My new house has them throughout the ground floor. I can’t decide what I should do with them.

I’ve had an asbestos survey done and the chappie said I can remove them as long as I wear a mask and ‘boiler’ suit and dispose of them in the proper way.

I’m worried that disturbing them will put a load of fibres into the air and am wondering if burying them under concrete might be a better idea.

Anyone have experience of this?

I laid a laminate floor on top of mine. They’re not dangerous unless you break them up and breathe in (in my opinion anyway), the tiles were made in a way that was sealed not fibrous. If I couldn’t cover them effectively I’d be happy taking them up with a cheap boiler suit and mask on.

If it’s of any help, I’ll be tiling over mine.

The advice I got (from my Dad, who works on a lot of sites) was that as long as they weren’t disturbed they could be covered over safely – they aren’t that volatile. If it was a work site he’d have to call in the specialist disposers, but I think that was more a duty of care / H&S arrangement than due to any serious risk.

My take is that asbestosis is generally prevalent in people spending long hours unprotected in hazardous areas (i.e. tiles being smashed or cut), rather than the odd bit of DIY involving it. I’m sure someone will be happy to flame me on that.

I’d already removed a small area from our en suite before he pointed out what they were.

Hire Colin9 to do lift them and get him to hoover afterwards

The floor in the open plan living/ dining room is uneven and will need some sort of levelling out so I’m thinking why not put it on top of the tiles? However they are a bit loose in parts and I assume this would lead any concrete floor I lay to be unstable- any thoughts? How thick should a concrete floor on top of them be?

Not planning on moving any time in the next 20+ years and I have a feeling them just being there will nag at me!

ive just laid over them in my rooms. – tiles , wood and laminate.

they can lay there and try and nag at me all they want- cant hear or see them…..

as for unlevel … how much we talking here… the depth of a missing tile or 5/10mm….

former – just get good underlay – latter self leveling screed – as for thickness , your not burying a **** nuclear reactor. just make your floor level.

At work (council), our asbestos reports show floor tiles as low risk and they’re fine if not disturbed. That being said, if we were to work in the kitchen area, we’d remove them.
We mainly use Environtec to do it and they do a good job.

I am an historic building surveyor and come across asbestos frequently. If they are broken then get a professional to take them up, I wouldn’t do it myself, get professional advice, don’t listen to anyone on this forum (no offence folks). Some advice is that they are best left alone if not broken and can be covered safely. I’m not sure that I would listen to an asbestos surveyor who said ‘wear a mask and boiler suit’.

http://www.hse.gov.uk/asbestos/index.htm

Hope this helps.

as for unlevel … how much we talking here… the depth of a missing tile or 5/10mm….

former – just get good underlay – latter self leveling screed – as for thickness , your not burying a **** nuclear reactor. just make your floor level.

:lol:Yep it will need a screed. What do you reckon about the loose tiles? get rid and then lay the screed?

They’re fine if you leave them down. If you plan to tile then they’ll need to be sound and primed before you can tile to them.

I’m not sure that I would listen to an asbestos surveyor who said ‘wear a mask and boiler suit’.

In fairness to him I am paraphrasing. he provided me with the bags, clothing etc I would need to remove tiles.

My house has the same “Marley” tiles* – some contain asbestos in them, some don’t (according to an asbestos survey). The previous owners clearly had some of them up do have left an uneven lip btwn sitting room and hallway. Need to decide if it’s worth getting the hallway dealt with when I have the garage ceiling removed. One downstairs bedroom has screed over the top, the other bedroom and the study don’t.

But am more relaxed about them than the bloody AIB garage ceiling!

*other asbestos-containing products are available.

Ffp3 mask as a minimum, less than that and you may as well not bother – advice from our company asbestos expert.

Flooring fitter here and have taken up gazzillions of the so called Vynil Asbestos tiles in the years before we even knew it was not good for you so probably I am walking dead by now .

if you are putting new stuff like Amtico or Karndean down then the old tiles need to come up , just screeding over them is not good as the floor is only as strong as its weakest link which is the old tile to black bitumin adhesive so when it goes wrong you will still have the problem .

