On May 23, 5:48*pm, Marissa Taylor wrote:
I'm concerned that my 12" x 12" white ceiling tiles may contain
asbestos. *They have holes and small etchings in them. * *However, many
fiber based, non-asbestos tiles may look similar and hopefully that is
what I have. *Short of sending one to a lab, are there any visual
differences between harmless fiber ceiling tiles and older ones made of
asbestos?

I need to remove one as a pipe appears to be leaking above it, but if
asbestos is involved, it will be a whole other project!

Here is what they look like:

Picture of the Tiles:http://images46.fotki.com/v1506/phot...MG_2509-vi.jpg

Picture of a cut tile, where a fixture was hung. Note the almost
cardboard brown/orange color of the interior of the tile:

http://images50.fotki.com/v1513/phot...MG_2511-vi.jpg

Thanks much!

Those tiles are no where near 40 or 50 years old. There's no worry
about asbestos. Any time you are going to be creating dust just stick
a fan in a window and have it blow out. Block off the rest of the
window. That will suck the dust out of the room and keep it from
spreading all over the house.

Those tiles are available and there's not much to working with them.
Here's a link to new installation:
http://www.acehardware.com/sm-instal...g-1298355.html

You can break out the tile to be replaced carefully as already noted,
then cut off the tongues or the backside of the grooves on the
replacement tile as required, then use adhesive and white panel nails
to install the new tile. A little joint compound works to hide dings
in the tile.

R