After years of water getting into our basement we decided to get it fixed. As we been getting ready for the crew to arrive we been cleaning it out. The basement has a tile floor attached directly to the cement. Because the water problem was so severe the tiles could be lifted right up without using a scraper. My wife and I removed all the tiles using scrapers. Below the tiles was what we thought was tar, but it looks more like a black adhesive. A carpenter/handy man looked at one of the tiles and the adhesive and thought both contained asbestos, but he was not expert and not 100% sure. We tried adhesive remover on the floor and had very minimal luck with it. So we decided to get a very thick primer and cover up the adhesive. For the most part the tiles came up easily without breaking. There were a few that did break in pieces as they were being scraped. Did we expose ourselves to anything and will covering the floor with paint cause future problems?

Thanks.