Replacing vinyl floors

[scjo68]

Our house was built in 1984. We bought it in 1993, and put new vinyl floors in over the existing kitchen vinyl then. We want new flooring in the kitchen now.

Looking on the Lowe's website, it says that they can't remove vinyl from homes built before 1986.
I assume this is because it may have asbestos in it?

I had never heard of this before. Is this common? What do other people do about this?

 

[Summer2018]

Our house was built in 1984. We bought it in 1993, and put new vinyl floors in over the existing kitchen vinyl then. We want new flooring in the kitchen now.

Looking on the Lowe's website, it says that they can't remove vinyl from homes built before 1986.
I assume this is because it may have asbestos in it?

I had never heard of this before. Is this common? What do other people do about this?

Our house is 1920. Some idiot put vinyl flooring over a hard wood floor in our kitchen at some point. We had a consultation and they will be installing a laminate floor over the existing floor for that very reason.

I would love to get down to the original wooden floor but we can’t.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

Our house was built in 1984. We bought it in 1993, and put new vinyl floors in over the existing kitchen vinyl then. We want new flooring in the kitchen now.

Looking on the Lowe's website, it says that they can't remove vinyl from homes built before 1986.
I assume this is because it may have asbestos in it?

I had never heard of this before. Is this common? What do other people do about this?

Asbestos. It is considered nonfriable as long as your vinyl is in decent shape and yours is actually covered. But if you try to remove it it is particularly dangerous because it's friable at that point. Best to just leave it alone.

 

[scjo68]

I don't know if I could add a third layer on top of the first two. Wouldn't the floor be too high?

I have been told that two layers is the limit.

 

[kimblebee]

Technically it can be removed but you have to hire someone to do it.

 

[NYCgrrl]

Lowe's might not do it but you can hire an asbestos removal company and then any company will be fine laying a new floor. Should you still have the specs for the 1984 build you can contact the vinyl floor company to find out if that flooring was made with asbestos or not.

I don't know if I could add a third layer on top of the first two. Wouldn't the floor be too high?

I have been told that two layers is the limit.

Depends on the thickness of the existing flooring, the new flooring, and whether a door sill exists to the adjoining room; no blanket answer. As far as the door sill moulding a qualified contractor/carpenter can rout or mill the underside of a wooden sill to allow two different heights to meet.

 

[ronandannette]

@scjo68 - do you know for a fact the original lino was asbestos-based? Give that hardly any of it was still being produced in the '80s, the odds are against it. I'd lift a small piece of the top layer and see if it could be determined. If you think it's not (and really, it probably isn't), just go ahead and remove it yourselves. Here's a couple of links that might be helpful:
https://inspectapedia.com/hazmat/Asbestos-Floor-Tile-Identification.php
https://www.bergmanlegal.com/asbestos-stopped-in-vinyl-sheet-flooring/

 

[scjo68]

@scjo68 - do you know for a fact the original lino was asbestos-based? Give that hardly any of it was still being produced in the '80s, the odds are against it. I'd lift a small piece of the top layer and see if it could be determined. If you think it's not (and really, it probably isn't), just go ahead and remove it yourselves. Here's a couple of links that might be helpful:
https://inspectapedia.com/hazmat/Asbestos-Floor-Tile-Identification.php
https://www.bergmanlegal.com/asbestos-stopped-in-vinyl-sheet-flooring/

No- I have no idea if the original floor has asbestos. If I were to guess, I would think it doesn't. I would never have even thought of it, until I tried to set up an appointment for measuring through Lowes. I have talked to several flooring people and no one has mentioned this at all.

Thanks for the links- I have actually been reading them this afternoon, as soon as I heard asbestos mentioned.

I was actually looking to replace my floor pretty quickly and inexpensively. I guess that is not to be.

 

[tvguy]

Interesting. My house was built in 1979. We bought the house in 1983. Had all the vinyl flooring replaced in 2003, none of the 4 contracts who we got bids from said anything about asbestos.

 

[disneychrista]

My kitchen floor is about a 1/4" - 1/3" higher than the rest of the house due to many layers of vinyl flooring. My house was built in 1953. I have no clue when the last layer of flooring was put in. I would love to replace the vinyl with "wood look" tile flooring but not sure if it can even be done.

