Newbie wonders ASBESTOS? How much is too much?

[havenoidea]

Home built 1962 - we buy in 1987. Want to fix up. Husband rips off carpet *yep, red shag in kitchen to reveal vinyl sheet floor to rip up and reveal really old tiles with black paper like backing. We shred, scrape, the dust flying all over. I questioned asbestos and was reassured by husband that it wasn't.
Our little daughter was helping to hold dust pan for dad when he was sweeping up.
Recently he removed vinyl sheet floor off basement bathroom to reveal those nasty tiles. Again with the scraping, cracking, etc and vacuum with shop vac. Now to deal with that black stuff on cement that looks like tar.
Scrape. Scrape. Now? Paint thinner.

Should I be worried or are we already dead?

I mean I trust him. he said NO, it is NOT asbestos. But he is hvac. NOT floor guy.

[mickblock]

Ah ha! Hvac is a trade were asbestos can more commonly be encountered. Being that it was used as ducting insulation and updated where it is used by coating it with a sealer. So maybe he does know a little something about that. (?)

[sam floor]

Probably asbestos. Only way to be sure is to get it tested. Asbestos containing tile and cutback adhesive(has more asbestos than the tile) were sold into the mid 90's. If he insists on taking up the rest of it, keep your daughter away. Tell him to mist it and keep it wet while scraping. That will make it a little less dangerous. I've been installing for almost 40 years.

[havenoidea]

Thanks so much.
Since all the tile was ripped out so quickly and pitched, there is no way to be certain. (It was that pattern and the 9x9 that had me going, not to mention that awful adhesive).

So there we go. All tile from kitchen (1991), entire basement (1995) and the basement bath (2010), has been scraped up and thrown away. I recall the tiles being very thin and brittle.
I wondered why would anyone put vinyl sheet on top of that nasty stuff? Hmmm. They knew?

Oh well. All I can do is hope husband was right.

Thanks again.