What kind of soil is this? Are there any pollutants?

Hello dear community,

A friend of mine has found an apartment. The building is maybe from the 70s? The apartment is in the attic.

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However, the apartment was handed over without a "floor". Inside there is only this red brick floor. It is quite dusty. When it gets wet, it stains strongly and takes longer to dry. What kind of floor is this? Is it screed? The floor is not dangerous, right?

My friend has considered leaving the floor as it is for the look and working with rugs on top. How could the floor be treated easily and inexpensively so that it does not stain so much? Especially something that is not destructive, since it is not a condominium.

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Best regards and many thanks!

So I would say it is old linoleum. The house is probably from the 50s. The floor covering is weathered, the plasticizers are gone. It is not dangerous. If it were my property, I would remove it, otherwise leave it in place and put something over it. It is certainly glued to the screed and rather difficult to remove. The adhesive residues probably have to be sanded off. Nobody really wants to do that work.

So I would say it is old linoleum. The house is probably from the 50s. The floor covering is just weathered, the plasticizers are gone. It is not dangerous. If it were my property, I would remove it, otherwise leave it in and put something on top.

It is certainly glued to the screed and rather difficult to remove. The adhesive residues will probably have to be sanded off. Nobody really wants to do this work.

Hm.. well, it does look very rocky. But yeah, maybe if the plasticizers are gone. Could it be sealed somehow in a simple way?

I think it is more likely to be stone wood (screed). Beware it could contain asbestos from the 50s to 70s. It is best to take a sample and send it in. Linoleum does not contain plasticizers. But as a tenant, I would just put laminate over it. Even if there is asbestos in it, nothing comes out if you don’t break or drill it.

It may not be linoleum, but rather a PVC covering. In common parlance, people also simply call it linoleum.

In picture 2, the picture with the antenna socket, you can see a straight weld seam, which indicates a PVC covering. It was welded by hand or machine with hot air and a cording. This method is still used today. Anyway, when the plasticizers disappear, it then dissolves on the surface, becomes sticky, or rubs off.

I haven't heard anyone refer to PVC flooring as linoleum. It's more likely that someone doesn't know the difference or thinks it is linoleum even though it is PVC. I would not follow your interpretation of the picture. The "weld seam" doesn't even extend all the way to the wall and in my opinion is a groove or a scratch. Even if it did extend, it could be an expansion joint, which exists in screed. The last picture already looks very much like screed to me. PVC usually forms more tiles or flakes. Anyway. It is not possible to properly assess from a distance, and PVC from that time could also contain asbestos. Therefore, the OP (or the girlfriend) should either simply lay something over it + additional PE foil under the top covering or, in case of renovation, send a sample to a testing laboratory beforehand.