Asbestos Floor Tiles: How to Check and What to Do

Do floor tiles contain asbestos?

Some do. Vinyl and thermoplastic floor tiles laid in the UK before 2000 may contain chrysotile, or white asbestos, bound into the tile itself. It made the tiles harder wearing and helped them keep their shape, and it was cheap.

Tiles like these went into millions of homes, schools, shops and offices from the 1950s through to the 1980s.

What that doesn't tell you is the important part. Tiles from the same decades, in the same colours and sizes, were also made with no asbestos at all. You can't see the difference. A photo online can't tell you what's in your floor, and neither can we.

Which floors this applies to

"Asbestos flooring" sounds like one thing. It isn't, and the difference matters later, because the law treats these types differently.

The difference that matters most is between the rigid tiles and the paper-backed sheet. The tiles hold their fibres tightly. The paper backing doesn't.

The backing can break up into something much more easily disturbed, especially once it's old and dry. That changes both the risk and the legal duty, as we cover further down.

When did they stop putting asbestos in flooring?

The short answer is 1999, when the UK banned all remaining use of asbestos outright. Nothing sold for use in a British building after that legally contained it.

In practice, asbestos was leaving flooring for some time before the ban. By the late 1980s, most makers had moved away from it. But there's no single date. Different makers changed at different times, and stock already in a warehouse got laid for years afterwards.

That's why the guidance, and this page, keeps coming back to one line: before 2000, presume it, and test before you disturb it. Trying to date a floor more precisely than that is guesswork.

How do you check your floor?

Lots of people come to this question looking for photos to compare. Here's the blunt answer: you can't identify asbestos floor tiles from a picture. The fibres are microscopic and bound inside the tile. Two tiles that look the same can contain completely different things.

What is worth noting, because it changes the odds:

• The age of the floor. The most useful signal. Before 2000, presume it. Before 1990, the odds are a lot higher.
• Tile size. Nine inch squares tend to be older, from when asbestos was in normal use. Twelve inch tiles are generally later but can still contain it. Size narrows the odds. It settles nothing.
• What's underneath. Hard black bitumen glue is a strong hint that the floor dates from that period, whatever the tiles turn out to be.
• Layers. Old floors often have several. A modern covering on top tells you nothing about what's beneath it.

Getting it tested

A lab test on a small sample is the only thing that answers the question. It's cheap and quick, and for a single floor it's usually the cheapest step in the whole job.

The sample should be taken damp, from an area that's already damaged or from an edge, with as little breakage as possible. Include the glue as well as the tile if you want both answered. They're two separate materials, and a lab reports on what it's given.

A sample taken and tested by a visiting surveyor starts from £75, plus VAT. Most cost £95 to £165. A postal asbestos test kit starts from £30, including VAT. Most cost £35 to £50. You can get a free quote to have your floor tiles sampled and tested.

The black glue underneath

This is the part most often missed, so it gets its own section. The black bitumen adhesive used to lay these tiles often contained asbestos in its own right.

It's the hard, dark, tar-like layer that stays stuck to the concrete after the tiles come up. It can contain asbestos even where the tiles themselves are clean.

It's a familiar story. Someone has the tiles tested, gets a clear result and lifts the floor with a clear conscience. Then they attack the black glue with a grinder or a floor sander to get it flat for new flooring.

That's the step that makes dust, and it happens after everyone thought the question had been answered.

Is it dangerous if you leave it alone?

Generally, no. Asbestos floor tiles are a firmly bound material, which puts them among the lowest-risk asbestos products found in buildings. The fibres are locked into a hard tile.

An intact floor that's walked on, cleaned and left alone isn't releasing fibres into the room. Nobody gains from removing it just because it's there.

The risk changes when the material is broken up:

• Sanding, grinding or using a floor sander, which is by far the worst.
• Smashing tiles to lift them, rather than easing them up whole.
• Drilling through the floor.
• Tiles that are already cracked, curling, crumbling or lifting at the edges.
• Heat, which softens the bitumen and releases what's bound in it.

Damaged tiles are a different matter. If a floor is breaking up, get it assessed rather than leaving it and hoping. Our guide on encapsulation versus removal covers how that choice is usually made.

Do you need a licensed contractor?

