Lifting an old vinyl floor: why tile removal is rarely owner’s work
A fence panel and a floor are both bonded sheeting, and they are not the same job. What makes the floor different is that it is indoors, it is measured by the room, and you never get to remove only the tile.
If you have arrived here looking for the steps to take up asbestos floor tiles, the honest answer is that this particular job sits outside what a homeowner in Australia can usually do lawfully or sensibly. The reasons are specific to floors, not general nervousness. Nothing on this page is a method, because there is no version of the method that is safe to publish.
What it does set out is why the floor is the hardest case in the house, what the realistic alternatives are. And what a properly run job looks like from the owner’s side of it.
The starting point is the same as everywhere else on this site: nobody can confirm a material contains asbestos by looking at it. Only a laboratory accredited by NATA settles that. Until then the sensible working assumption is that an old floor might, and is left alone.
Why a floor is not a fence
Bonded sheeting outdoors and bonded sheeting under your feet are treated as the same class of material and are not the same job. Three things separate them.
- It is indoors. Work in an enclosed room does not disperse; it settles. On skirtings, on window reveals, in the carpet of the next room, in the ceiling cavity if the door was open. A fence panel removed in a back yard on a still day and a floor lifted in a closed room are different propositions with different clean-up problems.
- It is measured by the room. Every state and territory sets its own limit on how much bonded material an unlicensed person may remove, and whether an owner-occupier is treated differently from a contractor. A floor is not a couple of sheets: it is the entire footprint of a room, which is why the quantity question tends to resolve itself quickly. The threshold is not the same everywhere and is not a national number. The WHS regulator in your state or territory is the one that sets it.
- You never remove only the tile. The covering comes up with its backing and sits on its adhesive, and those are separate products with separate histories. Where the backing is soft and fibrous it is treated as friable, and friable asbestos is Class A licensed work in every Australian jurisdiction at any quantity. There is no small-amount allowance for it anywhere.
The job is defined by methods that are not allowed
This is the part that makes a how-to impossible rather than merely unwise. Getting an old resilient floor off a substrate means one of a short list of things: snapping tiles free with a scraper, running a hired sander or grinder over what is left, warming the adhesive until it releases. Or wire-brushing the residue back to bare timber.
Power tools, abrasive cutting and high-pressure water are prohibited on asbestos regardless of the quantity or who is holding them. Dry work and sweeping up afterwards are the two other reflexes. And both do the same thing in a different order. There is no sequence of steps that leaves out every one of these and still ends with the floor up.
So the useful content is not a method. It is the recognition that the method is the problem, and that the decision worth making happens before anyone touches the floor.
The three options that actually exist
Leave it and cover over. In most cases this is both the cheapest and the safest answer. And it is why so many Australian houses have three floors stacked on each other. An intact covering that is not disturbed is not releasing anything. It stops being the easy option if the new floor needs the old surface ground or sanded flat first, because that is removal wearing a different name.
Have it removed by a licensed removalist. The relevant licence class follows the material, not the room: bonded sheeting and friable material sit in different categories, which is set out in Class A and Class B licences. Where the work is friable, it is Class A everywhere.
Decide later. Postponing is a real option and an underrated one. The floor is not deteriorating in any meaningful way while it is sealed under something else. And deferring the job until the renovation genuinely requires it means the decision is made once, properly, rather than halfway through a weekend with a hired machine already on hire.
What a properly run floor job looks like
If removal does go ahead, an owner can see several things without knowing anything technical. The room is sealed off from the rest of the house and the people doing the work decontaminate before they leave it. There is more on what that should look like in containment and decontamination.
The waste leaves as wrapped and labelled asbestos waste bound for a facility licensed to receive it, not in a general skip: see wrapping and disposing of asbestos waste. And where the work is friable, the room is independently cleared before anyone moves back in, which is covered in air monitoring and clearance.
The thing most often skipped is the last one, and it is the one that matters to the people who then live in the room.
Six questions to ask before anything is lifted
- Has it actually been identified, and which layer was sampled? A result for the tile does not cover the backing or the glue.
- Which of the three layers are we talking about removing? The answer changes the category of the work.
- What licence does this job need, and does this person hold that class? Licences are issued and checkable by the regulator in each state and territory.
- Does the regulator have to be notified before the work starts? Licensed removal work generally carries a notification requirement, and the detail is jurisdictional.
- Where is the waste going, and what comes back as proof?
- Is there a clearance before we move back in, and who issues it?
Any job that cannot answer those six is not a job, whatever it costs. And if the answer to the first one is “you can tell by the size of the tiles”, it has already gone wrong: nobody identifies asbestos by eye. And the is it asbestos? walkthrough exists to show what the evidence can and cannot tell you.
Who is permitted to do what
| Material or task | Who may do it | Note |
|---|---|---|
| Bonded sheet or tile, small quantity | Depends on your state or territory | The threshold, and whether an owner-occupier is treated differently, is set by the WHS regulator locally |
| Bonded, above that quantity | Licensed removalist | A whole floor is usually here rather than in the row above |
| Friable material (soft backing, degraded adhesive, loose fill) | Class A licensed removalist | Every jurisdiction, at any quantity. No small-amount allowance exists |
| Identification | NATA-accredited laboratory | Not a visual judgement, and not the removalist’s opinion |
| Clearance before reoccupation | Independent competent person or licensed assessor, per jurisdiction | Required for friable work; the paperwork is worth keeping permanently |
Frequently asked questions
Can I remove asbestos floor tiles myself in Australia?
Usually not. What an unlicensed person may remove is a quantity of bonded material set by each state and territory, and a floor is measured by the whole room. On top of that, the tile comes up with its backing and adhesive, and where those are soft and fibrous the work is friable: Class A licensed in every jurisdiction at any quantity. Check the rules with the WHS regulator in your state before assuming either way.
Is it legal to lay new flooring over asbestos floor tiles?
Leaving an intact covering in place and building over it is a recognised approach and is frequently the safer option, since undisturbed bonded material is not releasing fibres. It stops being that if the new floor requires the old surface to be sanded or ground flat first, which is removal by another name. Record what is underneath for whoever lifts it next.
Do I need a clearance certificate after asbestos floor removal?
Clearance before reoccupation applies to friable removal work in every jurisdiction, and requirements for bonded work vary. Given that floor backings and degraded adhesives are often the friable part of the job, it is a question to settle with the removalist and the regulator before the work starts rather than after.
What if only a few tiles are loose or broken?
Damaged material is a different situation from intact material because it is already capable of releasing fibres, and it should not be swept up, vacuumed with a household vacuum or put in the household bin. It is also not a reason to start lifting the rest of the floor. Isolate the room from use and get advice from your state or territory regulator on what the next step is.
Sources
What this page explains is based on these official sources. If you check one and it does not match what you read here, send it to us and the article gets corrected.
- SafeWork NSW. Asbestos. Hazards A, Z
- WorkSafe Victoria. Asbestos. Duties, licensing and safe removal
- NSW Government. Asbestos in NSW. The NSW Government asbestos portal