Asbestos in Armstrong Flooring

Lab Test Results for Armstrong Floor Tiles & Sheet Flooring that Contain Asbestos

Asbestos Test Results: 1960s Vinyl-Asbestos Floor Tiles

Bottom line: Asbestos-containing sheet flooring in good condition in a residential environment is not a high risk of causing airborne asbestos hazards as the material is not friable.

The safest as well as least-costly course of action is to leave such flooring in place, and to cover it over with other flooring material.

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. - US EPA

However if such flooring installed in North America before the early 1980's is in very poor condition or if it must be demolished as part of building renovations, it should be treated as presumed to contain asbestos and handled accordingly.

Flooring adhesives or mastics also may contain asbestos.

Photo above: a gray, green, and light tan asphalt-asbestos floor tile installed in a northern Minnesota home in 1962.

Using a certified asbestos testing laboratory we had this sample tested for asbestos and we report the results below.

Friable and nonfriable asbestos are defined

at ASBESTOS DEFINITION & COMPOSITION

1962 Floor Tile Sample No. 03

First, why do I call this an "asphalt-asbestos" floor tile rather than "vinyl-asbestos" or just "vinyl" floor tile? Let's look at the back of this tile.

That gray color with cracking is characteristic of an asphalt-based floor covering rather than a vinyl one.

Take a look at our next photograph below, showing the edge of this 1960's floor tile.

The edge view of this tile showing the rather homogeneous makeup of the tile except for its colored face means this is most-likely an asphalt-based tile. However, though it's reasonable to treat such flooring as presumed to contain asbestos, without an expert test one cannot be certain of the floor's asbestos content.

For example, some Armstrong 1960s floor tiles were made without asbestos in their matrix.

Above and below: additional photos of this 1960's flooring sample under our stereo-microscope,

showing the tile's face and the texture of its back or "bottom" surface.

Above: Floor Sample No. 03, a gray, tan & green floor tile installed in a Two Harbors MN home ca 1960 was tested for asbestos using Polarized Light Microscopy (PLM) by EMSL. The lab found

• Gray fibrous material, homogeneous
• 94% non-fibrous (other) Note: could in some flooring incude non-fibrous asbestos filler [Ed.]
• 6% Chrysotile asbestos

Below: an excerpt from the EMSL lab report on this flooring sample.

1962 Floor Tile Sample No. 04

...

and here is a closer look at this floor tile sample pattern under our stereo microscope.

\

Below: Flooring sample #04 under polarized light in a PLM microscope.

Floor Sample No. 04, a floor tile installed in a Two Harbors MN home ca 1960 was tested for asbestos using Polarized Light Microscopy (PLM) by EMSL. The lab found

• Various (colored) fibrous material, homogeneous
• 94% non-fibrous (other) Note: could in some flooring incude non-fibrous asbestos filler [Ed.]
• 6% Chrysotile asbestos

Below: an excerpt from the EMSL lab report on this flooring sample.

ca 1965 Sample Floor Tile No. 06

From a Poughkeepsie New York House built ca 1965, this floor tile and mastic on its back surface were sent for analysis via PLM NYS 198.6 (<1%) & TEM NYS 198.4 (<1%).

Phase 1 Examination for Asbestos: Polarized Light Microscopy (PLM)

Above: Sample 06 New York floor tile examined by PLM.

Result

• Not reported by the lab, see TEM results below.

Below: Sample 06 New York floor tile asphalt-based tile mastic adhesive, also examined by PLM.

Phase 2 Examination for Asbestos: Transmission Electron Microscope (TEM)

Above and below: photos of mastic removed from the back of our tile sample No. 6, by TEM (Transmission Electron Microscope)

The non-organically bound samples were analyzed with a transmission electron microscope (TEM) at approximately 20,000 X magnification.

Asbestos structures are identified by a combination of morphology, quantitative elemental chemistry via Energy Dispersive X-Ray Analysis (EDXA), and Selected Area Electron Diffraction (SAED).

Result:

• During TEM examination Chrysotile asbestos was detected. The total concentration was <1% (see attached report).

