Asbestos-containing sheet flooring or resilient flooring in Sweden: Tarkett flooring & how to distinguish between jute-backed (non-asbestos) carpet or flooring material compared with other materials that may contain asbestos.

This article series describes sheet flooring products known to contain significant levels of asbestos. We also include photographs for identification of known asbestos-containing resilient sheet flooring as well as unknown flooring submitted for identification. The article series gives safety and asbestos testing advice for sheet flooring products.

Asbesthaltigt ark golv eller fjädrande golv i Sverige: Tarkett golv & hur man skiljer mellan jute-stödda (icke-asbest) matta eller golvmaterial jämfört med andra material som kan innehålla asbest.

Denna artikelserie beskrivs ark golvprodukter är kända för att innehålla höga halter av asbest. Vi inkluderar också bilder för att identifiera kända asbesthaltigt elastiska arket golv samt okänd golv lämnas för identifiering. Artikeln ger säkerhet och asbest testning råd för plåt golvprodukter.

Swedish Flooring Products That May Contain Asbestos - Check Age & Date of Installation & Flooring Material. Tarkett flooring.

Reader Question: asbestos content of Tarkett sheet flooring used in Sweden?

From Marcus 3/23/14

First of thanks for doing the work you're doing and running this site, helping out people with their concerns.

Now on to my question, my parents recently bought a house and my Dad is a huge DIY-er. The previous owner was also a DIY-er (altough a very, very sloppy one). It has some of that old rubber flooring and I was concerned it might contain asbestos.

The house itself has a few tiles of Eternit on the outside but it looks like the previous owner gave up before he had covered the entire house since it's only fitted to a small area on the back and a little on a balcony area. Which made me worry that maybe there are other asbestos containing materials in the house.

Now on to the flooring. I'm afraid I can't tell you when he put it in. Somewhere between 60's and the 00's. I know Asbestos flooring was discontinued in Sweden in 1974 because of health reasons. I took some pictures and I'll attach them so you can have a look, they're not the best of quality but they show the floor itself as well as areas where there is no flooring and the backing can be seen.

- The floor of the biggest concern
- Missing piece of said floor. Shiny fibres could be seen in the edge, similar to glass fibre
- Flooring from an adjacent room with a very different backing. Surface on this floor wasn't as rubbery as the other one.

Appreaciate answers and thanks again!

Sincerely,
Marcus L

Reply:

Marcus:

I took a look at your photos in the comment you posted at InspectApedia's home page - and I've re-published them here.

The first two images (above) look like vinyl or sheet vinyl flooring and vinyl or vinyl asbstos floor tile, the third looks like a jute fiber backed sheet flooring similar to linoleum (so more likely not an asbestos product).

You say the flooring could have been installed as early as the 1960's. Considering that tile and sheet flooring made by some manufacturers contained asbestos into the early 1970's in Sweden and may have been in stock and installed at least a few years after that date, and although you're discussing flooring (apparently) in Sweden (for which we have little information about flooring manufacturers) it would still be prudent to treat the unknown material as "presumed asbestos containing material" or PACM.

That does not mean to panic. Avoid creating a dusty mess and use the flooring removal or repair methods we discuss at InspectApedia - see ASBESTOS REMOVAL GUIDE, FLOORING or ASBESTOS REMOVAL, WETTING GUIDELINES if you need to remove further information on flooring removal.

Flooring in good condition is least hazardous if left in place, best with a covering. See ASBESTOS FLOORING LEFT IN PLACE

In Sweden, eternite slabs also contained asbestos. The importation of asbestos into Sweden did not fully cease until 1997.

I'll post your photos here to invite further reader comment.

Asbestos Materials Used in Sweden: Research Citations

Also see these references about asbestos materials in products used in Sweden and asbestos exposure of Swedish workers. My search did not find scholarly research on asbestos products used in Swedish homes in particular.

• "Asbestos Ordinance of the Swedish Work Environment Authority containing Provisions on Asbestos, together with General Recommendations on the implementation of the Provisions, AFS 2006:1", The Work Environment Authority’s Statute Book, Swedish Work Environment Authority Ekelundsvägen 16, SE-171 84 Solna Telephone +46 (0) 8 730 90 00 Fax +46 (0) 8 730 19 67, retrieved 3/24/2014, original source: www.av.se/dokument/inenglish/legislations/eng0601.pdf
• Engholm, G., A. Englund, A. C. Fletcher, and N. Hallin. "Respiratory cancer incidence in Swedish construction workers exposed to man-made mineral fibres and asbestos." Annals of Occupational Hygiene 31, no. 4B (1987): 663-675.
• Gustavsson, Per, Fredrik Nyberg, Göran Pershagen, Patrik Schéele, Robert Jakobsson, and Nils Plato. "Low-dose exposure to asbestos and lung cancer: dose-response relations and interaction with smoking in a population-based case-referent study in Stockholm, Sweden." American journal of epidemiology 155, no. 11 (2002): 1016-1022.
• Hjortsberg, Ulf, Palle Ørbaek, Måns Arborelius, Jonas Ranstam, and Hans Welinder. "Railroad workers with pleural plaques: I. Spirometric and nitrogen washout investigation on smoking and nonsmoking asbestos‐exposed workers." American journal of industrial medicine 14, no. 6 (1988): 635-641.
• Karjalainen, Antti, Sisko Anttila, Esa Vanhala, and Harri Vainio. "Asbestos exposure and the risk of lung cancer in a general urban population." Scandinavian Journal of Work Environment and Health 20, no. 4 (1994): 243-250.
• Ohlson, C. G., and C. Hogstedt. "Lung cancer among asbestos cement workers. A Swedish cohort study and a review." British journal of industrial medicine 42, no. 6 (1985): 397-402.
• Sanden, A., B. Jarvholm, S. Larsson, and G. Thiringer. "The risk of lung cancer and mesothelioma after cessation of asbestos exposure: a prospective cohort study of shipyard workers." European Respiratory Journal 5, no. 3 (1992): 281-285.
• Sweden, Statistics. "Asbestos hazard in the Swedish construction industry—recent trends in mesothelioma incidence." Scand J Work Environ Health 31, no. 2 (2005): 27-30.

