How to Identify Amitco Floor Tiles & Sheet Flooring That May Contain Asbestos:

This article explains how to identify Amitco floor tiles that are likely to contain asbestos, by making a simple visual inspection, noting the probable age of the building and age of its materials, and similar clues.

This document assists building buyers, owners or inspectors who need to identify asbestos materials (or probable-asbestos) in buildings by visual inspection. Contact Us by email if you are having trouble finding the information you need.

How to Identify AMITCO Floor Tiles

Reader question about asbestos in Amitco vinyl floor tiles

My home was built in 1973. I have Amtico vinyl tile installed in the kitchen, and without thinking, I removed the tile with a scraper. I didn’t consider asbestos being present before I did this. I’m not sure if my particular tile contained asbestos.

[Click to enlarge any image]

The original home owner did not leave the packaging behind, only spare tiles. (They are peel and stick).

I don’t even know if they were the original tile installed with the home. Any idea if these tiles have been reported to contain asbestos? - R.G. 11/10/2012

Reply: history of Amitco Floor Tiles

Your floor tile photo indicates that this is an Amitco floor tile product, though it does not contain a product nor date code.

 

Amitco International an international flooring company that has  principal locations in the U.S. U.K.

Amtico International
66 Perimeter Center East, Suite 700
Atlanta, GA 30346
Tel: 800-268-4260
Email: techsupport@amtico.com
http://america.amtico.com/

In the U.K. Simply Amtico is wholly owned by Carpet Creations in Poynton, Cheshire, and Chapel-en-le-Frith, Derbyshire, England.

Carpet Creations & Creations@Home
98 Market Steet
Chapel-en-le-Frith
Derbyshire SK23 0H
Telephone:  0800 111 4332 or 0845 602 9505 or 01625 876 387
http://www.simplyamtico.co.uk/pages/contact_us.html

Does this Amitco Duravinyl floor tile contain asbestos?

My name is ... and I came across your website - great resource! I am a home owner trying to determine if old tile in my basement floor contains asbestos. I have attached the following pictures for your reference.

The product is "Amtico Duravinyl Tile" manufactured by American Biltrite Inc., Trenton NJ 08607.

It's size is 12" x 12", Gauge 1/16", Pieces 45, SQ FT 45. It has a stamp on the the side of the box: 1074AE16414.

Not sure if this is a product # or another number. Elsewhere on the box it is printed "This Fiberboard guaranteed to test not less than 200 pounds...". So could this mean it's fiberboard? Please let me know if you have any information or could point me in a direction if there is another resource out there.

Below: photo of the rear surface of an Amitco Duravinyl floor tile.

Do Amitco Floor Tiles Contain Asbestos?

The Amitco company was established in 1964, so while the precise answer to your question is "we don't know", I'd agree that it would have been normal for such asphalt-based or vinyl-based flooring products produced in the 1960's and 1970's to have included asbestos, including some peel-and-stick products made in the 1970's.

Quoting from the company's U.K. website about the composition of Amitco floor tiles describing the current product line:

Amtico tiles are made from resin compounded with high quality plasticizers and stabilizers, all compressed under pressure and temperature. Many floor tiles closely resemble natural products; these are made from specially printed films sandwiched between a wear layer and a backing. Some tiles are engineered to have a specific emboss or a metallic appearance.

Many of these manufacturing methods have been developed by and are unique to Amtico. All Amtico tiles have: - a non-porous construction - long-lasting durability - excellent appearance retention - authenticity of colours and patterns - resilience for underfoot comfort - exceptional colour-fastness - beautiful looks which are easy to maintain.

I have sent a query to the Amitco U.S. company and will post their reply here. Keep in mind that flooring of this type that is in good condition is not considered hazardous and does not need to be removed.

See ASBESTOS FLOORING HAZARD REDUCTION for suggestions.

Readers should also see FLOOR TILE HISTORY & INGREDIENTS for a discussion of the ingredients and production of asbestos-containing flooring.

And see ASBESTOS FLOORING IDENTIFICATION for detailed advice on handling and identifying vinyl-asbestos floor tiles or flooring products that probably do or don't contain asbestos.

For a strategy for collecting building dust samples, when, where, how many samples to collect,

see DUST SAMPLING PROCEDURE.

Asbestos is safe and legal to remain in homes or public buildings as long as the asbestos materials are in good condition and the asbestos can not be released into the air.

While an expert lab test using polarized light microscopy may be needed to identify the specific type of asbestos fiber, or to identify the presence of asbestos in air or dust samples, many asbestos-containing building products not only are obvious and easy to recognize, but since there were not other look-alike products that were not asbestos, a visual identification of this material can be virtually a certainty in many cases.

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Reader Q&A - also see RECOMMENDED ARTICLES & FAQs

Question: Does my Amitco Linoleum 12x12 tile contain asbestos?

I have what I believe to be Amitco Linoleum tiles 12x12 size installed in my bathrooms in my home. I will be replacing it with a new tile, can you please tell me if this tile contains asbestos?

