Concrete floor
I'll be taking ownership of my eichler in a few weeks and plan to remove all floor coverings to leave exposed concrete. What sort of effort will it entail... in other words, is it enough to yank carpeting and clean up the concrete or does the conrete then require something done to it? It would be really cool to have a 'checklist' that I can either do myself or use to 'keep a contractor honest.'
cheers.
If there are still original tiles underneath the carpets, then you will have to remove them, as well as the mastic. Both might have asbestos. There were some threads about tile and mastic removal in this site. You could do a search or browse past messages.
- antenor
the only way you will be able to use your existing slab is if 1) there were no glue/mastic stains to deal with because there was no tile, or 2) you are okay with keeping the stains in the floor. The mastic staining is very difficult to get out of the concrete, even though the mastic itself is fairly easy to remove. I wrote a long long post on my experience with your exact situation a few months back. Let me know if you can't find it.
The old post not located in the grab bag central but in the home maintenance forum
first off, thanks cindy for pointing me to your thread on what you did... wow!
so, i got the house and didn't even have to go very far to figure out that i have vinyl/asbestos tile: a box of spare armstrong tiles in the garage says it for me. Pulled up carpet edges in all rooms to verify... prety much every room in the house has them :(
So, figuring this crap has to go, and not wanting to expose myself to removal chemicals (i have enough problems as it is, no need to create more), A) does anybody have an idea of what it would cost... I've seen anywhere from $600 to $9K in here or in the newsletter, and B) can anybody recommend somebody to do the job?
cheers.
There was a long discussion about how to remove tiles and how to remove the mastic. You should read it since it will answer some of your questions (this may be the thread that Cindy was referring to):
http://www.eichlernetwork.com/phpBB2/viewtopic.php?t=83
As far as the tiles and mastic, I would encourage you to call your city's hazardous waste department and describe that you want to dump some asbestos containing tiles. They may be able to accomodate you since they are mostly concerned about asbestos when it becomes airborne (asbestos is very harmful is it is inhaled). The tiles are pretty well contained. Anyone else with different experience should chime in here.
