Do Asphalt Floor Tiles Have Asbestos

Asphalt is one of the main materials used for the manufacturing of asbestos floor tiles and leakages of the oil incorporated in it can occur causing the color of the tiles to fade.

Do asphalt floor tiles have asbestos.

Asphalt is a main ingredient in asbestos tiles and the oil from the asphalt can leach out. The only true way to tell if the tiles contain asbestos is by checking the package or having a lab test a piece of the tile for asbestos. Asphalt asbestos and vinyl asbestos floor tiles were produced in 9 x 9 12 x 12 and even 18 x 18 as well as in decorative strips and in thicknesses of 1 16 3 32 and 1 8 also in 0 08 gauge. Over time asphalt which was a main ingredient in asbestos tiles can degrade and cause the tiles to look grimy or discolored in spots.

Tiles that are disintegrating should be handled with extreme care. In north america if asphalt or vinyl floor tiles or sheet flooring were made or installed before 1986 treat the floor as presumed to contain asbestos. As you can see this method is not an exact science. Some asbestos containing flooring products were manufactured we estimate as early as the late 1920 s.

To identify a particular asphalt asbestos or vinyl asbestos floor tile pattern color start in the image group most likely to be the same age as your building. Some sheet flooring or resilient flooring also contained asbestos as did floor tile mastics. Some of the flooring tiles have come off and you see thick. In addition many older asphalt tiles manufactured between the 1920s and 1960s contain asbestos filler fibers.

Black mastic also known as cutback adhesive was commonly used to glue the flooring tiles down. Later improvements in the manufacturing process made the production of flooring more consistent in appearance. If the tiles or the floor beneath show oily discoloration the tiles very likely contain asbestos. Similarly among some floor tile products especially the earlier asphalt asbestos and some early vinyl asbestos flooring flooring sold with the same pattern and hue name may vary by manufacturing batch.