Replacing hardwood over asbestos tiles

scottfs

I am planning to remodel my kitchen. Right now, the floor is hardwood but it's not in great shape. The kitchen was remodeled some time in the 80s. Under the hardwood is a 9x9 linoleum tile floor which is surely original (1962) and I figure probably contains asbestos. The rest of the house has hardwood that's in much better shape and the kitchen hardwood is about 3/4" higher than the rest of the house.

Question 1: I want to do most of the demo work and whatnot myself. Is it safe for me to take out the hardwood since its over top of the old tiles? For example, are there nails that I'll end up pulling out that go through the tiles that could release asbestos into the air?

Question 2: Can I put anything over the linoleum without removing it? Obviously carpet would work, but not in a kitchen. I would think ceramic or stone tiles would be a no-go without ripping out the orig. floor. Could put new wood down, though I really would like to overcome the flooring height difference with whatever I end up doing.

Question 3: Also, The kitchen is <200 sq. ft. What might be the approx. cost to remove the asbestos containing material if I hire someone?

Thanks!
Scott

rusty baker

Unless the asbestos becomes friable, it's not dangerous. Why not replace the hardwood with engineered wood? It's normally thinnner than hardwood and might be the height you want.

__________________
"I'm twisted, not sick. Sick implies, I'll get better"
Semi-Retired Installer
Installing since 1973

scottfs

Well, my first choice is I wanted tile. But if it's going to be too expensive as a result of removing the old almost-surely-asbestos-containing tile then I might want to think about something else.

The thing I have against engineered or even real wood is it might look silly abutting the good hardwoods at the edge of the kitchen and wouldn't match. I think tile next to the the hardwood would be ok but two mismatched wood products would probably look odd.