Reader Follow-Up: Asbestos Used to mid 1970's in Tarkett Flooring in Sweden: no asbestos?

4/27/14 Markus L said:

Hello again, Markus from Sweden here. I promised I'd get back to you as soon as I sent a piece of the flooring to a lab and I finally got around to it last week.

While taking the sample I actually pulled up a bit more of the flooring and I noticed a brand name underneath "Tarkett".

I looked them up and they were a Swedish flooring company that were indeed active during the asbestos era. I also spoke to a flooring person and he guessed the carpet I had was made in the early 80's. Tarkett was the first Swedish company to cease all asbestos usage in their products, this was in the mid 70's.

So I got the result back from the lab and the flooring did not contain any asbestos. I did not have the jute backed flooring tested since I assume it would yield the same test result, but I'll treat it as asbestos containing, just in case.

Thanks for all your help and hopefully someone else in the same situation as me will be able to get help from what we've learned here.

Hej igen, Markus från Sverige här. Jag lovade att jag skulle komma tillbaka till dig så snart jag skickade en bit av golvet till ett labb och jag äntligen fick runt det förra veckan.

Medan du tar provet jag drog faktiskt upp lite mer av golv och jag märkte ett varumärke under "Tarkett".

Jag såg dem och de var ett svenskt golvföretag som faktiskt var aktiva under asbest eran. Jag talade också till en golv personen och han gissade mattan jag hade gjordes i början av 80-talet. Tarkett var det första svenska företaget att upphöra med all asbest användning i sina produkter, var detta i mitten av 70-talet.

Så jag fick resultatet tillbaka från labbet och golvet inte innehåller någon asbest. Jag har inte jute backas golv testas eftersom jag antar att det skulle ge samma testresultatet, men jag ska behandla det som asbesthaltiga, för säkerhets skull.

Tack för all din hjälp och förhoppningsvis någon annan i samma situation som jag kommer att kunna få hjälp från det vi har lärt oss här.

Reply:

Markus thanks so much for the follow-up. This information will be helpful to other readers so I'll be sure to integrate the information into our articles. I recognize the Tarkett brand and am not surprised that that company led the Swedish way out of asbestos.

Jute, if we're pretty sure that's what it is, is indeed a plant product and itself would not be expected to contain asbestos. (There were some asbestos carpets for special applications however).

Good news. I agree with managing dust as best you can: dust from any 30-40-year old renovation work is typically loaded with irritants, allergens, and who-knows-what.

Beyond Tarkett, you Swedes lead the world in some categories and the U.S. in many - I wish our politicians were more embarrassed.

Thanks again

Markus Tack så mycket för uppföljning. Denna information kommer att vara till hjälp för andra läsare så jag ska vara säker på att integrera informationen i våra artiklar. Jag erkänner Tarkett varumärke och jag är inte förvånad över att detta bolag ledde den svenska vägen ut ur asbest.

Jute, om vi är ganska säkra på att det är vad det är, är verkligen en växtprodukt och själv skulle inte förväntas innehålla asbest. (Det fanns några asbestmattor för specialtillämpningar dock).

Goda nyheter. Jag håller med att hantera damm så gott du kan: damm från alla 30-40-åriga renoveringsarbeten typiskt laddad med irriterande, allergener, och som-vet-vad.

Bortom Tarkett, ni svenskar är världsledande inom vissa kategorier och USA i många - Jag önskar att våra politiker var mer generad.

Tack igen

Question: Tarkett No-Wax floor in 1968 home Elite, Seville, S9017 tiles contain asbestos?

2016/06/16 Annie said:
We have a 1968 home. Found Tarkett No-Wax Floor Tile, Elite, Seville, S9017 tiles. Are these asbestos?

Reply:

You're welcome to use our page top or bottom CONTACT link to send us some photos and we may be able to comment further. Meanwhile it would be safe to treat the flooring as presumed to contain asbestos. InspectApedia has much advice about minimizing risk from asbestos-containing flooring, as you'll see in this article series. Usually the preferred approach is to leave the floor alone, covering it as needed.

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Continue reading at RESILIENT SHEET FLOORING ID GUIDE or select a topic from the closely-related articles below, or see the complete ARTICLE INDEX.

Or see these

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• RESILIENT SHEET FLOORING ID GUIDE - home
  • IDENTIFY SHEET FLOORING TYPE
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  • SHEET FLOORING POSSIBLE ASBESTOS - 1920-1988
  • SHEET FLOORING NON-ASBESTOS EXAMPLES
• SHEET FLOORING INSPECT / TEST
• SWEDISH TARKETT FLOORING POSSIBLE ASBESTOS - separate article

...

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SWEDISH TARKETT FLOORING POSSIBLE ASBESTOS at InspectApedia.com - online encyclopedia of building & environmental inspection, testing, diagnosis, repair, & problem prevention advice.

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INDEX to RELATED ARTICLES: ARTICLE INDEX to ASBESTOS HAZARDS

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