Really? This is a surprising result; the only rational explanations I can come up with for an asbestos level greater than zero but less than 1% might be that the lab is not going to risk guaranteeing zero asbestos in the sample if that's a level of asbestos below that that their procedure can detect, OR the flooring has slight asbestos in its matrix from cross-contamination.

Also we don't know if the lab is looking only for characteristic and comparatively large asbestos fibers or if the procedure also detects shorts or fines of asbestos widely used as filler in asphalt-asbestos and vinyl-asbestos floor tile.

To be clear, there were some 1960's asphalt- or vinyl-based floor tiles that did NOT contain asbestos.

Asbestos Test Lab Reports for The Floor Tile Samples Above

• ASBESTOS TEST RESULTS SUMMARY [PDF] 2020/01-18-20, Test Report: Asbestos Analysis of Bulk Materials via EPA 600/R-93/116 Method using Polarized Light Microscopy EMSL Ord No. 042000629 2019-12-26 for samples No. 001-005 and 008-015. For samples 001-005, and 008-014
  
  Sample No. 03: see details at 1960-1969 VINYL FLOOR TILE ASBESTOS TESTS - 03 - 1962 Asphalt asbestos floor tile
  
  Sample No. 04: see details at 1960-1969 VINYL FLOOR TILE ASBESTOS TESTS - 04 - 1962 Asphalt asbestos floor tile
  
  Sample No. 05: see details at MARBLE / STONE CHIP PATTERN FLOORING ASBESTOS - sheet flooring
  
• ASBESTOS TEST REPORT: Asbestos analysis of ca 1965 FLOOR TILE from a NEW YORK HOME [PDF] 2020/01/23 Test Report (PLM NYS 198.6 NOB and TEM NYS 198.4 NOB)
  
  
Sample No. 06: see details at 1960-1969 ASPHALT FLOOR TILE ASBESTOS TEST - 06 - ca 1965 Asphalt based floor tile using special methods required by NY State
• Also see asphalt and vinyl asbestos-suspect flooring test results at
  
  NAFCO VINYL FLOOR TILES IDENTFICATION
  
• Contact: EMSL Analytical, Inc., 200 Route 130 North, Cinnaminson, NJ 08077 USA, Tel: 856-303-2500 - Fax: 856-786-5974 - Toll Free: 800-220-3675
  Lab Hours: Mon-Friday 7AM-10PM, Saturday 8AM-5PM, Sunday On-Call.
• ASBESTOS TEST LABS in the USA - EXAMPLE REPORTS - provides fourteen example asbestos test results from EMSL

Asbestos Test Results: Armstrong Solarian 65% Chrysotile Asbestos Content

We tested this Armstrong Sundial Solarian sheet flooring for asbestos

We tested this Armstrong Sundial Solarian sheet flooring.

The test results show the backing made of is 65% chrysotile asbestos fiber.

The area in the image was under a cabinet and still had the Armstrong stamp on it. In another area, it looks like it might be numbered 66660. - 2020/12/09 ED said:

Moderator reply:

Ed, thank you very much for posting the photo and asbestos test results for that Armstrong Solarian flooring. That information will be most helpful to other readers.

Do you have an idea of the age of the building in which the floor was installed and perhaps about when the flooring itself was placed?

Country and city are also helpful.

More lab test results for asbestos in Armstrong flooring are

at ARMSTRONG SOLARIAN NO-WAX FLOORING HISTORY - and asbestos use<

Test Results for Armstrong Sheet Flooring - 0% to 40% to 70% Chrsotile Asbestos

The resilient flooring shown above was a popular pattern and in two out of three tests reported by our readers has been confirmed as containing asbestos.

Watch out: as we explain in detail at SHEET & TILE FLOORING ASBESTOS ID-BRICK PATTERN ID, the varied-square-sized flooring like the Armstrong pattern shown here (probably Armsrtrong #5352 "Linoleum") has been found to contain asbestos - 40% chrysotile asbestos - OR - no asbestos - depending on when it was made and which backing material was used.

