I purchase a house 2 yrs ago that was built in 1965. I am installing new carpet in the FR. I just started ripping up the old carpet & pad and found 9x9 tile underneath. The tiles were very loose so I started pulling them up, then I swept the dust and vaccumed it. Now I remembered my neighbor telling me that the tiles in the houses around her were asbestos and it would cost a fortune to get it ripped out and disposed of. Now I'm scared that I exposed my lungs to the asbestos when I swept and vaccumed. HELP! Does anyone no what I should do or if I should be worried about exposure. I only did a 6'x6' area. There is still a 13'x17' area covered in tiles. I really wanted to just take them up so I could clean the floor of any dust & dirt before the new carpet is installed. Anyone have advice or done the same thing in their house. Thanks for any and all advice.

Unless you sanded or ground them the asbestos in those tiles is not easily made airborne because it is encapsulated in the other materials in the tile.

If this were my house, I'd use some latex cement leveling compound to even out the floor without removing additional tiles. If there are pieces that are loose remove them and fill the gap with the cement leveling compound. Then carpet over it, or install a more resilient floor like laminates over it.

In some states asbestos tiles are treated more severely than in other states. If your state is one that has a strict remediation process it can get pretty expensive to remove the tiles. This Old House did a small kitchen in a recent project and as I recall the remediation ran about $2500. MASS has some of the stricter requirements.

Like Sparky said with these tiles the dust isn't going to be that much, they break into big pieces and are real easy to remove with a floor scraper, I myself would remove them bag up and put out for trash, just wear a dust mask and use a shop vac empty it into a contractors gabage bag, tie it up out with the trash.

We had about 1200 sq ft of tile removed for about $1,800. Our home was built around the same time as yours. The mastic also contained asbestos and was difficult to remove. It is critical to keep asbestos wet during the handling to prevent it from becoming airborne. Disposal of this material is expensive. I would not bag it and place it in the general trash, if found, you may be fined. It is perfectly safe to carpet over the tile. Asbestos is safe as long as it does not become airborne, which will only happen if it is broken.