Asbestos Carpet Adhesive

Asphaltic cutback adhesive is an older type of mastic made with asphalt based cement.

Asbestos carpet adhesive.

It is commonly thought that asbestos was added to these compounds for fire resistance. Possible signs of asbestos mastic include discoloration and an oily texture. It s likely to be compacted under the carpet as it was often glued to concrete floors or stapled to timber floors. Asbestos mastic will also always be black in color.

As with underlay it doesn t pose an immediate danger as it s difficult for the fibres to escape. Unlike the backer on some resilient flooring products or sheet flooring carpet padding would not normally contain asbestos. Carpet adhesives manufactured in the 1980s or earlier may contain asbestos a known carcinogen. In some cases these glues were used to seal the edges of carpets and other flooring such as laminates or tiles.

Some cutback adhesives contained asbestos. If your building was built before 1980 mastic mixed with asbestos may have been used to seal your tiles to the floor. Non friable asbestos was also added to the glue used on carpet underlay. Carpet glue up until the 1980s asbestos was occasionally used in adhesives.

Carpet underlay containing asbestos is likely to be brown and look like a fibrous mat. Also i have never heard of asbestos being used in foam backing for carpet. If it were me i d cover the floor with 1 4 cement board underlayment and put in a new floor. Asbestos adhesive was used for asphalt flooring tiles and vinyl or linoleum sheet tile because it strengthened the flooring and made it more durable.

If you suspect the adhesive on your floor could contain asbestos do. Before moving forward take note. But then asbestos was found to be a health hazard. It usually looks like a black bituminous dried adhesive.

As a petroleum based material the cutback is not softened by water. It was also resistant to moisture oil grease heat alkalis and acids. Mastic is a type of glue used to adhere tiles and vinyl flooring to the subfloor.