Attached is a picture of the tile, I only need to know if there is asbestos in it, so I can determine if it is something I can remove myself or have a service remove it properly. - Anonymous by private email 2019/08/27

Reply:

When we don't know more about a floor tile such as the country, city of location, building age, floor age, then still trying to answer the questions at

DOES THIS FLOOR CONTAIN ASBESTOS? can allow a reasonable guess at the asbestos question.

Beyond guessing you'd either send a sample to a certified asbestos test lab in your country

see ASBESTOS TESTING LAB LIST

Or you'd simply treat the floor as presumed to contain asbestos, leave it in place, and cover it with new flooring. That's the safest, least-costly, and most-recommended approach.

Or see ASBESTOS FLOORING HAZARD REDUCTION where you will also find links giving details of

how to remove the asbestos-suspect flooring - complete details are

at ASBESTOS FLOORING REMOVAL GUIDE - if you absolutely must remove it.

Remember that

Asbestos is safe and legal to remain in homes or public buildings as long as the asbestos materials are in good condition and the asbestos can not be released into the air.

On 2019-07-09 by (mod) -

while the precise answer to your question is "we don't know", I'd agree that it would have been normal for such asphalt-based or vinyl-based flooring products produced in the 1960's and 1970's to have included asbestos, including some peel-and-stick products made in the 1970's.

so do let me know your test result

On 2019-07-08 by Matt

Can anyone tell me if this Amtico peel and stick tile may contain asbestos? I don’t know the age—it was installed by previous owner, who has passed away. 12x12, 2 mm thick.

They left one extra tile, which I may take to get tested if asbestos is possible. The paper on the back to the extra says “Amtico” but there are no other codes legible to assist in identification

. I have a cracked tile next to bath tub that needs to be replaced, along with a section of rotten subfloor underneath.

On 2017-07-18 by Angela

We just purchased a home in April. We recently had some flood damage from the recent Gurnee flood. The previous owners had the basement hallway with laminate flooring. We had to remove that and the underlay due to the water damage. We found vinyl tile flooring and some of it was warping on the corners so we started to take it off with a floor scraper. Some parts were easy and some parts were more difficult and had to chip away.

I saw the black glue and something in me told me to look it up and found out maybe it asbestos? Here are the facts I know. The home was built in 1987.

There were 2 boxes of leftover vinyl tile in the basement. No signs of the adhesive that was used although the box of the vinyl tile says that you need dry-back adhesive.

The vinyl tile is Amtico Duravinyl tile. It is a 12"x12" beige/brown harringbone design.

There are dark black letters/numbers possible model/style. It says BH11 KH221 7 Any information of whether it may have asbestos will help. Thanks. Also, we were just going to put underlay and some laminate on top of the black glue. Is this okay or do we have to remove the glue?

On 2017-07-18 by Phillip

@Angela,

If the tile is already pulled up, any damage is likely already done.

That being said, I wouldn't worry about a 1-time exposure such as this. Cover it up, dispose of it properly. With a home built in 1987 the chances are very slim anyway.

On 2017-07-21 by (mod) - Amtico Duravinyl tile. It is a 12"x12" beige/brown harringbone design

I agree with Phillip that you wouldn't expect asbestos-containing flooring in a 1987 home.

 

On 2016-07-27 by Alex raymouni

I have a Amtico vinyl flooring installed in the kitchen for the house I just bought. The house was built in 1976. Does anyone know if amtico made vinyl tile that had osbestos in it ?

On 2016-07-30 by (mod) - did Amitco make tile that had asbestos in it?

Alex please the article above

On 2015-12-05 by Phil

I have many Amtico Luxury Vinyl Tiles in an extension of my home built in 1985 or 1987. The box says "Classic Touch" and has many different stamped numbers on the box including "VM81" "LB143" "LZ2" and "145." I am trying to determine if they contain asbestos in them.

They are a green color and have a pattern in them resembling a green granite (green with white streaks). Let me know what you think.

On 2015-12-05 by (mod) - Amtico Luxury Vinyl Tiles

Phil,

Please find my email at the page bottom CONTACT link and send me some sharp photos of both sides of each tile pattern and all box markings from each box and I'll comment further.

...

Continue reading  at ARMSTRONG FLOOR TILE IDENTIFICATION or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see these

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• ASBESTOS ENCAPSULANTS & SEALERS - coatings, encapsulants, fiber release control for asbestos containing materials
• ASBESTOS FLOORING DAMAGE HAZARDS
• ASBESTOS FLOORING HAZARD LEVEL ASSESSMENT
• ASBESTOS FLOORING HAZARD REDUCTION
• DOES THIS FLOOR CONTAIN ASBESTOS?
• FLOOR TILE / SHEET FLOORING PHOTO GUIDES - list of photo guides
• 1950's or earlier Floor Tiles in the U.K. Identification Requests

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