Asbestos Tiles

[Anonymous]

We planned to do a smallish renovation in our basement - opening up a non load bearing wall and replacing the carpet with LVP. Out of curiosity I checked out under the carpet and am pretty sure we have asbestos tile…

Any recommendations for asbestos abatement companies? What can we expect for price per sq ft in the DMV? I have read about $20 per sq ft and we have about 1,000 sq feet.

[Anonymous]

Cover up the tile with lvp. You have no actual knowledge whether it’s asbestos or not.

[Anonymous]

Just cover with floor leveler and LVP

[Anonymous]

OP here. Would still like referrals and any feedback on what others have spent per square foot.

We would really prefer if we could remove this wall and I’m concerned about construction with the tile in that area. We have young kids in the house.

Furthermore, I am fairly certain it’s asbestos (it’s a very unique pattern and I found online the exact tile in a catalog of Armstrong vinyl asbestos tile circa the year our home was built.)

[Anonymous]

We were told our asbestos tile was perfectly fine as long as we left it as is. We have carpet over it.

[Anonymous]

Instead of just carpet and padding you could further mitigate it with a layer of cement leveling.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Would still like referrals and any feedback on what others have spent per square foot.

We would really prefer if we could remove this wall and I’m concerned about construction with the tile in that area. We have young kids in the house.

Furthermore, I am fairly certain it’s asbestos (it’s a very unique pattern and I found online the exact tile in a catalog of Armstrong vinyl asbestos tile circa the year our home was built.)

As long as you don’t disturb it you are fine.
Also there is a paint you can buy for asbestos remediation.

[Anonymous]

FWIW encapsulation is approved as a method of remediation.

Asbestos exposure needs to be occupational or equivalent to be an issue. If you were living with the tile degrading and getting blown around your house by the hvac that might be a problem (honestly depending on how the asbestos was used in the product - most tiles won’t be dangerous even in this scenario. Insulation is typically the worst). But the whole remediation thing is half scam to fear monger people. If you’re that concerned, the day they remove the wall, make sure they isolate the room, blow air out the window, and spray down the edge of the tile near the wall and avoid breaking any of the tiles. That day, they should wet mop up the dust and dispose of the mop. Lay down the underlayment for the LVP the next day, and boom, it’s encapsulated.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Would still like referrals and any feedback on what others have spent per square foot.

We would really prefer if we could remove this wall and I’m concerned about construction with the tile in that area. We have young kids in the house.

Furthermore, I am fairly certain it’s asbestos (it’s a very unique pattern and I found online the exact tile in a catalog of Armstrong vinyl asbestos tile circa the year our home was built.)

You have no actual knowledge if it’s asbestos or not. Unless you send it for testing, no one can tell you. Having no actual knowledge is a good thing.

[Anonymous]

We had it done in our basement rec room after an insurance claim. I believe it was 11K for the one room. (Insurance paid due to the incident that caused us to pull up floor)

When we did LVP in our guest bedroom we just laid it over the old tile instead of doing abatement.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:We planned to do a smallish renovation in our basement - opening up a non load bearing wall and replacing the carpet with LVP. Out of curiosity I checked out under the carpet and am pretty sure we have asbestos tile…

Any recommendations for asbestos abatement companies? What can we expect for price per sq ft in the DMV? I have read about $20 per sq ft and we have about 1,000 sq feet.

Just encapsulate it. We poured floor leveler over the asbestos tile in the basement and then put LVP over it. No need to waste money.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:Instead of just carpet and padding you could further mitigate it with a layer of cement leveling.

+1
Your best bet by far is to encapsulate it. If the wall is definitely non-load bearing, it may have been built on top of the tile, which will make removing the and encapsulating the tile easy. I’d be leery of abatement. There are a lot of companies that will claim to do it, but very few who will take all the precautions and ensure nothing enters the air or the rest of your house. Encapsulating is not just cheaper but also safer. A correctly done removal job will cost a fortune bc you need all sorts of negative air pressure things, special permits, etc. We had quotes for the area of our basement in nw, and most of the removal quotes were around $30-$60k. We ended up encapsulating it instead

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:OP here. Would still like referrals and any feedback on what others have spent per square foot.

We would really prefer if we could remove this wall and I’m concerned about construction with the tile in that area. We have young kids in the house.

Furthermore, I am fairly certain it’s asbestos (it’s a very unique pattern and I found online the exact tile in a catalog of Armstrong vinyl asbestos tile circa the year our home was built.)

You have no actual knowledge if it’s asbestos or not. Unless you send it for testing, no one can tell you. Having no actual knowledge is a good thing.

+1 OP sounds like she and her DH have a bet as to whether it’s actually asbestos or not and she needs the testing to win. Nobody wins when the guys in spacesuits have to come out to remove what you can safely encapsulate with something else.