Vinyl Flooring Asbestos Identification

This article describes sheet flooring products known to contain significant levels of asbestos.

Vinyl flooring asbestos identification.

It is possible to make a tentative identification of floor tiles based on the individual tile pattern color and thickness. Vinyl asbestos floor tiles were produced by a number of manufacturers and the decorative tile patterns were varied often annually as styles and tastes changed. Our asbestos flooring identification procedure or our photo catalog of floor tiles and sheet flooring that may contain asbestos beginning at asbestos floor tile identification photos 1949 1959. T he flooring during this period was usually made in 9 inch squares and is quite a bit thicker than most of the modern vinyl tiles.

We describe sources of asbestos in older forms of sheet flooring including felt backed flooring rubber backed flooring and vinyl cushion backed resilient flooring products. What are asbestos floor tiles. For about 35 years flooring companies included asbestos when they manufactured the vinyl tiles. But the flooring companies aim wasn t so much to make the floor tiles fireproof as it was to make the tiles more durable.

Asbestos tiles can be difficult to identify because you can t see the asbestos in the tile. Between the 1920s and 1960s asbestos was a popular material used in floor tiles. For identification guides to all brands of asphalt asbestos vinyl asbestos and similar flooring products. Asbestos is a mineral that lends fireproofing qualities to any substance it is mixed with.