Asbestos Paper Backing Vinyl

Vinyl has been used in wallpaper for more than a century and today most wall coverings are either vinyl coated paper or solid vinyl with a cloth backing.

Asbestos paper backing vinyl.

The resilient sheet flooring shown above is a modern product and does not contain asbestos. The backing would be one suitable for use as a surface covering for example a felt perferably a rubber bonded asbestos backing a vinyl sheet backing a cellulosic felt or other backing which lendsitself to surface covering applications. Wallpaper was one of the earliest vinyl products to include asbestos. Manufacturers often made this type of flooring with a friable asbestos backing which means asbestos fibres are easily released into the air if the sheet flooring is disturbed or damaged.

Asbestos was widely used as a filler in both asphalt based and some vinyl based floor tiles of varying thicknesses and extending to some thin flexible self adhesive backed tiles as well as some sheet flooring. This article series describes sheet flooring products known to contain significant levels of asbestos. How to identify sheet flooring known to not contain asbestos. At vinyl asbestos sheet flooring in sum your two photographs of armstrong sheet flooring shown above include both the clearly marked armstrong brand on the flooring underside and a view of the white backing material characteristic of vinyl sheet flooring.

My concern is that there may be asbestos behind the sheet vinyl perhaps in the paper backing or glue adhesive. Only the kitchen and small patio will be refloored and the old sheet vinyl comes off easily amd there s this kinda thick paper under that i will need to scrape off with possibly asbestos as these. Examples of armstrong linoleum flooring linowall wall covering. But before about 1978 in products that looked like this same material asbestos fibers were used as a strengthen material on vinyl sheet flooring backing.