Installing Vinyl Flooring Over Asbestos Tile

Vinyl tile is an excellent option for sealing in asbestos tiles.

Installing vinyl flooring over asbestos tile.

From the 1930s to the mid 1970s vinyl flooring contained asbestos which is not safe for you to remove yourself. If you aren t removing the old floor you may be creating a new floor that is too thick for doors to open and shut or for thresholds to have clearance. In many cases installing a new floor over the tiles encapsulates the asbestos fibers and is an acceptable way to manage the material. If you do not remove the tiles you will be forced to add cement to the grout lines to get a smooth flat floor.

This is trickier as you can t simply slap mortar down on top of old asbestos tile put down the new tile and expect a good result. The installers refused to install over it due to the risk of particles becoming airborne. If the grout lines in the ceramic tile are deep you ll see and feel them under sheet flooring and if you choose to install preglued vinyl tiles they won t stick. The main caveat is that all vinyl formats call for a smooth subfloor including sheet vinyl vinyl tile and luxury vinyl planks and tiles.

Vinyl planks do not like to be installed over anything with grout lines. So where feasible it makes sense to install the new flooring directly over the old without removing the old flooring. This isn t possible with every flooring material but it s often possible to install ceramic porcelain or stone tile over resilient flooring including standard sheet vinyl vinyl tile or linoleum. In your situation for a new floor the most effective but simplest way you yourself could get a new floor over the asbestos tile is a process called encapsulation.

If you are hiring a flooring company they may be hesitant to work around asbestos tiles. One of the biggest factors of installing a new floor over the old is thickness. Installing vinyl flooring is a similar process. Sometimes the cost to do this is very close to the same cost as removing the tiles 0 50 1 00 sf.

That said it can be difficult to get a level surface for the new floor especially if the old tiles have chipped away. Fortunately it is not difficult to install vinyl tile over your vinyl floor as. Installing ceramic or porcelain tile over asbestos tile.