Strange floor tiles

hearth a number of white tiles, which are 9x9" in size, very thin, and extr emely brittle.

what material they are, they are certainly not ceramic though, maybe Formi ca?

Of course. Asbestos & formica have quite different finishes. Presumably an attempt at fireproofing.

NT

Well, normally the dodgy form of as bestos used to look a little blue and broken ends had a kind of fibrus look and sometimes almost stringy. I did have some board in our fireplace where a gas heater had been fitted which sounds very like you describe. It was a kind of asbestos cement with a kind of glaze on one side that made it look a little lumpy. Back in those days we just ripped them up and chucked them in the bin though!

Brian

Asbestos vinyl / vinyl composition tile? Would not normally be laid under a hearth but it's possible the brick hearth was a later decorative addition for use with a gas fire?

Owain

Looks like the brick was installed after the gas fire was removed, and one of those oil burning fires installed in its place.

I've never seen anything like them before, that I can remember anyway, and they seem to brittle to be any use for walking on.

Is there a possibility that these contain asbestos ? I'm really not sure what material they are, they are certainly not ceramic though, maybe Formica?

House was built ~1971

What does the panel think ?

Se?n

If there are any broken edges and they are fibrous in appearance it may be asbestos. Not likely to be pure asbestos but some product reinforced with asbestos. (Plastics and cement was reinforced with asbestos in the past.)

Best bet is to wet them down thoroughly take up and bag for disposal. Wash down the place and mop up where they were and when dry horoughly vaccuum clean. Wash the (cleaning) tools afterwards.