Asbestos under bitumen?

[Louis.]

Been removing gripper rods in our porch due to replacement of the carpet. The flooring is concrete with a bitumen top layer.

On a number of the grippers they had been nailed into the floor. Upon removal this brought up areas of the solid bitumen. What I did notice was there's a 'fibrous' material under this bitumen. Is this likely to be asbestos? They're not tiles and it appears to be poured bitumen. Property was built in 1982.

 

[Deleted member 174758]

It might be. We were still using asbestos insulation at that time, so it might be cement asbestos which uses crysotile (the least harmful variant). This was often used in council and housing association stock. It can always be tested if you want to be certain, but whetever you do, DON'T vacuum it up, instead it should be damped down with water then gently brushed up

 

[Louis.]

It might be. We were still using asbestos insulation at that time, so it might be cement asbestos which uses crysotile (the least harmful variant). This was often used in council and housing association stock. It can always be tested if you want to be certain, but whetever you do, DON'T vacuum it up, instead it should be dampwd down with water then gently brushed up

The whole bitumen edging was vacuumed when the skirting boards were removed, so bit late now! This was before I removed the grippers but the bitumen was still already cracked. Obviously I had no idea there was any fibrous material beneath!

I'll get it sent off for sampling as I ideally want to remove all the bitumen to get the level down to fit some wood flooring.

 

[dazlight]

What’s the reason you want to remove it all ?

 

[Louis.]

What’s the reason you want to remove it all ?

I may need the height in order to fit some wood flooring and have it inline with the carpet.

 

[Tigercubrider]

The bitumen (if it is the DPC) isn't that thick.

 

[Louis.]

The bitumen (if it is the DPC) isn't that thick.

It's easily about 10-15mm, I'll have to measure it

 

[dazlight]

In most cases that’s your Dpm for your floor.
but if removing it you will need to latex screed the sub floor and possible grind it clean 1st. Then apply an epoxy Dpm.