Betsy, It's not possible to determine precisely by date if your tiles have asbestos, but here's quote from Wiccapedia.
Vinyl composition tiles took the place of asbestos tiles, which were widely used in schools, hospitals, offices, and public buildings up until the 1980s. Use of tiles and adhesives containing asbestos were discontinued when asbestos materials were determined to be hazardous. Tiles free of asbestos are easily distinguished by their size - asbestos tiles were commonly manufactured in 9-inch squares. However, not all 9-inch square vinyl tiles manufactured before 1980 contain asbestos. Mastics and adhesives containing low concentrations of asbestos were used into the 1970s and are generally considered non-hazardous because the asbestos is not considered friable. Non-ACM (asbestos containing materials) floor tiles are not identifiable by their size. ACM flooring (tiles, sheets, panels, etc.) may come in any color or size and the use of asbestos in flooring and mastics has not been eliminated. You do need to have a smooth surface to lay new vinyl on. If old adhesive is left, any imperfection in the surface below will translate to the visible surface on top. If you cannot get a smooth surface to lay your new vinyl, you may need to strip the floor down to the subfloor and lay sheets of underlayment first. Blessings, Tom From: blindhandyman@yahoogroups.com [mailto:blindhandy...@yahoogroups.com] On Behalf Of Betsy Whitney, Dolphin Press Sent: Monday, March 22, 2010 5:28 PM To: blindhandyman-yahoogroups.com Subject: [BlindHandyMan] Old Vinyl Composite Tile Aloha Everyone, We are ready to have vinyl flooring installed in the kitchen. We discovered that the current vinyl was installed over some old flooring that my contractor thinks is what they call VCT. Does anyone know when they stopped using asbestos in such flooring? We may be able to remove the top layer and lay the new over the bottom, but this house was built in 1979 and I suspect that the VCT was the first flooring installed here. TIA, Betsy Teamwork: Together we achieve the extraordinary. [Non-text portions of this message have been removed]
