Surprise ... it's ASBESTOS!

All was well this morning!

I dropped off L and Nick at school, drove back home with Lulu and after having my latte and chatting with my sis I decided to get going on the floor.

With my reno buddy Lulu by side, nothing could go wrong!

She was VERY helpful and peeled back the old lino with a "sharpie tool".

She handed the Holy MASTER her tools ...

... and loved wearing the protective glasses :)

Reno Fury :)

I/we peeled away two layers of old lino, glue and ripped out particle board that was on top of the original flooring.

There are 1000 ... of nails in this floor and I had to use the pry bar and hammer to remove them.
While hammering and trying to get out these nails I noticed that the original floor (while super ugly ... WHO would want that in their house and HOW THE HECK would one clean this crap???) was super sturdy.
Hm ... whatever could this be?
It's not tile, that would break much easier and it's not stone.
It's super strong and doesn't break.
WHAT IS IT???

Pat came home for lunch to check on his worker bees and also was puzzled by this mysterious material.
So we did what one always does when you have a questions and need an answer.
We googled it!
Original kitchen flooring materials in 1962.
BINGO ... there it was, a very pretty image of the same floor tile we have in our house.

Description : Asbestos-Vinyl-Flooring 

YEAHHH!!!

Jack pot!!!

How lucky are we???

It's ugly and deadly AND I let my 5 year old come near it and touch it.

SWEET!!!

Holy crap!

I packed up Lulu and left the house in a complete panic!

From the car I emailed all friends in the area and asked for asylum for my poor, innocent kids.

Please give them shelter from cancer!!!

After leaving the Ls in asbestos-free-homes for the evening I went to Lowe's to find a solution.

Ripping it out is NOT an option because 

A) touching and removing it would make it even more dangerous and create the dust that LOVES your lungs and 

B) you need to have a hazmat team come and pick up the materials because it's POISON!!!

I just stared at the VERY NICE and HELPFUL guy at Lowe's, almost in tears, and he just said 

"So this is what most people do."

Wait a minute, most people? you mean there are more people with cancer-floors?

He told us to use Lino-Primer to seal the whole floor and then just put the new flooring on top.

Best, easiest and actually safest method.

O.K. ... I can breath again, asbestos-free-Lowe's air (at that moment). 

Knowing that this shit is under my feet is not making me happy but knowing that it's completely sealed up is giving me some peace of mind.

Also, I remember playing next to my father and his buddies, while they cut asbestos tiles for our HUGE garage and covered the whole outside of it with it.

If I didn't catch IT then then I am hoping walking on a sealed up version will not do me OR MY BELOVED FAMILY in either.

What a day!

11:25 pm and Pat is still ripping out the flooring.

I can not bend over anymore and my fingers are numb, which makes typing very HARD!

I am going to wash off the asbestos and go to bed. 

That sweet stuff will still be there tomorrow ...

Who cares anyways. 

What's cancer. 

Nothing really, right!

I am almost sure we have seen it all now ... but ... then there is always the next reno project to teach me different.

Sweet asbestos dreams my friends!