 

[ronandannette]

No- I have no idea if the original floor has asbestos. If I were to guess, I would think it doesn't. I would never have even thought of it, until I tried to set up an appointment for measuring through Lowes. I have talked to several flooring people and no one has mentioned this at all.

Thanks for the links- I have actually been reading them this afternoon, as soon as I heard asbestos mentioned.

I was actually looking to replace my floor pretty quickly and inexpensively. I guess that is not to be.

I'd totally just go ahead and remove it myself and then get my flooring quotes for the new install. You'll save a few bucks and it's not very difficult, just fairly physical as you may need to scrape up the bottom layer, depending on how it was laid. Good luck!

 

[_19disnA]

^^ If the floor was made from asbestos, that isn't a very wise idea. Best to have a company who specializes in such work to do it.

 

[ronandannette]

^^ If the floor was made from asbestos, that isn't a very wise idea. Best to have a company who specializes in such work to do it.

The point is she doesn't know that the floor is made of asbestos and given the time frame, it's quite unlikely. My first recommendation was to take up a small piece and find out.

 

[_19disnA]

Identification of asbestos is best left to the professionals. Not sure if there is anywhere you can take an old piece of tile for proper identification.

 

[NYCgrrl]

The point is she doesn't know that the floor is made of asbestos and given the time frame, it's quite unlikely. My first recommendation was to take up a small piece and find out.

Removing unknown vintage vinyl flooring can be exceptionally bad for your health whether taking up a small piece or large piece. Manufacturers stopped using asbestos in vinyl flooring in the late seventies but if there was still stock on hand it was not destroyed and thus could in fact be laid in homes built in the early to mid '80's. Lowe's and some other contractors are not interested in the possible health risk to their workers or your family.

 

[scjo68]

I just can't believe I've not heard of it. Most houses around here were built in the 80's. Lowe's had told me that they can replace my floors in two weeks. I told them I already had two layers of vinyl, which would indicate my house is not new. I had wanted this finished by the holidays, and they had said that would be fine. None of what I'm reading now sounds like this is doable by then.

 

[Floridaman999]

When I replaced the floor in my kitchen, I just laid down 1/4" sheeting on top of the old floor and laid the new stuff on top of that. My house is very open and I didn't have to deal with any door clearances though, so that might be something that would stop someone else from doing it. Worked like a charm for me.

 

[Deb & Bill]

It's usually the mastic used on the floor. If it is black, more than likely it has asbestos in it. You don't want to break up the tiles since the tiles could also have asbestos in them. 9x9 tiles are often a good clue to asbestos, but not always. If you keep it wet while removing the mastic and tile, you are probably okay. But you may need to pay an abatement contractor to remove it safely. Just make sure they know what they are doing. Not all do.

Contact the Resilient Floor Covering Institute at www.rfci.com, La Grange GA., Tel: 706-882-3833 for further advice.

I had training in this years ago, but it's been so long.

 

[NYCgrrl]

It's usually the mastic used on the floor. If it is black, more than likely it has asbestos in it. You don't want to break up the tiles since the tiles could also have asbestos in them. 9x9 tiles are often a good clue to asbestos, but not always. If you keep it wet while removing the mastic and tile, you are probably okay. But you may need to pay an abatement contractor to remove it safely. Just make sure they know what they are doing. Not all do.

Contact the Resilient Floor Covering Institute at www.rfci.com, La Grange GA., Tel: 706-882-3833 for further advice.

I had training in this years ago, but it's been so long.

The mastic on my circa 1920's start up kitchen floors was black, temperature variable, and also thought to have asbestos. Once we removed the various layers of linoleum and vinyl flooring in the early '90's, it was encapsulated with a sub floor of 1/4" or 1/8" material. This is how it was required to be done in the early '90's per the then local building code. No idea what current code requirements are but I tend to sit on the better safe than sorry picket fence.
East coast has some of the most stringent building codes in the nation with the crowded NE even more so.

 

[smokeyblue]

Identification of asbestos is best left to the professionals. Not sure if there is anywhere you can take an old piece of tile for proper identification.

An asbestos abatement company can come over and take a sample and have it tested.