Get rid of them now is the best advise . they are very low level risk if you follow the rules .

Can I just lay a screed over the bitumen?

yes a good latex based is best. ardex NA not cheap but sticks to most substrates snd is easy to get a good finish
there are other cheaper ones. but dont use a water based screed as will not adhere wellnto the old bitumen

Thankyou. I’m going to have a look a really good look at the tiles this weekend (rather than just pulling up the carpets at various corners) if they all look a bit loose I’m going to pull them up if not I’ll have another think.

Recently had a load removed in an old school we’re renovating. Their risk rating is very low, so low in fact that the lads doing the company said ” you’d have to grind them up and use them as snuff to be in any danger”.
In all seriousness, dust mask and suit, scraper them up then mixed solution of pva to seal any loose fibres back down. That work was carried out by professionals who were also on site removing some nasty hse notifiable stuff.

Thinking about the long term affects of ‘covering over’ the existing tiles… When either yourself or a future owner fancies a change of floor covering, and attacks the floor with a chiseller, you/they will throw up lots of potentially dangerous dust. Chances are IME they will peel/pop up with relative ease without breaking many/any at all. This is likely the much safer option in the long term, whether for yourself or a future owner or relative of yours.

I know if I had chipped up some tiles and discovered embedded asbestos tiles, that were now airborne following being attacked with a chisel, I would be pretty pissed off that some lazy ****** had IMO done a bodge of ‘papering over the cracks’. (Even if I happened to be wearing the appropriate PPE)

Should the tiles really not come up without creating a dangerous situation/stubbornly stay stuck no matter what implement you attack them with, then feel free to ignore the above!

“I know if I had chipped up some tiles and discovered embedded asbestos tiles, that were now airborne following being attacked with a chisel, I would be pretty pissed off that some lazy ****** had IMO done a bodge of ‘papering over the cracks’. (Even if I happened to be wearing the appropriate PPE)”

In the grand scheme of things….some mildly asbestos tiles were the least of my worrys about the bodges my (and most) previous owner had been up to.

The safest place for the tiles for me was undisturbed and contained under my flooring….thus meaning no dust created and no risk to me.

The next owner can do his own risk matrix.

My old man died from mesothelioma (“asbestosis’) a few years ago. He was an apprentice electrician from 15 – 17, and had one job in that time where he had to disassemble an old storage heater (containing asbestos). At the tribunal, that was the only exposure we could identify.

Until he started being symptomatic age 54, you wouldn’t have known there was anything wrong with him. After 18 months he had died. There is no cure, and no effective treatment.

I’m obviously a basket-case about this stuff…. but I’d weigh-up the potential consequences with any advice you get on the internet.

before taking up check with local council on disposal – they may have a limit or not take at all plus local to me wanted ID and double bagged/taped

if using a contractor triple check and get in writing how they will dispose of, it is your responsibility – ended up being interviewed under caution by environmental health (yes they can!) after roofer took a roof load of bonded cement tiles to a local site for disposal pretending to be a private individual – I was able to supply details of the co’ he told me was going to use to bring a special skip as they had come to survey access and they confirmed they’d been asked to quote for removal by him and had visited the house and seen his nameboard on the scaffold but hadn’t been given the work because couldn’t get skip near enough to suit

“The safest place for the tiles for me was undisturbed and contained under my flooring….thus meaning no dust created and no risk to me.”

This is true, however CTK mentions staying put for 20+ years. In that time I expect at least one additional ‘new floor’ to be installed. Yes, depending on the flooring it may stay down indefinitely, but fashions, tastes and room layouts change… Is there the height available (doors, plinths etc…) to lay another floor on top again?? (For laminate, engineered, carpet etc. this wouldn’t really apply…)

Depends how you laid the tiles…… Mines will come up without disturbing the asbestos tiles…..insulation plus ply hammerhitted to floor at 100mm squares. Then tiles .

Lay new floor atop the ply 🙂