HELP ME! Asbestos vinyl sheet flooring.?

You have done all you can. The flooring is only a hazard if exposed and distributed into the air in high quantities. The level in your air would not be measurable. The duct tape is exactly what you should have done. The forms you have will present minimal risk to your kids, but it should be removed when you get the money. Don't let the kids play with the tile or flooring in the meantime.

You're worrying too much, seriously. Most older people have had years of contact with asbestos and never knew it and are just fine. It was put into MANY things and is just about everywhere in older buildings.

Containment is all that is needed to be safe. Abatement is an expensive process and most of the time a money making scam. Mesothelioma is a specific lung cancer only caused by asbestos and it's been a lawyer's dream to make cash from it.

Yes many people have this and it's sad, but they were industrial workers who were exposed for decades without safety equipment. If it was a major widespread issue it would be in more regular people who did not work with it.

Just remember everyone grew up in houses with it and handled it and are just fine.

In order to answer this question, lets educate ourselfs on what asbestos is, and what it does.

Asbestos is actually a form of rock, mind from the ground. When this rock is smashed, it fractures and leaves a fuzzy edge. This fuzz is actually microscopic threads that are very difficult to distroy. They can with stand extream heat, and can make nearly anything stronger. Ironically these "industructable" threads are also industructable inside of the human body. The lungs in a human can be imagined as many connecting funnels, that get smaller and smaller...when these industructable asbestos threads collect in the most microscopic parts of these funnels, they stay there forever.

With that said, the answers in this forum are correct...the only real threat to your families health is the dust that is produced when it is removed. The most safe thing you can possibly do is to simply let it be. Don't ever remove it, or tamper with it. Just let it sit there and you are safe.

If I were in your situation, and was concerned for my health, I would simply cover the parts that bother me with a temporary tarp, then put new flooring over top of the existing when time and finances allow it.

It is impossible to tell how dangerous it is. It would take an expert with lots of experience in the types of asbestos.

Asbestos is listed as two different ways

a) Friable, or easily broke up into dust particles that can be deadly. It could cause lung cancer or black lung 20 years later leading to apinful death.

b) Non Friable, or not easily disturbed.

Asbestos particles are like microscopic straws. If they get breathed in, they punture the avelio in your lungs. The avelio take the blood from your heart relese the carbon dioxide out of your blood and oxygenate it. If you loose to many you will have a hard time breathing.

Leave the asbestos alone until it is abated.

Stay out of the house until the abatement is done.

To be extra safe take a spray bottle of water and mist the air. It will weigh dowwn any asbetos dust in the air and it will fall to the floor.

Asbestos dust is dangerous; asbestos in a contained state is not. The danger lies in the removal process. One would not want to sand asbestos base tile, for example. Removing the material while damp prevents dust, but it would be wise to leave it alone and undisturbed. Other materials can be installed over the top.

If you have not disturbed the material (ripping it up, sanding/sawing/etc) to create dust or fine particles, there is no danger. It is contained within the solid material. The danger comes when you start to remove it and it gets airborne and lodges in your lungs.

If you have not disturbed it, you are completely fine to stay there.

thanks to each and every one of you guys for the answers!