# Hardwood over asbestos tile?



## bridkid69 (Aug 17, 2009)

We had a client that wanted hardwoods installing, over Asbestos tile. The subfloor was Concrete. It's was Obvious asbestos tile (9x9) and over 20 years old. They were Perfectly flat, and in excellent condition for Installing over. Also a Moisture test was taken on several areas around the room. All the signs were in favour of going straight over the top. Job completed, everything look wonderful and the client was as happy as can be..........However. Three years after the Install, the floor starts to buckle. We go out and try to rectify what we were told was a wood problem. A couple of sections were removed, complete with Tile attached. It seems the Issue has become one of Moisture getting underneath the tile. Was I wrong to follow the guidelines and my instinct. Three years is a long time to be happy with the results. We are not a fly by night company.
We pride ourselves in our customer satisfaction.
were we wrong? Was there something we could have done differently?
Any advice would be appreciated!!!


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## HusqyPro (Aug 3, 2009)

Does this help you at all?

http://www.contractortalk.com/f10/hardwood-over-asbestos-tile-47659/


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## bwalley (Jan 7, 2009)

bridkid69 said:


> We had a client that wanted hardwoods installing, over Asbestos tile. The subfloor was Concrete. It's was Obvious asbestos tile (9x9) and over 20 years old. They were Perfectly flat, and in excellent condition for Installing over. Also a Moisture test was taken on several areas around the room. All the signs were in favour of going straight over the top. Job completed, everything look wonderful and the client was as happy as can be..........However. Three years after the Install, the floor starts to buckle. We go out and try to rectify what we were told was a wood problem. A couple of sections were removed, complete with Tile attached. It seems the Issue has become one of Moisture getting underneath the tile. Was I wrong to follow the guidelines and my instinct. Three years is a long time to be happy with the results. We are not a fly by night company.
> We pride ourselves in our customer satisfaction.
> were we wrong? Was there something we could have done differently?
> Any advice would be appreciated!!!


A couple of things.

1) the asbestos tile does not have to be removed, it was OK to go over top of it.

2) Is the moisture coming from underneath the slab and wicking up through the asbestos tile?

Or is the moisture coming fom somewhere else, and getting under the asbestos tile?

3) have conditions on the site changed over the last 3 years that would cause moisture to come through the slab?

4) How long of a warranty on the job did you give the client?

You could have installed Trowlable MVP moisture barrier over top of the asbestos tile and then glued the floor down.

How big is the job?

Is it worth it to you to redo the job under warranty to keep the client happy?


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## rusty baker (Jun 14, 2008)

What is the RH in the room? If the humidity is high the concrete will sweat. That would not be your fault if the concrete was dry at time of install. It is important that a dehumidfier is running in a room with slab floor. I would think that if it took 3 years, it is probably a change of conditions.


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## Floorwizard (Sep 24, 2003)

Floating the hardwood if applicable would have been the best idea.
If ANYONE plans on gluuing wood to concrete, then a moisture test must be done and the customer should sign off on the findings.
now 3 years later things could change and you can be held liable.

I do not glue to concrete or anything else glued to concrete. Period.
it's too high a risk of liability.


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## AcademyHardwood (Aug 6, 2009)

Stay away from Asbestos. It has ruined many projects, and will continue to do so.


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## bridkid69 (Aug 17, 2009)

Thanks to everyone for their quick and usefull reply's. 
We pretty much thought exactly, what everyone has said.
Regards.


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## BKM Resilient (May 2, 2009)

Any time you lay over an existing floor covering your liability should be limited. There's also got to be limitations to your workmanship guarantee that cover the possibly shifting water table under the slab as well as ambient humidity. Not too many installers will replace a job three years later under any conditions. If the customer could show me that I did something wrong I might consider some discount on a repair or replacement. That's about the best I could do three years later. We all love to think our work will withstand the test of time. The state of the construction industry today and the inferior manufacturing today compared to what we worked with 30-40 years ago make take that out of our hands.


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## bwalley (Jan 7, 2009)

Floorwizard said:


> Floating the hardwood if applicable would have been the best idea.
> If ANYONE plans on gluuing wood to concrete, then a moisture test must be done and the customer should sign off on the findings.
> now 3 years later things could change and you can be held liable.
> 
> ...


I have done moistures tests that came back negative, yet later had moisture problems, now on all slab on grade wood floor installs I use a vapor barrier, on Glue down slab on grade I use MVP.


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## Floordude (Aug 30, 2007)

3 years...

Must have been a flood/water leak for standing water to be under the tiles.

If this were an issue at time of install, you would have seen it buckle within 1 month.


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