Whats Under my Basement Tiles?

[aseibel]

frenchsquared is right. don't let the government know you have any asbestos in the building if you can help it.

 

I'm sure there are many products specifically designed to remove pet odors, but if there is any moisture trapped under the tiles and you are afraid of mold, I would hit it with a bleach solution to kill everything. The key will be to just clean it very well. Hopefully your concrete floor was finished pretty smooth, so its easier to scrub. This project will be mostly elbow grease. If you decide use anything mechanical, just be cautious to avoid stirring up contaminates and sending them through the air to the rest of the house.

[Likarok]

35 minutes ago, aseibel said:

frenchsquared is right. don't let the government know you have any asbestos in the building if you can help it.

 

I'm sure there are many products specifically designed to remove pet odors, but if there is any moisture trapped under the tiles and you are afraid of mold, I would hit it with a bleach solution to kill everything. The key will be to just clean it very well. Hopefully your concrete floor was finished pretty smooth, so its easier to scrub. This project will be mostly elbow grease. If you decide use anything mechanical, just be cautious to avoid stirring up contaminates and sending them through the air to the rest of the house.

I agree! At any rate Ii would get those old tiles out of there, using all proper precautions of course, and then assess the cement! As stated it may just need a good clean and then replace with new ceramic or stone tile! If the surface of the cement is really rough you may need to put a new cement skim coat on to level the floor out. Then tile it! Does you area have a high water table?

[SkiDooNick700]

1 hour ago, aseibel said:

frenchsquared is right. don't let the government know you have any asbestos in the building if you can help it.

 

I'm sure there are many products specifically designed to remove pet odors, but if there is any moisture trapped under the tiles and you are afraid of mold, I would hit it with a bleach solution to kill everything. The key will be to just clean it very well. Hopefully your concrete floor was finished pretty smooth, so its easier to scrub. This project will be mostly elbow grease. If you decide use anything mechanical, just be cautious to avoid stirring up contaminates and sending them through the air to the rest of the house.

I was thinking to use a stand up buffer but like you said that would be dangerous I suppose and really stir it up.  Better off getting some hand brushes to keep it from flying around.  I keep everything pretty wet though that should keep most particles falling back to the ground I would think.  The cement is not smooth, the tiles a little bit wavy.

 

32 minutes ago, Likarok said:

I agree! At any rate Ii would get those old tiles out of there, using all proper precautions of course, and then assess the cement! As stated it may just need a good clean and then replace with new ceramic or stone tile! If the surface of the cement is really rough you may need to put a new cement skim coat on to level the floor out. Then tile it! Does you area have a high water table?

 

I will have to look into this skim coat, the floor is not perfectly smooth in the tile area.  The rest of the basement is smooth. (weird?).  I am not sure how the water table is. What I do know is I am at pretty much the highest point on my road.  

 

 

What i want to do for now is just get it clean then paint the floor grey with a cement paint and reseal the cement blocks in the basement.

 

[sdeeter19555]

If you do it yourself, keep it wet as well as a respirator (NOT a dustmask). You also take a chance of spreading it throughout the house...

You can still have it tested for your own knowledge...no sense treating it like ACM if it isn't ACM. They don't care were the sample comes from...I used IATL before, cost should be under $50 a sample.

Also, and I haven't seen it in this discussion, that mastic may have ACM in it as well. I've actually seen PCBs in the black mastic as well...

If you are bent to do it yourself, for the next step, TSP is probably a good detergent to start with...then prime it with something like Kilz (that will also seal the mastic).

If it was my house, I'd probably have someone come in and deal with it...they can isolate the area, clean it, dispose of it. They can even sample it...

Once its abated, that stigma to the house is irrelevant.

2012 2500hd 6.0l CCSB 4wd

[txab]

Agreed ^^^^ I don't know of a lab that is required to know where a sample came from. I have samples tested quite frequently and never have been queried about sample location so they can send the Gov. Nazis out. You just get a report saying yay or nay and what the composition is. As noted the mastic might have a better chance of asbestos.

 

Finding out if you moisture seeping through the slab is important. You may want to consider installing  new floating floor above the concrete. There many underlayments that work well when placed on the concrete to help with the moisture.

 

Getting rid of cat piss can take some work

[SkiDooNick700]

Thanks for all the inputs guys.  I got in touch with the guy who did my home inspection, after a 10 or so minute conversation he offered to come out one day when he is in the area.  I know that sdeeter was mentioning the black mastic could contain asbestos - my home inspector guy is saying yes, it certainly could, however it's in a solid form and doesn't really pose any health risk even when removing it.  He had me search for a floor drain, but I don't see any floor drain at all in my basement.  He's saying it possible they just tiled right over it, and what I could be smelling is sewer gas.

 

There's just like no way of knowing whats going on under the tile til it comes up.  One thing is for sure - the biggest concern right now seems to be whether or not the tile is asbestos.