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CANA411 · Jul 17, 2009, 11:41 AM

I took over an old house that had industrial carpet glued to the floor, after cutting and pulling this all up some of the floor tiles (did not know this was under it) came up also. So I started to pull up the old floor vinyl tiles. Now some of them are pretty tough to remove and I have to chip it off in pieces , some just come up in one piece. However, now I am left with this horrible black stuff (glue I gather) on the floor. Is this harmfull should I remove this before installing the laminate flooring throughout?

JazMan · Jul 17, 2009, 08:12 PM

You forgot to mention the type of subfloor you have.

The tile and the black stuff, may contain asbestos. It is recommended that neither be sanded or be handled in such a way to create dust.

Is the black adhesive, (cut-back) tacky at all? It usually stays slightly tacky for decades. If so, you can sprinkle a Portland base cement and sweep around to remove the sticky. If the subfloor is plywood you can install a layer of plywood instead.

OR... you might leave it and just install your laminate padding right over it. Just don't install the laminate directly on the cut-back, because you'll get a clicking sound when walking over it.

Jaz

CANA411 · Jul 18, 2009, 09:18 AM

The sub floor I believe is plywood or similar too. The black stuff looks like it is the stuff from the back of the tiles - in some areas it is sooo hard that I have to chisel it off. Other tiles come off really easy. There is a slight odor to this floor now that I have lifted it. Almost like a tar smell.

What is the term cut-off?

I guess I am getting a little bit worried that this started a little job and is now growing to be a big problem. But I did not want to cover up anything that can harm my health, in the long term or short term.

Bljack · Jul 18, 2009, 11:21 AM

The term for the adhesive is called "cutback" adhesive. You don't need to worry about it harming your health in it's intact state. Cutback adhesive, Asbestos vinyl tiles, etc, are nonfriable, meaning unless you sand, abrade or pulverise them, they are not throwing fibers into the air. Nothing to be scared of. The Resilient Floor Covering Institute has a technical bulletin on the safe removal practices in a pdf on their web site, RFCI: Home and to abridge the 30 pages of documentation, keep it wet with water with a bit of Dawn dish washing detergent mixed into it, shop vac the slurry using a wet vac with a hepa filter, double bag the garbage, take it to the dump, mark the bags "hazardous, asbestos" and be sure to follow your state laws. Some states let homeowner remove it, some don't. Some allow it to go into the regular garbage, some require it goes to special landfills.

Some people follow the steps in the technical bulletin for their own safety, and then just dispose of it by putting it out to the curb on garbage day so as not to bring upon themselves what could be the wrath of local government.

Some people follow those steps and do it as a precaution, but don't get it tested for the specific reason that it would require them to disclose the fact that it is known positively that there is asbestos in the home to any would be buyers.

Stop pulling the stuff up, Just fill in any missing tiles with any floor patch and never worry about a thing, since you don't have anything to worry about... that is unless you put some into a pepper mill and sprinkled it over your morning oatmeal.