Carpet Installation

1.         To preclude asbestos abatement costs and issues to your agency in the facilities maintained by the Department of Administration, each agency must contact the Facility Management Division Safety Officer at 919-733-3855 prior to the demolition of existing carpet and/or installation of new carpet to determine if asbestos-containing materials will be an issue.

2.         If asbestos-containing materials are present in the existing floor tile, there cannot be any drilling, scraping, sanding, vibrating, or pounding of the floor.  If removal of the existing carpet is involved and existing floor tiles start coming up and/or break, the work must stop immediately.  Contact the Safety Officer at Facility Management for further assistance.  Failure to do so will result in the ordering agency absorbing all costs required to employ an Asbestos Project Designer and Abatement Contractor for removal of this asbestos-containing material.  For example, the cost of abating asbestos tile in a 2,900 square feet area was over $32,000.

3.         Facility Management highly recommends the use of releasable glue and installation of carpet squares instead of roll carpet.  Glue used for new carpet installation must not contain any asbestos.

4.         Other conditions that may need to be addressed during carpet demolition and installation include the following:

a.   The National Electric Code requires all floor electrical and communication tracks to be marked.  The Electrical Shop in Facility Management can assist you and the installer with this requirement.  Contact Work Control at 733-2967 at least 2 weeks prior to the carpet work and request identification of the floor tracks by the Electrical Shop.  The carpet installer is responsible for marking the floor tracks during installation.

 b.   Existing electrical floor outlets should be disconnected and reconnected during demolition and installation.  The ordering agency must submit an Alteration Request to Facility Management Division at least 2 weeks prior to the carpet installation date.

 c.   Doors may need to be trimmed to accommodate carpet.  The ordering agency must submit a Alteration Request to Facility Management Division at least 2 weeks prior to the carpet installation date.

 d.   If existing computer and/or telephone floor outlets need to be disconnected and reconnected, the agency must contact Information Technology Services to schedule this work.