# Forum Home Renovation Tiling  Asbestos in Vinyl/lino flooring?

## noideamad

I've got ugly vinyl sheeted flooring in my kitchen and laundry which I thought was commonly known as Lino, but I might be wrong. I have pulled up a small amount of the vinyl/lino. It pulls up pretty easy, and appears to be stuck with contact adhesive, or something similar in colour at least. Underneath the lino is masonite board which is stapled to the hardwood floor boards. From the small piece I moved there seems to be a very thin layer of fibery stuff under the masonite. I have no idea what this is, or what it achieves? The house was built in the 50's. No idea if the flooring has been laid later than that or not though. Does it sound like I might be dealing with asbestos in my flooring here?

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## Claw Hama

Hi noideamad, could it be old fabric, to my knowledge there was asbestos in old skool floor tiles but I didn't know of any in vinyl/lino. Old lino and vinyl did have a fabric back at one stage.

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## Burnsy

Some early vinyl flooring (usually the old square stuff) actually contained asbestos in it.  I have not heard of the fibre layer you are talking about - could be some type of insulation.  My advice would be to put some in a zip lock bag and drop it off to a lab that does asbestos testing to be sure.  Best to be safe than sorry when it comes to asbestos.

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## noideamad

this stuff is between the masonite and the floorboards. I cant see what purpose it would have

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## AKA BB

The following products manufactured before 1980 could contain asbestos and all precautions should be taken. 
In simple terms don't mess around with asbestos. It's not worth the risk life is to short!  
<TABLE style="BORDER-COLLAPSE: collapse" borderColor=#111111 cellSpacing=0 cellPadding=0 width="100%" border=0><TBODY><TR><TD vAlign=top width="28%"></TD><TD vAlign=top width="72%"> Flat or corrugated sheeting (fibro cement or AC sheeting).Water pipes.Flue pipes.Roof shingles.Flexible building boards.Plaster patching compounds.Textured paint.Vinyl floor tiles.The backings of linoleum floor coverings.Insulation on hot water pipes.Insulation in old domestic heaters.Insulation in stoves.Ceiling insulation products.</TD></TR></TBODY></TABLE> For more information on asbestos in the home, follow this link

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## peter_sm

Vinyl and linoleum are totally different products. Google search and you will see. It would be like comparing concrete to asphalt.

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## racingtadpole

The way I was taught to identify asbestos in such things was to put on the appropriate safety gear, take a match or cigarette lighter and try and light a corner.  If it burns it isnt asbestos.  If it doesnt light it should be treated as asbestos.  Dont try this in a flammable atmosphere obviously!!!!
Alternatively treat everything you are not sure about as asbestos.

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## Bloss

racingtadpole's method is not a good way to determine this - other material could burn quite well leaving the asbestos in place. If you are really concerned then proper testing is the go. 
Do a search on this forum - there are a number of posts on this with good detail and websites with accurate info. 
What you describe is unlikely to be asbestos, which was used in vinyl floor tiles - products used mainly in commercial premises for a few years after the WWII. It was not used in vinyl sheet flooring. Even in those tiles this was embedded in PVC resins as a filler so is 'bonded asbestos' (as is asbestos cement sheet) which is quite safe to handle - so long as you do not break, saw, drill or otherwise create dust from the item that contains it - and take the usual safety precautions. 
The most likely place to find asbestos is as underlay instead of masonite - especially in wet areas - but this seems not so in your case as you describe masonite and floorboards. 
In any case what you say is that the material is not bonded to the vinyl, but is sitting under the masonite underlay so this is most likely to be hession that was used as backing on old floor coverings and often remained in place when the surface was pulled up. 
This might also be the remnant fibre backing for a floor covering used in the 50s & 60s that was a vinyl surface backed with a natural hemp or sisal fibre felt-like matting to provide resilience and a soft feel underfoot. When this was removed it left a furry brownish surface held in place by the latex adhesive used to lay the flooring. 
So no it doesn't sound like asbestos and in any case as you will be putting down new underlay and covering it, it will not be further disturbed.

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## skitzkitty

> This might also be the remnant fibre backing for a floor covering used in the 50s & 60s that was a vinyl surface backed with a natural hemp or sisal fibre felt-like matting to provide resilience and a soft feel underfoot. When this was removed it left a furry brownish surface held in place by the latex adhesive used to lay the flooring.

  Hope it's ok to revive an old thread!  :Smilie:  
Bloss (if you're still kicking around!) - this vinyl backed with sisal sounds exactly like what we've just found under some very poorly laid carpet during our reno's. The newspaper underneath had a date of 1948 on it, so the era sounds about right. We're sending it off to get tested tomorrow, but in the meantime, do you know much more about this stuff and any associated dangers? Thanks in advance for any help!

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