tiling under new furnace

gramps416

Hello,
I am getting a new furnace in early January, and while that's being done, I thought I would solve a problem I have in the furnace room.

originally, the furnace room floor was made up of 9" x 9" asbestos tile. I found that out when I renovated the basement bathroom. On top of this tile is 12" x 12" standard VCT tile. When I peek under the furnace, I can see that the 12" VCT stops at a certain point, meaning there is a small patch of 2 or 3 tiles that were not done under the furnace. Also, the floor was never sealed, and when water gets in the cracks, it gets ugly. I plan on sealing the floor myself soon.

Why does this matter? my family who lives in this house are not very observant all of the time, and the basement floor sometimes gets slightly flooded due to carelessness with lint in the basement sink. The floor drain is clogged too sometimes. I do my best to maintain the place, but I am not always there.

I wish to seal the floor, and to prevent future problems I want to tile under the furnace. I was thinking of using one sheet resilient flooring under the furnace.

Understandably, the HVAC guys who are coming in to do the furnace will not put up with a very large window of inconvenience. resilient flooring does not have to be finished like the vct tile.

Is there a glue that I could use on top of the old asbestos tile that dries really - really -really fast, so that the HVAC guys could put a load on top (furnace)???? I am also concerned, that the resilient flooring is soft, and the furnace may settle. I don't know if that would cause any problems.

Or is there any other ideas that someone has to solve this problem? I was wondering also if it is a bad idea to lay down the resilient piece with no adhesive

thanks
-g

gramps416

bump!

gramps416

does anyone have an answer to this?
-g

stary kozel

gramps - why do you think there was originally the asbestos? Because it is heat resistant and does not burn! And you want to put stuff under the furnace that is combustible? You do so, the HAVAC guys will turn and go back home, because they cannot break local laws. Nobody here cannot give you real advice because we do not know your local building and fire codes. Talk to the people who will do the installation. And do not mess with the asbestos on your own. Just a friendly advice.

gramps416

It is asbestos, I encountered the same tile when I renovated a bathroom in the basement couple of years ago. As I said in the post, I have no intentions of ripping up the floor, I just want to throw down 6 tiles or a sheet to level the floor on top of the asbestos 9" tiles. There are no laws broken with encapsulation where I live, or for most areas (from what I know) for that matter. Though it is an interesting point.

Are there any solutions to this problem? p.s. I have just secured the water hose to the sink, but overflows still occur from time to time.
-gramps