What Year Was Asbestos Banned In Vinyl Flooring

Hot water and steam pipes in older houses may be coated with an asbestos material or covered with an asbestos blanket or tape.

What year was asbestos banned in vinyl flooring.

One armstrong world industries vinyl resilient sheet flooring product thought to have been installed in 1967 was tested in a lab and found to contain 70 percent asbestos. Oil and coal furnaces and door gaskets may have asbestos insulation. The decade old epa made a bold move to ban asbestos altogether enacting the asbestos ban and phase out rule of 1989. Asbestos is found in some vinyl floor tiles and the backing on vinyl sheet flooring and adhesives.

You have to keep from making dust. We are told. If you have to scrape up cutback keep it misted with water. Asbestos vinyl sheet flooring can be more dangerous to remove than tiles if proper precautions are not practiced.

In response to pressure from the asbestos industry a federal judge overturned this ruling in 1991 leaving only pieces of the ruling intact that kept the ban. Dry asbestos particles are lighter than air wet ones are less prone to become air borne. The wondrous new no wax flooring sold by companies such as congoleum put a glossy sheen on post war american prosperity. Such products some sold under the brand name solarian were installed as recently as 1980 long after governmental restrictions on asbestos were initiated.

A highly effective and inexpensive fire retardant material and thermal and acoustic insulator asbestos was used extensively in home construction from the early 1940s through the 1970s. The black cutback adhesive had more asbestos than the vinyl. Even tho they quit making flooring in 1978 with asbestos they sold remaing stock probably into the mid 1990 s. Stain proof fireproof stylish and affordable vinyl products strengthened through the inclusion asbestos in their manufacture were a very popular choice in many new zealand houses.

How to know if it is asbestos. Asbestos vinyl sheet flooring has two layers a top layer of vinyl and a bottom layer made from paper that contains asbestos. The name has its origin in the greek word for inextinguishable. Our photo left shows armstrong excelon 12x12 vinyl asbestos flooring made in 1972 identified in our floor tile photo guide asbestos floor tile identification photos 1949 1959 detailed photo guide to asphalt asbestos and vinyl asbestos floor tiles and resilient flooring produced in 1900 1980.

The ruling would have over time banned all asbestos use in the u s.