Solid Hardwood, Engineered and Laminate Flooring - asbestos vinyl tile on subfloor

going to be installing a 3/4 hardwood floor soon, when I removed the 1/4 inch underlayment it revealed some old nasty 12x12 tiles from the 60's or so. The glue is black and the tiles are kinda tough to remove. The problem is half the room is covered with them, is there a safe way to remove them or is it just better to go over them? The difference in height is not that great, these tiles are very thin. Thanks

You can install a floating engineered wood floor over the asbestos and leave it undisturbed.

hey twelve, I have 3/4" wood planks that I will be nailing,I wish I could float them. It seems I can go over it with a leveling compound and feather out the difference or remove them. I'm leaning towards removing them but can't find any decent info on removing them just safety precautions.

I had a similar but different issue - having vinyl tile glued to asbestos felt paper over hardwood that we needed to rip out for a new ceramic floor.

There is a safe way to remove the tiles and the adhesive - HIRE A PROFESSIONAL. I have seen many posts on this web site where guys say that if your careful you can remove asbestos yourself. It's true that some forms of asbestos are easier/safer to remove than others, but doing it yourself, you will never know what you have released into the air.

I like getting the stuff out, but encapsulating asbestos is considered acceptable if you truly encapsulate it.

I recommend talking to some pros that provide air monitoring/testing and seriously consider hiring them, if you want the tiles and adhesive (which likely contains asbestos too) out of there. It's a real issue.

Good luck!

The tiles/adhesive may not be asbestos, the asbestos tiles were typically 9"x9". Only way to be sure is to have them tested.