Cautionary tale: Asbestos

[sl8]

Note that this is a Reddit post, so, no particular inherent credibilty, but I found it believable. Also, note that this is a Reddit repost; it has links to the original posts.

https://www.reddit.com/r/BestofRedditorUpdates/comments/10gfdaa/oop_exposed_his_family_to_a_toxic_cancer_causing/

So I messed up bad, real bad. One more warning to all before you start and project that requires demo.

Two weekends ago, me and my wife decided it was time to replace our falling apart laminate floors. The location of the laminate we were replacing was in the kitchen, dining room, family room, Living room, and main hallway. We thought it would be nice to have all the rooms including the kitchen and dining room all one floor.

So we ripped up all of the old click laminate. In the hallways and family room we found original 1970's vinyl underneath. Since we planned on laying the floating floors again we decided to leave it alone. We proceed to chipping up all of the tile in the kitchen making our way to the dining room. We got the tile up in the kitchen and were left with an absolute mess of thinset. So I googled the easiest way to get up thinset. I found a video on youtube showing how to use a grinder with a shopvac attachment and diamond grinding wheel. I went to town and it worked a treat and I was super proud how well it came out.

Heres where my story goes south, 2 days later my dad came over to check the progress we made. I was showing him the kitchen explaining the process I used to quickly take the thinset off. My father proceeded to look at the floor and asked what was the material on it. I said its concrete (it appeared to be anyways), he said no it's not. He proceeded to grab a utility knife and cut a small square of material off the floor where I had ground down the thinset. It was a paper like material that was brittle. He said it looked to be the paper backing that came with old vinyl sheet flooring. He looked over at the family room, saw the old sheet flooring and told my that I needed to get out of the house and get the materials tested. So I packed up the wife and kids and headed to my parents house for the weekend.

[...]

[Stargazer99]

1. Reminds me of the whine from business

that government should be drowned in a bathtub so more people can die in worship of business

[John1956PA]

2. It is best to refrain from grinding in general, if possible.

Grinding masonry structures and flooring produces glass particulates which, if imparted to one's lung tissue, never get expelled. The particulates continue to embed themselves deeper into the organ, thereby increasing the chance for lung cancer to develop.

[Warpy]

3. I'm surprised we old Boomers aren't dying off rapidly from mesothelioma

because they used that shit for everything when we were growing up: floors, insulation around pipes, exterior finishes on houses, it was all around us. It was marketed as fireproof (which it was) and durable (which it wasn't). Any wear would sent fibers into the air and the stuff was brittle so there was always wear.

Manufacturers knew there was a problem by the late 50s, but they didn't give a shit as long as the money rolloed in, and with asbestos tiles going down in most suburban kitchens across the country as cities were depopulated, the money just got better and better.

So if you're fixing up that mid century modern house, get that crap on the kitchen floor tested before you start chipping it up.

[AllyCat]

5. We are doing a kitchen remodel in a 1903 home.

Started to rip up the vinyl tiles (modern—-found the box of leftovers in the basement) and there was a layer of what appeared to be sheets of vinyl underneath and black tarpaper and grey sticky mastic. No problem…until the sheet vinyl started breaking into 9 inch squares. Stopped everything, covered it all with 6 ml plastic, and sent a sample to the lab.

A week later, got the results: No asbestos!

However, we found it in duct work we uncovered and around the hot water pipes in the basement. Cost a small fortune to have abated.

Still, we are glad it is out and we are about a week away from our kitchen!

[Warpy]

6. I lived in wooden tenements in Boston called triple deckers

for the porches on front and back and dealt with the turn of the last century flooring. Mostly, it was wide pine planks covered by layers of linoleum. Nobody wanted to scrape up the linoleum and it wasn't rigid enough for the asbestos tiles, so tiles weren't laid until the pliable plastic ones came out.

Houses built in the mid century had plywood underlayment, which was rigid enough for the asbestos tiles, so that's really what you've got to watch out for.

Personally, I liked the look and feel of linoleum. It just got more expensive than plastic tiles, so I didn't see it much after the 70s.

[mitch96]

4. My buddy is an architect and he was in on a demo for a new office bldg. He said the demo

was very dusty. Turns out it was all asbestos.. That was years ago and now he has chronic lung problems. Asbestosis and sarcoidosis got him...
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