One of the biggest factors of installing a new floor over the old is thickness.
Installing vinyl flooring over asbestos tile.
Vinyl planks do not like to be installed over anything with grout lines.
The main caveat is that all vinyl formats call for a smooth subfloor including sheet vinyl vinyl tile and luxury vinyl planks and tiles.
Installing ceramic or porcelain tile over asbestos tile.
The vinyl asbestos tile vat you installed way back used asbestos as a matrix into which the vinyl was forced as a binder and a surface upon which to add the colors and designs.
Installing vinyl flooring is a similar process.
Fortunately it is not difficult to install vinyl tile over your vinyl floor as.
Sometimes the cost to do this is very close to the same cost as removing the tiles 0 50 1 00 sf.
Vinyl tile is an excellent option for sealing in asbestos tiles.
If you are hiring a flooring company they may be hesitant to work around asbestos tiles.
In your situation for a new floor the most effective but simplest way you yourself could get a new floor over the asbestos tile is a process called encapsulation.
If you do not remove the tiles you will be forced to add cement to the grout lines to get a smooth flat floor.
So where feasible it makes sense to install the new flooring directly over the old without removing the old flooring.
This isn t possible with every flooring material but it s often possible to install ceramic porcelain or stone tile over resilient flooring including standard sheet vinyl vinyl tile or linoleum.
From the 1930s to the mid 1970s vinyl flooring contained asbestos which is not safe for you to remove yourself.
The installers refused to install over it due to the risk of particles becoming airborne.
No other specialized prep work or treatment is necessary.
This is trickier as you can t simply slap mortar down on top of old asbestos tile put down the new tile and expect a good result.
In many cases installing a new floor over the tiles encapsulates the asbestos fibers and is an acceptable way to manage the material.
This can mean even a small corner piece you may not realize could be a hazard but it would be.