Asbestos And Linoleum

Angus

I noticed on a different thread a post about asbestos and linoleum. Some one posted some inaccurate information. Asbestos can be found in flooring materials including 9 inch-by-9 inch floor tile (older, thicker floor tile); 12 inch by 12 inch floor tile (commonly used today); sheet linoleum and sheet vinyl floor covering (the gray fibrous paper-like backing is very often asbestos); mastic (glue located under the floor tile or linoleum).This PDF is helpful to anyone with questions about it. http://www.co.forsyth.nc.us/envaffai...osbrochure.pdf

Floordude

Lino, is not made with asbestos, and never has. It is made from all natural products just like it always has, nothing has changed. It qualifies for LEED points.

Black asbestos cutback adhesive, commonly used under VAT(vinyl asbestos tiles) and some VCT, along with sheet vinyl made before the cut off period, will be the bad stuff.

Just like your link posted, a lot of people confuse and mix linoleum, with sheetvinyl, thinking they are the same thing. THEY ARE NOT! The link you posted has some errors. It never mentions sheet vinyl, and like I mentioned, has "sheet linoleum" labelling sheet vinyl. Linoleum made today, is made just like it was 50-60-70-100 years ago. Nothing taken out, and nothing added to the mix, of a composition of wood flour, oxidized linseed oil, gums or other organic ingredients, and coloring matter. An English rubber manufacturer, Frederick Walton, patented linoleum in 1863. It replaced Kamptulicon, a costly rubber composition. In the manufacture of linoleum, linseed oil is exposed to the air in a succession of thin films until it is of a rubbery consistency, or it is thickened by heating until it becomes a spongy mass, after which it is ground, mixed with pulverized wood and other ingredients, and then applied to the foundation and rolled smooth. The final process is a thorough seasoning in drying rooms. In inlaid linoleum the pattern is built up from the base in the colors of the design and is therefore permanent. Linoleum is made in several thicknesses and in the form of tiles. It is sometimes surfaced with a durable pyroxylin lacquer. Although large amounts of linoleum are still produced, other materials such as vinyl are now more widely used as floor coverings.

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Angus

You're wrong, you're wrong, you're wrong.
In the 1960's the flooring industry developed a "better" backing for their mid to upper grade sheet flooring. The old basic paper backing was suseptable to heel and appliance indentation because to paper was soft. Armstrong introduced 'hydrocord' as their better backing. Hydrocord was made from asbestos, it was off-white in color, about 1/16" thick. This type of backing was replaced by other types in the early to mid '80's.

You cant tell if flooring contains asbestos just by looking at it. Many flooring materials look the same, whether they have asbestos in them or not. Tiles made by different companies are made to look the same so they can be used interchangeably. Tiles with 10% asbestos may look exactly the same as tiles with 30% asbestos or as tiles with no asbestos at all. Cutback adhesives are easy to identify because they are black. Most asphaltic cutback adhesives manufactured today do not contain asbestos.
There are tons of articles on the web about this subject, not to mention your local librarys. A little research will save your health in the long run.
And by the way floordude, just because I say the sky is blue, doesn't mean you have to post a reply that says it's green. There is no need to argue for the sake of arguing.
I await your long winded, inept reply.

neolitic

He is right! You just mixed up vinyl and linoleum in your post again!
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linoleum
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Linoleum (see recycle-ability)
Most old linoleum had jute backing, not asbestos. Something that one would know if one had actually dealt with it rather than pontificating about it.
People who wouldn't know real linoleum if it bit them call sheet vinyl linoleum everyday, but it does not make it so.

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Floorwizard

That's definately a true statement.


There's no reason for getting this thread's underwear in a bunch.
This can be an interesting topic if it can stay under control.

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