[boondocks95]

I am remodeling a 1971 home and have been really careful to take necessary precautions to minimize risks for a home of that year. We pulled the carpet up in the basement to lay a floating floor and I think the glue under the padding may be asbestos mastic. I wet the padding and scraped it off the top of the mastic to create a level surface. So now it looks like dried glue with padding residue. I plan to paint and then put 6mil plastic down before laying the floor.

Is the mastic a problem if you aren’t sanding it or trying to scrape it up? I did scrape the top of it obviously when scraping the foam. Just curious if asbestos fibers might be flying around the basement. Not good ! I need to turn the HVAC on in a few days so I can lay hardwood upstairs so if fibers are floating around I don’t want to do that obviously.

 

[finisher65]

For around $30 you can get test results within a week to end your speculation & then you'll know how to proceed. The black mastic that contained asbestos is called cutback adhesive & is readily recognizable.

 

[boondocks95]

At this point what good would it do to know now since it’s already completely exposed ? See pic. It’s concrete and I’m not sure why the carpet padding didn’t completely cover the mastic.

 

[boondocks95]

Another pic

 

[carpdad]

Even if there was asbestos fibers in the glue, the glue'd have to be sanded into fine dust to release the fibers. If me, I would not be worried with that and use it as such.

 

[huesmann]

When you say you want to paint, do you want to paint the floor, or the walls?

 

[boondocks95]

Paint the walls before laying the floor so it won’t drip on the floor but we will obviously be walking on the mastic and I wasn’t sure if that was enough to release fibers (from walking on it).