Asbestos Floor Tile & Mastic Removal in Little Rock, AR
Pull up the carpet in a Little Rock house built before 1980 and there is a good chance you find 9×9 inch vinyl tile, often dark green, brown, red or marbled, stuck down with black glue. Both the tile and the glue (mastic) can contain asbestos. It is fine to walk on. It is a problem when it is sanded, ground, chipped or torn up dry, which is what a flooring crew would do. We test it, take it up wet, get the mastic off the slab, and leave a floor the new flooring can go on, or, if the tile is sound, seal it under the new floor instead. Call (501) 817-7825 for a written quote.
How to know if the floor tile is asbestos
9×9 tile is the giveaway: that size was made almost entirely with asbestos and stopped being sold in the early 1980s. 12×12 tile from the same years can also contain it, and so can the sheet vinyl and the black mastic under either. Colour and pattern tell you nothing. A lab test does: one piece of tile and a scraping of the glue, $50 to $75 a sample, results in two to three days. See asbestos testing. Do not sand, grind or bead-blast a floor to find out; that is the one thing that turns a solid tile into dust in the air.
Ceiling tile is a different material and a different job. The 12×12 fibrous ceiling tiles in older basements and offices can also contain asbestos; we test and remove those too, and quote them separately.
Remove it or seal it under the new floor
Seal it. Intact asbestos tile that is glued down firmly can stay. A new floor goes over it: laminate or vinyl plank floated on top, or a new underlayment screwed down and tile or wood on that. The old tile is sealed under the new floor, nothing is disturbed, and the cost is the new floor only. It has to be disclosed when you sell, and it does not work when the old tile is loose, cracked or lifting. See asbestos encapsulation.
Remove it. When the tile is loose or broken, when the floor has to come down to the slab for a level surface, when a new floor cannot be raised because of doors and cabinets, or when a buyer wants it gone. The tile comes up, the mastic comes off, and the slab or subfloor is left clean and ready.
How we remove asbestos floor tile and mastic
Seal the room. Cabinets and fixtures that stay are wrapped, doorways sealed, air in the room kept under slight suction so nothing drifts into the house.
Lift the tile wet. The tile is warmed or wetted so it comes up whole, lifted with flat scrapers, and bagged. No grinding, no dry chipping, no power sanders.
Get the mastic off. The black glue is the harder part. It is softened with a solvent or wet-scraped, then the slab is cleaned so a new floor will stick. On a wood subfloor that the mastic has soaked into, it is sometimes cheaper to take the subfloor up with it, and we tell you which before we quote.
Clean and check. The room is wiped and vacuumed with filtered equipment, the plastic comes down into bags, and on a larger job an air test confirms the room is clean. See air testing after removal.
A kitchen or a hallway is one day. A whole ground floor with a basement, two to three days.
What asbestos floor tile removal costs in Little Rock
Removing asbestos floor tile and mastic usually runs $5 to $15 a square foot. The low end is tile that lifts easily off a concrete slab with a thin layer of glue. The high end is mastic that has soaked into a wood subfloor, small rooms with a lot of cutting around cabinets, and basements with poor access. A 200 square foot kitchen is roughly $1,000 to $3,000. Sealing intact tile under a new floor costs nothing beyond the new floor. Every price on the site is on the asbestos removal cost page.
Prices on this page are estimates from previous work. We cannot quote an exact price. The actual cost can be lower or higher depending on the job. The person who knows is the professional who will do the work. You get a written quote after we see the house.
How to get started
Call (501) 817-7825 and tell us the rooms, roughly the square footage, whether it is on concrete or wood, and what floor is going down afterwards. We book the sample visit and you get a written price for removal or for sealing it in place, whichever fits. If you would rather write, use the contact page.
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Asbestos floor tile questions
How much does asbestos floor tile removal cost per square foot?
$5 to $15 a square foot for tile and mastic together, in Little Rock. Easy-lifting tile on a slab is the low end; mastic soaked into a wood subfloor is the high end.
Are 9×9 floor tiles always asbestos?
Nearly always, and the black glue under them usually is too. 12×12 tile from before the mid-1980s can be as well. A $50 to $75 lab sample is the only way to be sure.
Can I put new flooring over asbestos tile?
Yes, if the old tile is intact and firmly stuck. Floating laminate or vinyl plank, or a new underlayment and then tile or wood, seals it in place. Disclose it when you sell. Loose or broken tile has to come up.
Can I remove asbestos floor tile myself?
The contractor rules do not apply to a homeowner in their own single-family house, but the thing that makes this job safe is doing it wet, sealed, and without power tools, and the mastic is hard to get off without grinding. See can homeowners remove asbestos in Arkansas. Most people who start it call us halfway through.
What about tile under the carpet I did not know was there?
Stop pulling the carpet, leave the tile where it is, and call. If the tile is intact it can be tested and either left under a new floor or removed properly. If pieces have broken, keep people out of the room until it is cleaned.
Do you remove asbestos floor tile in Sherwood and Jacksonville?
Yes. Little Rock, North Little Rock, Sherwood, Jacksonville, Cabot, Bryant, Benton and Conway. Call (501) 817-7825.
Found tile under the carpet?
Call (501) 817-7825. Test, written price, tile up wet and the slab left clean, or sealed under the new floor.