[AsthaB]

I have a 43 year old home in unincorporated King Co. Washington state. The two-car garage was transformed into a family room years before I bought the house. There is a moisture problem with the concrete floor that I think is generating mold. Before I install any permanent flooring, I need to really solve this moisture bit.

Questions:

1) We have old stick-on (I think. Tiles that have come off easily on their own have left no sign of goop or ridges of mastic)'linoleum' tiles that I think are likely made with asbestos. They look to be from the early 70's (ucky gold and brown motif). Is it better to try to heat these with an iron so they peel up in one piece or try to get under them and have them pop up?

2) I know we need to prep the floor before we can apply any sealant. What would you recommend? If the tiles come up easily, do we need to be concerned about the manner in which we rough-up the floor? What is the name of the machine that we'd need to rent to do this roughing up? What precautions should we take so we live through the process (concrete dust, handling the machine, etc)? Or a better way?

3) Opinions on which readily accessible goop is best to use? Easiest to apply? The floor will be covered with some sort of flooring, so finished look is not important. Having it be permanently dry is important. The concrete is very smooth and is slick when it sucks up moisture from the ground. Best application methods (twice? With a roller for painting?).

4) Other issues or codes I'm not thinking about that I should? :o
Thanks!
Wendy

[mike jones 1269]

If the tiles are a 9 inch tile I can almost guarantee they contain asbestos and if the glue residue on the floor looks like black like tar then asbestos is most likely there too.if the tiles are a 12 inch tile you should be fine, as far as asbestos is concerned a reapable shop will be able to tell you just take them a small piece with glue residue on it and go from there. (they still make ugly gold tile) as far as taking up the old tile try popping them up there is less mess, when you heat the old tile it makes the old glue really sticky. What type of flooring is getting installed is where you can get the answers to the rest of your questions. A lot of adhesives will not stick to paint or sealants and manufactures tell you to remove them... if you need suggestions on flooring I recommend carpet,because it will allow the floor to breath ,tile is also very good in areas with this problem, or there is a company called Konecto that makes a floating vinyl plank that looks like wood flooring ,they say that it is water proof and if you want to do a real wood flooring they make a trowl on water proofer that goes down before the adhesive. All of these method should not require any machines or grinding.and if you feel there is excessive moisture then your foundation might need to be looked at to make sure the water drains away from the house not towards it. If you do any thing that might create dust you need to keep the floor moist to keep dust at a minimum