[88carrera]

I have 4x5 tiles in front of my laundry room which I was told may contain asbestos during the home inspection-just don't disturb them. Ok no problem leave them as is. (I posted a topic about that a few months ago).

Fast forward four months and I needed to have smart jacks and a beam installed along one basement wall to support a sagging main floor. This work took two days and finished today.

The contractor left and I was inspecting the results (and the mess) and they had pulled up the carpet to jackhammer the floor for the smart jacks.

I noticed a square indentation cut around the jack bases and upon closer inspection to my horror I see that it's tile that looks exactly like the tile in the laundry room entrance-the 9x9's.

I didn't see it but my guess is they used a disc sander to cut a line around the perimeter then jack hammered.

The basement has concrete dust everywhere and some of it also went upstairs.

The contracting company is closed for the day and I left a message for them to call me tomorrow. Right now I'm SXXXXXXG bricks that we have been breathing this stuff for two days and it's everywhere.

I'm going to have a sample tested and if it's positive do I need professional remediation for the dust, or do I clean it myself with a dust mask? If a vacuum is a not recommended do I wet rag all surfaces? What about the dust on the carpet?

Is my house basically a toxic waste dump?

[Vicegrip]

No it is not Plutonium. I am not an expert by any measure so take this as ramblings. I had the same kind of tile in my house and read up on what where and how to deal with it and what the real risks are. Any contained in the tile is the less bad form. Damage to you from exposure is based on how much how long and what form. A micro tiny little bit over a short time seems to be about as bad as standing next to the guy with the cigarette. I would clean up and wipe down and carry on with life after giving the contractor a load of mind for making a mess.

A

[trytryagain]

If all they did was cut through a couple of tiles to get to the concrete then I personally would not be too concerned. Practically all of your dust is likely from the concrete. Hopefully your test is negative, and you could test some the dust as well as the tile itself.

[JmuRiz]

I've need told by abaters that the asbestos tiles are the least worrysom of the household possibilities. They don't dust much and the concrete is probably where most, if not all the dust came from.

I'd follow Kurt's advice and be done with it.

[BlackTalon]

Tuck your tail between your legs and kiss...

j/k. No way to say for sure that there is no chance in hades of there being a problem, but I'd venture to say you inhaled way more asbestos in much more friable forms growing up. In the tile the fibers are still bound in a matrix. And it's doubtful that any contractor in their right mind would grind through the tiles vs prying/ tearing them up.

Wet down the debris/ dust pile to keep fibers (if there are any) from getting airborne. Scoop up the dust/debris pile and bag it. Use a wet cloth to get up as much more of the fine stuff that you can (and discard in a bag). When in doubt its best to vacuum up with a proper HEPA vacuum, which you would likely need to hire someone to do. And as far as a mask goes, I believe that was covered ad naseum in your previous thread; a paper mask won't do anything, so don't pretend that it does (i.e., it is NOT any better than no mask at all).

[88carrera]

Should I still have the tile tested for future reference in case there is ever a need to dig up the floor (i.e. broken sewer pipe, water?) As suggested I'll try to wet wipe everything that I can. I bought this HEPA filter for the vacuum.

[Dr K]

First of all, what Kurt said. As was posted before these tiles are not particularly bad, and can be removed safely. If the adhesive ("mud") had asbestos in it, that can release into the air but likely a tiny amount.

So the medical research has shown that asbestos can increase your risk of lung cancer. But less than smoking cigarettes. The real problem is smoking cigarettes PLUS asbestos exposure which increases the risk dramatically (as noted above, this likely does not count as significant asbestos exposure). Does anyone in your house smoke? If so, they should quit anyway!

[88carrera]

Peter no smokers in the house.

[cmartin]

Doesnt look too bad to me, just be sensible on cleanup and move on.

Good luck

[Vicegrip]

Does not look like they saw cut the tile at all. The tile lines are far too clean and straight for one thing and outlines of the holes in the slab can be seen well inside the tile margins. The holes don't look to be saw cut ether. Plug in the Bosch demo hammer and bang away through some 40 year old slab is way less work than saw cutting and then hammering out the plug.
Knocking a few tiles loose to get the the concrete liberates nothing compared to the amount of stuff in the air all the time. Spray the place with a pump sprayer and vac it up with a wet vac if you must. Eat one less strip of crispy tasty bacon next Sunday and call it even.