couple hours after I was done and mentioned that the tiles most likely contained asbestos. I had no idea about anything that has to do with asbestos, so I was not aware of this when I was pulling the tiles. Now that it has already been done, and started over a week ago, what am I supposed to do now that I am almost positive they were asbestos?
First, relatives are terrible asbestos professionals. Yes, the tiles could contain asbestos, but the ONLY way to know is to take a piece to a local lab for testing. Most tiles do not contain asbestos. Did your sister also tell you the glue/mastic on the bottom could also contain asbestos. Make sure the piece you take to the lab has some of that on it. Until you have it tested, do nothing and if it turns out positive you may need to hire a local professional to look at it. Most likely, you will just put a new carpet down (if you do it yourself). If you hire someone, you need to hire a professional to evaluate it and clear it for outside workers.