More images and information about of this floor pattern as well as flooring in larger or "full brick" size patterns are on that page

and also at ARMSTRONG BRADFORD BRICK SHEET

Test Results for Armstrong Shattered Stone Sheet Flooring - 70% Asbestos confirmed

Reader comment:

In one of the asbestos pages of your site ( this page - Ed.), your second photo is of a sheet layment. The text about the photo clarifies that the person who sent the photo was confused about Armstrong and Congoleum.

I wanted to let you know that I have that exact same sheet layment and had it tested. It's 70% asbestos.

Thought you may want to let readers know so they can save the cost of testing and just deal with the issue accordingly.

I appreciate your site. Thank you for taking the time to put together all the information. - D.H. 10/11/2012

Reply:

Also see OLD PEBBLE PATTERN FLOOR TILE for discussion of a similar product image.

Watch out: confusion among sheet flooring names and terms can make it difficult to sort out which products contain asbestos.

For example we've read websites claiming that "in 1980 asbestos in linoleum was already banned" but in fact true linoleum, a type of sheet flooring discussed

at LINOLEUM & SHEET FLOORING is not and never was an asbestos-containing product.

The confusion stems from the use of the word "linoleum" as a generic term for "sheet flooring". Linoleum does not contain asbestos.

But many sheet flooring products do contain asbestos in a white or light colored core or in a black asphalt-impregnated felt backer.

Some readers have reported that their test of 1980-era Armstrong Solarian sheet flooring contained asbestos. Without confirming that the floor was properly identified and without seeing the lab report such reports may be true and accurate but still they're anecdotal.

Asbestos in Standard Armstrong Floor Tiles Confirmed

According to Armstrong vinyl-asbestos floor tiles such as those shown here were produced by the company from 1951 through 1973.

These examples illustrate two shades of Palimino Beige 9"x9"x1/8"-thick asphalt-asbestos tile (AAT) whose asbestos content has been confirmed by asbestos test lab results generously provided along with these photographs by reader L.R. (October 2012).[25]

Our own field work has found that this tile pattern, in a range of colors illustrated below, was enormously popular and can still be found installed in thousands of homes built between 1951 and the early 1970's.

The most common colors we have found include the beige shades shown below along with green, white, black, and Apache red illustrated further below.

The Armstrong Pecan Beige asphalt asbestos floor tile illustrated at above left (pattern C-913) has been confirmed by independent testing to contain about 10% asbestos while the Armstrong Palimino Beige asphalt floor tile (above right, pattern C-926) was confirmed at 6.4% asbestos.

Our photo, courtesy of reader L.N. illustrates the original packaging used for Armstrong asphalt floor tiles - Armstrong Asphalt Floor Tile, produced by Armstrong’s Cork division.

The tile pattern identified as C-926 Palimon Beige corresponds to the tile photograph at above right, a 1/8" gauge asphalt asbestos floor tile.

These tiles are mostly asphalt with the percentages of asbestos given above, as tested by the reader's asbestos lab. Armstrong has indicated that  that these tiles almost certainly contained asbestos but  they said that as long as  the tiles are not ground or sanded there should not be a detectable asbestos hazard in residential use.

1950's Armstrong Excelon Plastic Asbestos Floor Tiles Described as "plastic asbestos tiles".

Definition & Composition of Vinyl based asbestos resilient floor tiles

Vinyl asbestos floor tiles (VAT) refers to resilient flooring whose basic binding material was a vinyl plastic, replacing asphalt as the primary ingredient.

The 1954 catalog refers to the existence of at least a 1952 version of this vinyl-asbestos resilient floor tile product:

"Federal Specifications - Interim Federal Specifications No. L T 751 (GSA-FSS) dated March 18, 1952, defines Armstrong's Excelon Tile and other similar plastic asbestos tiles as Type I Semi Flexible Vinyl Plastic Floor Tile.
...
... the thermoplastic binder of a vinyl plastic floor tile shall consist of only a limited group of certain specific types of polyvinyl chloride resins despite the fact that a wide range of vinyl resins could be used.
...
... note that while Excelon Tile does not the exact material composition of Interim Specifications No. L T 751, it does meet all the physical tests listed."