Would a house built in 1986 be likely to have asbestos vinyl tiles? There are 12x12 vinyl tiles in a bathroom which I want to remove - just pull up using a heat gun, and maybe some GooBeGone to dissolve the glue then scrape.
Also would the vinyl tile glue used in 1986 contain Likely contain asbestos?
Is there any way to id by tile pattern? Any online resources for comparison? I looked at Inspectopedia, but could not match the pattern there.
The most common were 9x9 but it came in other sizes but not as late as the 80's... I don't believe
Just be careful as the year of build does not guarantee that someone did not buy old surplus. I saw some asbestos at a recent local construction sale.
You sure you don't want to just go over them? Much safer ???
I second Dave's thoughts about old material getting used in 1986. In my workplace back in 1990 there was a small remodeling project that involved moving a non-bearing wall to widen a hallway. A year later the asbestos removal team came in with visquene sheets and air quality sensors. Turns out the adhesive to attach the coving along the base of the new wall had asbestos in it.
Will the asbestos test kits you see at Lowes for about 8 bucks work for id'ing asbestos, especially in the glue? I'm less concerned now about the tiles, as they come off easily in one piece with a heat gun, than with the mastic, which is, shall I say, tenacious. The mastic is yellowish and not black. I did a small test on mastic removal with chemicals (Goof Off), which works, but then read that is a bad idea - it will affect the morter/ concrete bond, and the process seems very toxic. If asbestos, I do not want to physically remove that mastic with a grinder, and if that's the case I guess need to start looking at fancy thinset that can be used over the vinyl mastic.
I recently removed vinyl flooring in a downstairs bath. The adhesive below was a yellow mastic. It didn't even occur to me that it could have asbestos. Removal was tedious but readily accomplished by wetting and scraping. Warm water worked better than cold.
The wisdom of the internet suggests that the black mastic is that which may have contained asbestos. Yellow or white mastic apparently was not manufactured with asbestos, to the best that I can determine from a short web search. It seems wet scraping is the recommended removal anyhow, so you might give that a shot.
That's what I seem to be understanding as well - that it was the black mastic that used asbestos. I've tried really hard to match the tile pattern, and see nothing similar. So I think I am good.
Anyways, I cordoned off the bathroom, removed the tile which was relatively easy with a heat gun.
The yellow mastic would not soften with boiling water, or vinegar. Next step up was the somewhat toxic Citristrip, which is working pretty well. Put it on, let it sit a few hours then scrape. It took off 90% and I am doing a second coat now. I considered using the Kleanstrip Adhesive remover... but then I read the label. NO WAY!!!
What I wanted to avoid was aerosolizing either the tile or mastic, which ruled out grinding.
I don't know if I will ever get the mastic off 100%. Starting to look into modified thinset that will bond on these sorts of situations.