# Pre-1981 tear-out rule

A term used when buying flooring.

The mandatory practices for pulling up old resilient flooring, under two triggers that share one year.

Old sheet vinyl, floor tile and the black mastic under them are treated as asbestos-containing until an [asbestos survey](https://searchspheresource.com/glossary/asbestos-survey) proves otherwise, and the rule uses 1980, not 1981. It also has two triggers that a single date hides. The duty to presume asbestos keys to flooring INSTALLED no later than 1980; the mandatory work practices key to a building CONSTRUCTED no later than 1980. A 1975 building refloored in 1990 sits differently under the two, which is exactly the job a residential shop meets most often. Sanding is prohibited, rip-up of sheet flooring is prohibited, dry sweeping is prohibited, and tiles come up intact unless the employer can show intact removal is impossible. A shop that owns a floor scraper and works older housing is either training and documenting to this or it is not.

Part of: Buying a Flooring Business (https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-flooring-business)

Source: https://searchspheresource.com/guides/buying-a-flooring-business/terms/pre-1981-tear-out-rule
Not dated: The same editorial definitions as the glossary, inside a trade.

Site index for machines: https://searchspheresource.com/llms.txt