Basement floor

We just purchased a house that has asbestos tiled floors in the basement.Our inspector said since they were intact that we should either leave them alone or better yet cover them up with another floor. Can you put a concrete floor base right on top of tile ? Has anyone here encountered this problem or are there any different types of ways to cover the asbestos tiled floors. Thanks

mcll

in Brownstoner 13 years and 6 months ago

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CRussen | 13 years and 5 months ago

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We have asbestos tiles in our basement (in good shape) and we just covered them up with carpet tiles. Protects them from breaking up, and seals them. Cost $380\. Not bad!

mcll | 13 years and 5 months ago

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Thanks for all your answers. Has anyone used a self leveling polymer or concrete on a basement floor ? I think the best way to go about this is to take up the tile and do a self leveling concrete or polymer. I am not sure waht the difference is between the two. we have approx.  800 square feet of floor to do. any idea on cost?

Augustiner | 13 years and 6 months ago

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if you have a spare 2000, get it professionally removed. In the end that probably saves you money over pouring concrete.

wyckoff | 13 years and 6 months ago

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Those tiles are usually pretty brittle and easy to remove, and you would have to work pretty hard to get the asbestos embedded in the tiles airborne (like putting them through a shredder).  I wouldn’t put new concrete over them unless you have a good 8 1/2 feet of headroom or more, but you could probably put some sort of leveling polymer on top or a layer of tarpaper and a new floating floor, but in general its always best to avoid measures which turn your house into a layer cake.

daveinbedstuy | 13 years and 6 months ago

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Get rid of it.  Get some guys that do cleanout.  Make sure they wear masks and hose it down before and after (net necessary to “flood” the basement).   They can bag the tiles and take them away.

bobjohn | 13 years and 6 months ago

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There are two drawbacks in putting concrete over: – you will eat 3″ of the headroom – if you ever need to remove floor, it would be much harder to avoid crambling asbestos embeded in concrete.   also do you thinks professional abatement company is more expencive then concrete? Do you know what kind of floor is under tiles?

stevecym | 13 years and 6 months ago

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depends on how much concrete you want to pour.  A sidewalk is 4″ thick.  If you can even pour 3″ over that, I think it would be safe from cracking.  I am not a concrete person, but I know there are ways to strengthen concrete.  A mason should be able to say how thin you can go. 
We previously ripped these tiles out.  In the past they were not considered an asbestos job.  But I think I read something that the law had changed and even these are now considered hazardous.  Better check that out before you rip.
Steve

northofditmas | 13 years and 6 months ago

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The sooner you get rid of it the better.  Flood the area with water before you scrape them up.  If you pour concrete over tile it will probably crack after a year.