If your Connecticut house was built before about 1980 and the basement floor is covered in nine-inch tiles, there is a good chance the tiles, the black glue under them, or both contain asbestos. Removing them is our single most common job, it typically costs between $4,500 and $9,000, and for most basements it is a day of work. Here is what the job actually involves, when the tile can stay where it is, and what you get at the end, from the company that has written more estimates for this exact job than for anything else since 2009.
How to tell what you are looking at
The tell is the size. Nine-by-nine-inch vinyl-asbestos tile was the standard from the 1940s into the 1970s, and it is what most basements, kitchens, and hallways of that era got. Twelve-inch tile from the same period can contain asbestos too, and so can sheet linoleum and the paper backing under it. Under almost all of it is a black or brown mastic, the adhesive, and in Connecticut houses the mastic tests positive more often than the tile does. Color and pattern tell you nothing; a lab test does. If you are not sure, do not sand, scrape, or grind anything. Take a photo and text it to us, and we will point you to an independent inspector who samples it and sends it to a lab for a small fee. We do not test the material we are hired to remove, and you should be wary of anyone who does both.
The part nobody tells you about the glue
People call about the tile. The job is usually about the mastic. Tile that is intact lifts in whole pieces once it is heated and kept wet. The mastic under it is a thin, hard layer bonded to the concrete, and it does not lift; it has to be taken off mechanically, in a sealed containment under negative air, with the dust captured at the tool. On a basement slab we typically use shot-blasting or a floor grinder with HEPA capture to take the mastic down to clean concrete, which is why the finished floor looks the way clients describe in reviews: ready for the next flooring, not a scarred slab. Where the tile sits on a wood subfloor, as in some kitchens and bathrooms, it is often faster and cleaner to remove the flooring and the subfloor together as one layer, and we will tell you which one your house needs at the visit.
What a removal day looks like
The crew arrives in the morning and spends the first hour or two building the containment, not removing anything. Doorways, vents, and the stairwell opening get sealed with poly, the heating and cooling system is shut off, a decontamination chamber goes up at the entrance, and the negative-air machines go on and stay on. Then the tile comes up wet, the mastic comes off under capture, and everything goes into sealed, labeled bags inside the containment. The floor is HEPA-vacuumed and wet-wiped, the containment comes down from the inside out, and an independent lab, not our crew, samples the air before anyone calls it done. You get the clearance report, the waste shipment record, and the state notification copy in one package. The whole sequence, in more detail, is on our process page.
What it costs, and why one basement is $4,500 and another is $9,000
The range is mostly square footage and mastic. A 400-square-foot basement with tile that lifts clean and a thin mastic layer sits at the low end. A 900-square-foot basement with a thick, stubborn mastic, or a finished basement where walls and a bar have to be worked around, sits at the high end. Kitchens and bathrooms are smaller but slower, because of the subfloor question and the cabinets. The state notification fee, the independent air test, and disposal each appear as their own lines on our estimate so you can see them. The full numbers, by material and by size, are on our cost page.
When the tile can stay
Not every asbestos floor needs to come out, and we would rather tell you that than sell you a job. Intact tile that is not going to be disturbed can sometimes be managed in place, and in some cases new flooring can be installed over it, which encapsulates it. That is a legitimate option when the tile is sound, the room is dry, and nobody is going to cut into the floor later. It is the wrong option if the tile is cracking or lifting, if you are planning a renovation that will disturb it, or if you are selling and the buyer’s attorney wants it gone. We will give you a straight answer at the visit, in writing, either way.
Why not just do it yourself
We know the videos exist. Here is what they leave out. In Connecticut, asbestos removal beyond a very small patch has to be done by a licensed contractor with certified workers, and a homeowner who scrapes a basement floor on a Saturday is doing the one thing that turns a harmless floor into a hazard: making the fibers airborne, in a room where the furnace then circulates them through the house. There is no visible sign that it happened. The material is dangerous when it is disturbed, and the whole point of a licensed job is that the disturbing happens inside a sealed, filtered box and ends with a lab confirming the air is clean.
Get a straight answer
Call or text (860) 416-0229 with a photo of the floor, or request a free estimate. We serve Hartford County and all of Connecticut, we usually come out within the week, and the written estimate does not change unless the scope does. Hablamos español.
Three questions we hear about tile
Do I have to leave the house? For a basement job, almost never. The work area is sealed and under negative pressure, and you use the rest of the house as normal.
Will the floor be ready for new flooring? Yes. After mastic removal the concrete is clean and the clearance test has passed, so a flooring installer can start the next day.
What if only the mastic tested positive? Then the tile is just tile, but it is still removed inside the containment because the mastic under it is what has to be handled carefully. The job and the cost are about the same.
By Zero Hazard LLC · Updated October 2026