Mystery Tiles Under Carpet After Removing to Lay Laminate Flooring Help, advice, information, answers and tips on all types of flooring from laminate and carpet to timber and vinyl

[Foddman]

Hi,

I’ve recently moved home and decided to laminate throughout downstairs, replace skirtings etc.

The floor in my living room is laminated at the moment and it’s on top of floorboards but I wanted to check what the porch was like, so I pulled up the carpet to find concrete - fairly standard

What’s puzzled me though is the mystery tiles that are between the concrete and the carpet I pulled up... they’re thin, hard tiles stuck next to one another with some kind of adhesive (presumably to stick the carpet with)

As they’re pretty old they’re starting to snap when I pull up the carpet - so I’m wondering if anyone has any clue what these might be? If they’re safe to remove or leave?

They’re about 3ml thick so I think underlay would cover them fine but I’m really not sure what to do..

[AnUser]

This is only a guess, but be careful because they might contain asbestos. Even if they do, unless you damage them it's not a problem. Do you know when they might have been put down? If your house was built after the cut-off date for when asbestos was banned then you can ignore this reply entirely :-)

If you're worried about the tiles you can get them tested, either by someone coming to you and taking a sample of the tiles or by you taking a sample to the testing company.

Source: current experience