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2946-asbestos-at-agrobiochim-abandoned-plant-stara-zagora, originally uploaded by loupiote (Old Skool)

If you are ever in your local big-box retailer and want to have a little “fun,” ask to see their floor tile section and ask where you can buy 9 inch by 9 inch floor tiles. You’ll be there awhile, because no one in the USA sells 9 x 9 tiles since the 1980’s. That is when all major floor tile makers, such as Armstrong Tile, ceased manufacturing resilient 9 x 9 floor tile.

Why? One word: Asbestos.

Asbestos is a naturally occurring fibrous minerals which was used, up until the 1980’s, for a whole host of insulating and fire protection products. Asbestos was a popular material because it has a great strength-to-weight ratio and is naturally fire resistant. It was used in everything from bricks, to rubber tiles, to pipe and wire wrapping/insulation, to steel column wraps for fire protection. It was everywhere and continues to be everywhere.

Armstrong made a series of floor tiles called Excelon Vinyl, which came in 9 x 9, and for large orders 12 x 12, but the bulk of Excelon tile was made in 9 x 9 tile sizes. Once people began to get sick, with Mesothelioma and Asbestosis and the lawsuits began piling up - more than 8,400 defendants and 730,000 claimants as of 2002 according to the RAND Corporation - Armstrong along with any company which used Asbestos was in deep legal trouble and ceased production of asbestos-containing products. Check out Asbestos and the law for a pretty even-keel explanation of the current state of play.

This is where it gets interesting: in the USA Asbestos is not explicitly Federally banned for use by the EPA. It is however regulated as an air pollution under Section 112 of the Clean Air Act of 1970 (amended 1990) and many applications have been forbidden by the Toxic Substances Control Act (TSCA) of 1976. In New York City, you cannot get a building permit from the DoB without a certified and current ACP-5 which is an Asbestos Exemption Certification Letter mandated by the NYC Department of Environmental Protection. So if you are buying a building 20 years or older, and you find 9 x 9 tiles, good luck. You have to remediate the materials in New York City. I’ve managed projects where workers have found what they suspect to be asbestos pipe wraps or tile and they immediately leave and don’t return until remediation is complete. And I don’t blame them. Their job is hard enough without potentially inhaling known carcinogens, never mind all the the unknown carcinogens they are breathing in which we don’t know about yet.

To bring us full circle, asbestos and the following litigation, changed the very basic building blocks of the construction industry forever. No one makes 9 x 9 tile anymore so as to not be confused with asbestos tiles. Asbestos continues to affect every facet of construction to this day, and potentially forever in New York City as asbestos is literally everywhere in old buildings. When you look at floor tile, remember that the size of the tile is as important as the color and finish.