This is where most pages on this topic go wrong. The kinds of asbestos flooring sit in different legal categories, and HSE sets them out like this.

For every material in a home, see do you need a licensed asbestos contractor?

So for floor tiles, the honest answer is normally no, you don't need a licensed contractor. That surprises people, because a lot of what's written about asbestos assumes licensed work is the only route.

It isn't. Knowing which category you're in stops you paying for something the job doesn't need.

The catch is the paper-backed sheet. It looks like ordinary old lino, it's the one people are least likely to recognise, and it's the one with the extra duty. If your floor is a continuous sheet with a soft felt-like backing, get it identified properly before anyone lifts it.

Should you remove them yourself?

HSE classes work on these tiles as non-licensed. That doesn't make it a good job to do yourself, and we wouldn't recommend it.

• The method decides the exposure, and there's no second go. Tiles eased up whole and damp release very little. The same tiles cracked apart or sanded release a lot. By the time you can tell which happened, it's happened.
• The glue is the part that beats people. Lifting the tiles is straightforward. Getting hard bitumen off concrete without grinding it isn't, and grinding is exactly what you mustn't do. People usually find this out halfway through, with the floor already up.
• Disposal is a real hurdle. It's hazardous waste and can't go in a skip or a household bin. Many councils cap what they take from a household, some charge, and some won't take it at all. So it has to be sorted before the first tile comes up, not after.

We arrange the whole job, with the waste taken away and a consignment note to prove it was disposed of properly. Tell us the size of the floor and where you are, and we'll arrange a free, no-obligation quote before you commit to anything.

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Remove it, cover it, or leave it

There are three sensible answers, and removal isn't automatically the best. You don't have to remove asbestos just because it's there, if it's in good condition and unlikely to be disturbed.

Covering is the option people ask about most, usually as whether they can tile or lay laminate on top. Normally you can, and it's often the sensible choice. The safest thing you can do to a bonded asbestos material is not disturb it.

Two conditions: the old floor has to be sound enough to take a covering, and the fixing method mustn't cut, drill or rub away at it.

Can I put a new floor over asbestos tiles?

Often, yes. Whether the new floor goes on plywood, a latex levelling compound or a screed, the starting point is the same. HSE's task sheet for asbestos floor tiles first asks whether removal can be avoided by covering the tiles with something that has no asbestos in it.

The same sheet has one flat warning: never sand the floor. Which covering suits you depends on the floor itself. Whichever you use, the sheet says to pass the information on. The building owner should be warned that asbestos has been covered over, so it can be managed properly.

What it costs

Asbestos floor tile removal typically costs £450 to £1,500 per room, plus VAT.The price for your own floor is confirmed once it's been seen.

There's no flat rate, and anyone quoting one without seeing the floor is guessing. What actually moves the price:

• Floor area. The obvious one.
• Whether the glue comes up too. Usually the biggest single factor. Lifting tiles is quick. Taking up hard bitumen safely is slow.
• Condition. Tiles that lift whole cost less than tiles that shatter.
• Access. A ground floor room with a door to the drive isn't an upstairs flat with a shared stair.
• Disposal. How far it is to a permitted site, and what that site charges.
• Whether it has to be notified. Paper-backed sheet brings notification and record-keeping that tiles don't.

Our UK asbestos removal cost report sets out what different kinds of work typically cost, and the cost guide explains what moves a quote up or down. Your price depends on the job. Every quote is free. Prices are shown before VAT unless they say otherwise. How we work out these prices.

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Getting rid of the waste

Asbestos floor tiles, and the glue with them, are hazardous waste. They can't go in a household bin, a general skip, or the back of a van to a normal tip. They have to be double-wrapped, labelled and taken to a site permitted to accept them.

If you'd rather take it yourself, it depends on your council. Some accept small amounts free at a recycling centre, usually by appointment and with a limit. Some charge. Some run a paid collection, and some won't take it at all.

We've gathered the published rules for 189 UK councils: check what your council does about asbestos disposal.

Council schemes are for small amounts that have already been taken down and wrapped. For anything more, or anything still in place, we arrange the whole job.

One rule applies everywhere: asbestos removed by a contractor is business waste. It can't go through a household route, whatever your council lets residents do.