Photo guide to asphalt asbestos and vinyl asbestos floor tiles, 1900 -1986: This article provides a guide to identifying asphalt-asbestos flooring (1917 - ca 1960) & vinyl asbestos floor tile (ca 1952 - 1986): identification photographs, product names, styles, colors, and vinyl-asbestos floor patterns, and colors for asbestos-containing floor tile products made between about 1930 and 1986 - flooring materials that are reported to or have been confirmed to contain asbestos in asbestos fiber or asbestos powder-filler form. These flooring products typically contain chrysotile asbestos, and possibly other asbestos forms. Our photo guide to vinyl asbestos floor tiles for 1974 shows one photo of each style or pattern; the list below includes the names of and links to additional photos for other colors of these styles. If we do not include a photo of a particular floor tile style that's because it appeared unchanged from a prior year - just scroll up through this photo guide to find the first occurrence of each floor tile style, pattern, name, dimensions, and colors.

Our photo left is probably Glenmore Brick 12" x 12" x 1/16" (White, 57131) found in a home in Poughkeepsie, NY. (See our complete color series for both vinyl-asbestos and asphalt Standard tile patterns for 1973) Readers have provided photographs and lab test reports for several similar variations of this Armstrong white brick floor pattern. Bobcats For Sale In New EnglandSome of these contained asbestos and some, according to our readers, do not.Used Furniture Buyers Clearwater Fl The white brick pattern flooring from below, found in a 1960's New York home, was reported to contain asbestos, while the 12x12" white brick floor tiles shown at below right that resemble this popular Armstrong pattern, were tested, and were reported to contain no asbestos.Wall Mount Faucet Pros Cons

Below at left is a similar thin vinyl 12x12 white brick floor tile pattern from a 1983 home that we suspect is asbestos free, while at below right is another example of th herringbone white brick floor tile pattern that I think this is the same type of flooring as in our photo at above left. For the floor at above left, most likely as a 1983 home this is post the asbestos floor tile era, though it's at the edge of that time. I've had some reports from readers testing later 12x12 tiles that did not find asbestos in them and reports from other readers testing what we think were older tiles from the 1970's that did contain asbestos. Below are two more photographs of this popular Armstrong floorg, Romsford Brick white. Romford Red was also a popular pattern. If you have to guess about the asbestos risk with this tile, guess that the 9x9" versions of this flooring most likely contain asbestos, that some later versions might in either size, but that latter productionof the 12x12" flooring may not contain asbestos.

If you face significant cleanup costs that require flooring demolition we recommend that you have a sample tested by a certified asbestos testing laboratory. Note that other flooring companies such as KENTILE KenFlex Floor Tiles also produced floor tiles in similar brick patterns, some of which contained asbestos. In 1974 Armstrong Excelon asbestos vinyl floor tiles were produced in the styles shown in the photo guide just below. For colors for which a link is not provided below, see the earlier occurrence of that tile color in a previous year. The vinyl-asbestos flooring shown at left was found beneath a newer layer of ceramic tile flooring in a home built in 1975 and appears to be original. The homeowner's asbestos test lab report indicated that this flooring contained 20% chrysotile asbestos. Photo courtesy of Kai Schaller 3/13/2013. [Click any image at InspectApedia to see a larger, more-detailed version.] Armstrong Excelon Vinyl Asbestos Floor Tiles (as above), for colors for which a link is not provided below, see the earlier occurrence of that tile color in a previous year.

Solarian vinyl asbestos floor tiles, and the following: Our photo (at left) of 1970's era Armstrong Solarian Devonport Blue-White vinyl-asbestos floor tile was provided courtesy of reader N.H. Armstrong Solarian & Excelon Vinyl Asbestos Floor Tiles included the "Custom" patterns in 1978: For colors for which a link is not provided below, see the earlier occurrence of that tile color in a previous year. Our photo (below-left) shows a late 1970's vintage Craftlon Romford Brick 9"x9" 0.80 gauge white vinyl asbestos floor, photos provided courtesy of reader Matt Abel, Design Services Department, Strongwood Log Home Company. Our second flooring picture (below-right), provided courtesy of reader Diana Elliott, illustrates that resilient sheet flooring was produced in a pattern similar to Romford Brick floor tiles from 1973 and 1974, and closely resembling two other 12" x 12" tile patterns from the same era: Custom Glenmore Brick 12" x 12" and Custom Old Forge 12" x 12"

x 1/16" thick floor tiles, but in our photograph (below right) the flooring is reported to be in continuous sheet form. The floor tile above, provided by reader M.W., resembles Armstrong's Caligula pattern (listed above) and was installed as original flooring in a Milton, Massachusetts (USA) home built in 1974. Another example of this flooring appears at ASBESTOS FLOOR TILE PHOTO ID REQUESTS. Asphalt asbestos and vinyl-asbestos floor tiles were produced in 9" x 9", 12" x 12", and even 18" x 18" as well as in decorative strips, and in thicknesses of 1/16", 3/32", and 1/8", also in 0.08 gauge. Some sheet flooring or resilient flooring also contained asbestos, as did floor tile mastics. This photo guide to asphalt asbestos & vinyl asbestos floor tiles for each year shows at least one color photo of each floor tile style or pattern in an example color. A list below each group of photos includes the names of and links to additional photos for other colors of these styles.

Asbestos is safe and legal to remain in homes or public buildings as long as the asbestos materials are in good condition and the asbestos can not be released into the air. To identify a particular asphalt-asbestos or vinyl-asbestos floor tile pattern & color, start in the image group most likely to be the same age as your building. If you don't find your floor tile or sheet flooring by looking forward from that that year, you should also look backwards in the earlier years as your specific flooring pattern & color may have first appeared in an earlier year. For other tile brands than Armstrong, see the brand name floor tile links included in this list. If you can identify your floor tile collection name or model number, or if you recognize it in the extensive library of flooring color and pattern photographs provided in these pages, laboratory testing of the sample to screen the flooring for asbestos may be unnecessary. Many of the colors and patterns of asphalt-asbestos or vinyl-asbestos floor tiles were manufactured over many years and may appear in more than one of the floor tile photo collections listed by date range here.