Asbestos linoneum sheeting removal

flyingmachine

Just bought a house built in 1972 in Southern California. A few friends of mine were over to help out and got started prepping for tilling the kitchen. We got about 4ft by 4ft worth of old sheet linoneum taken out then someone brought up asbestos. Needless to say, we stopped the work, and we are getting samples tested. The parts we removed there are still plenty of tan color adhesive sheet residue left behind. I'm going back to spray things down and do a thorough cleaning. Unfortunately, we used a small mechanical scraper and a shop vac for some of the debris. So if the samples come bad positive for asbestos, I'm almost certain they will due to the age of the house, how badly did we mess things up? All the clothing and tools are already double bagged. I'm debating layering some thick paint over everything, and just lay flooring on top of that (no tiles) How much should it cost to rip up the rest of the 80 sq ft of tile from an abatement firm? Thanks,

Daniel Holzman

This is a very common topic on this forum, do a search for asbestos and you will see dozens of posts. You will also note that opinions range from "asbestos is a communist plot to sap the will of the American people to perform DIY projects" to individuals who are genuinely concerned about asbestos related illness. Personally, I would not get too concerned about it, friable asbestos is a serious issue, but unless you went at the floor with a belt sander, it is unlikely you put many fibers into the air.

flyingmachine

thanks Daniel, I'll dig around, hopefully, won't be too big a job to do on my own.

Maintenance 6

Asbestos is embedded in a pretty heavy matrix when it's in flooring materials. There is not a great chance of releasing airborne fibers unless you do something really wild like hitting it with a sander or wire brush. Keep it damp while you remove it. Completely wipe everything down and dispose of all of the cleaning rags. Some flooring adhesives can contain asbestos too. Just don't work them dry and you will be fine. Don't throw your tools away either. Damp wipe them. They'll be fine.

Bud Cline

So there is no need to burn all of their clothing and reduce the house to ashes also? Well that's good!

Maintenance 6

No point in burning them. Asbestos won't burn. You just end up with contaminated ashes and they are REALLY friable.

Bud Cline

The burning would hopefully take place out of doors. Once the fire goes out the wind will take care of the ashes and anything contained therein. Not to worry.

flyingmachine

thanks everyone, so far so good, everything coming out in a double wet bag. I'm using a wall paper steamer to help loosen the glue and it keeps everything wet while i'm scraping. There're still residue left behind in the grooves of the cutback.

edit... With the old cutback everywhere, our tile guy (friend) is recommending that we leave the kitchen linoneum alone so he can tile over that. He does not think it's a good idea to tile over the left over cutback on the area we already taken out the old linoneum (dinning room, hallway). So what choice of flooring do I have left with due to the left over cutback residue? If I go with laminate, do I need to seal the asbestos containing cutback with anything before installing?

Thanks again,