Asbestos floor tile and adhesive removal
We remove asbestos floor tiles and the black bitumen adhesive beneath them from homes and commercial premises across London. The work is done under controlled conditions indoors, never by sanding or grinding the glue, and we leave the subfloor ready for your new flooring. UKATA-trained, fully insured, free survey.
Asbestos floor tiles and the black adhesive beneath them should be removed by lifting them under controlled conditions, never by sanding, grinding, or bead-blasting the glue. The tiles hold their fibres well while intact, but dry abrasion of the tiles or the bitumen backing throws fibres into the air, which is the single most common mistake on this material. Removing them with controlled methods, inside a sealed work area, keeps the rest of your home clean.
Asbestos floor tiles, often the small thermoplastic or vinyl tiles laid from the 1950s to the 1980s, turn up in kitchens, hallways, and utility rooms, frequently hidden under later carpet or laminate and only found during a renovation. The black bituminous adhesive that bonds them to the floor can also contain asbestos, so removing the tiles is only half the job. This page covers what we remove, how we do it safely indoors, and how we leave the floor.
What this service covers
- Thermoplastic and vinyl asbestos floor tiles in homes and commercial premises
- The black bituminous adhesive and backing bonding the tiles to the subfloor
- Tiles found under carpet or laminate during renovation work
- Double-wrapping and disposal at a licensed site through a registered waste carrier
- A clean subfloor left ready for your new flooring to go down
Floor tiles and their adhesive are non-licensed asbestos work, which we carry out in-house. For sprayed coatings, pipe lagging, or asbestos insulating board, see the referral note below.
How we lift a tiled floor safely
Survey & quote
We confirm the tiles and the adhesive, check whether there are layers underneath, and give you a clear written price. No call-out charge.
Seal the room
We seal off the room and protect the route in and out, so nothing spreads into the rest of your home or premises.
Heat, lift & treat
We soften the bitumen with radiant infrared heat, peel each tile up whole while warm, then chemically strip or encapsulate the residual adhesive. Never sanded or ground.
Wrap, dispose & clean down
Waste is double-wrapped and removed to a licensed disposal site, and the subfloor is cleaned down ready for new flooring.
How we run a zero-dust, zero-breakage floor strip
Reaching for a floor grinder or a mechanical scraper is the quickest way to turn a straightforward non-licensed job into a heavily contaminated one. Unlike asbestos cement, which we treat as a rigid, brittle hazard, thermoplastic tiles and bitumen adhesive respond to heat, and that changes everything about how we lift them.
We use radiant infrared heat, never a naked flame. A blowtorch or an over-cranked heat gun scorches the tile, drives off toxic fumes from the vinyl, and turns the bitumen into a fire risk.
We sit an infrared panel over a section of tiles for 60 to 90 seconds. The heat passes through the tile and softens the black bitumen underneath, and it also takes the brittleness out of the asbestos-vinyl tile itself, leaving it pliable. As soon as the panel moves on, we lift while the tile is still warm, sliding a long-handled scraper or a flexible hand-spud under the edge and peeling each tile up whole. It bends rather than snaps and goes straight into the red asbestos waste bag and then the 1000-gauge outer. No chiselling, no prying, no breakages.
Getting the tiles up intact is only half the job, and the residual bitumen is where inexperienced operators come unstuck. You cannot sand or grind it. Depending on what the floor needs, we either chemically strip it, laying a low-odour solvent gel that breaks the bitumen down into a wet, non-friable sludge we scrape and bag with no dust generated, or we encapsulate it, priming the firmly bonded layer and sealing it under a latex-based self-levelling screed where the floor is sound enough to leave it undisturbed.
Why homeowners choose Diamond for this
Floor tiles are interior work, often in the busiest room in the house. The risk is not just the tiles, it is spreading fibres through your hallway and into the rooms you are still living in. That comes down to containment and method, not speed.
- Accredited and insured.
UKATA-trained operatives, UKAS-accredited sample analysis, and full public liability cover on every job.
- Clean work indoors.
We seal the room and protect the route through your home, so the rest of the house stays usable and clean.
- No dangerous shortcuts.
We never dry-sand or grind the tiles or adhesive, the quick method that spreads fibres and the reason DIY removals go wrong.
If you have pulled up carpet or laminate and found suspect tiles, stop work and do not sand, scrape, or break them. Cover the area and call us. We will confirm what they are and remove them safely.
What affects the price
We price each floor from a free survey rather than a flat rate. The main factors:
Not all asbestos is non-licensed work
Floor tiles and their adhesive are non-licensed work, which we carry out in-house. Some higher-risk materials, such as sprayed coatings, pipe lagging, and most asbestos insulating board, legally require a licensed contractor. We do not carry out that work ourselves, but if your survey turns it up we will point you to a contractor who is licensed for it.
Floor tile removal, answered
Are asbestos floor tiles dangerous to live with?
Can I just tile or lay flooring over the top?
Do I have to move out while you work?
What about the black glue under the tiles?
What happens to the waste?
Get a free survey for your floor
Tell us the room and roughly the area, and we will arrange a survey and a written quote for removing the tiles and the adhesive and leaving the floor ready. No call-out charge.