Say I found a neat old building in a little old town. I'd estimate its age to be about 100 years. It was formerly used as a grocery store, but has set empty for around 20 years. The owner is willing to sell it cheap. I'd like to fix it up as a residence.

My concern is that it has at least one layer of old 12" floor tile that I'd bet contains asbestos. From reading your posts I gather that it poses a relatively minimal risk if covered, left alone, but I'm curious to know what a very ballpark cost would be to have it professionally removed. I'd estimate the square footage in question to be about 1000 sq. ft. Right now the building is just a single open space with a front door and a rear door. Would I be looking at thousands of dollars, tens of thousands of dollars, more?

If it looks like professional removal is astronomically expensive, what is the best way to PERMANENTLY cover/seal it...assuming that I hope to own it long enough to need to resurface the floors a time or two?

Asbestos Tile