TLDR: need advice on whether basement tile (layers of tile, with asbestos tile at the bottom) needs to be pulled up because an inch (less than an inch) of water backed up from the city sewer drain into my basement. Wondering if contractor is just trying to gin up more work.
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So last Saturday, with no rain or anything, a city sewer line under the street had a blockage and backed up sewage grey water into the basements of several homes on my block (including my own). People who have sump pumps were spared... I do not currently have a sump pump.
The city sent out a crew and they cleared the blockage within the hour. There was a max of 1" of water in the back, lowest part of the basement (in most places less).
As soon as the blockage was cleared, all the water receded down into the basement drain.
I just had the basement finished back in November into December. The area that had the water was mostly the back utility closet area and the adjacent laundry room/half bath area. When I had the basement finished, I had the crews put down ceramic tile on top of the original flooring (two layers of linoleum tile with asbestos tile below that on top of the concrete).
a little bit of the water seeped out from the utility closet into the main area of the basement, which had the two layers of linoleum tile with asbestos tile underneath , covered by carpet and padding. Of course under the asbestos I had a water restoration company come out the day after the back up (Sunday) and they did a great job cleaning/sanitizing, pulling off wet/contaminated baseboard trim, and pulling up a section of the carpet and padding.
I had no drywall damage because when I had the basement finished, I had instructed the contractor to not extend the drywall all the way down to the floor, but rather to leave a 4 inch gap and cover the gap with the baseboard.
---- The original contractor who came out to do the estimate said the tile could stay.
----- Fast forward to Wednesday and Thursday, and the water restoration contractor (a different guy) said the wood studs/sills in the walls were dry, but that it is still wet under the tile and that the tile would need to be removed.
-- I went out and bought a moisture meter like the contractor guy had, and it had settings for soft wood, hard wood, drywall, and cement board... not for tile. But he was setting the meter on tile (and in one small place near the furnace, on the cement floor.
--------------- So do I need to rip out all the tile, which will be very destructive, involved, expensive, and also have to involve asbestos removal?
---- Is it possible, or likely, that the contractor is trying to gin up extra work?
Lastly, when I talked to the most recent guy (a young guy) who came out Wednesday and yesterday, he was totally unaware of the asbsetos dynamic.
I am desperate for good advice, thank you all for taking the time to read this and reply with any advice!