Either linoleum or some kind of vinyl composition tile that needed to be waxed were pretty common.

What does it look like (or are you asking about whether it contains asbestos or not)? I would say that any basement tiles would, but not sure about the kitchen tiles.

Anyway, the subfloor is wood (ours is from 1947 and it has boards on a 45 degree angle to the joists). A flooring guy can change it to whatever you like. If the floor is not too high, they can just put new flooring over it after the necessary leveling, etc.

Thanks for your help, palimpsest and homebound! I think we may have the linoleum that needed to be waxed, as I found a large quantity of mysterious faux marble linoleum tiles in the loft of our barn. They must have gone someplace - the kitchen seems to be the likeliest place, I'm afraid. I guess I'll have to tear up a little bi of the floor to make sure!

The linoleum used in the 40s weren't tiles. It was a room-sized sheet rolled out over a wood floor.

The most common - sheet linoleum over a wood subfloor.

However, like now, individual owners were free to choose the materials they used. There were certainly kitchens with wood floors in the 1940's even if they weren't the most common. If you are redoing the area and want to put in wood, that wouldn't be out of place as long as you stay away from the modern high gloss finishes.

The tile you found is probably vinyl composition tile and depending upon its age may have asbestos in it. If you leave the floor undisturbed its not a problem but if you start breaking the tile up you will release asbestos particles.

Forties kitchen flooring options included (least expensive to most) Unvarnished scrubbed softwood, varnished softwood, hardwood, oilcloth, printed linoleum/congoleum, solid color lino, inlaid lino, ceramic/quarry tile, stone tile, terrazzo.
Casey

Vinyl Asbestos Tile (VAT) was made from the mid 50's to the mid 80's and consists of limestone, asbestos, binder (filler), plasticizer and pigment.

Vinyl Composition Tile (VCT) is took the place of VAT in the mid 80's consists of a limestone/clay/talc mixture with a binder (filler), vinyl (resin) fiberglass, plasticizers and pigment.

Sheet Vinyl Flooring is similar to VCT but contains more vinyl resin and less limestone filler, giving it greater flexibility.

Linoleum is a sheet flooring that consists of linseed oil mixed with powdered wood and/or cork, ground limestone, resins, drying agents and pigments applied to a jute backing.
Asbestos can be found in this kind of flooring, especially when the linoleum is a rigid crest type of material. In the softer version asbestos is less commonly found. The backing of this flooring is normally green colored, and it's most of the time negative for asbestos testing.

My grandparents had to re-do their kitchen in 1942 after the house was struck by lightening and the kitchen caught on fire. They had linoleum put down, over the existing wood floor. (The wood floor was discovered when my uncle moved into the house in 1989 and decided that he didn't like the linoleum, which was still in pretty good shape.) It was one large piece that covered the whole floor, mottled soft grey, with a black and red border all around the room.

If it'st ile...it's most likel;y not from teh 40's.
There was that wonderful stuff called "inlaid linoleum"...which ws a heavy linoneum that was put down....sort of like wall to wall carpet for the kitchen!
The houses I lived in as a kid has "inlaid linoleum" one built in about 1935 and the other in 1903...but I think the floor was a "modern" update.
My grandmothers had the linoleum rug....and I remember going into the hardware store and seeing those rolls in various sizes standing in the back room. Some people used them in other rooms of the house as well as the kitchen.
Linda C

Linoleum of that era was sometimes cut into squares and installed like tiles.

Other patterns of "inlaid linoleum" was made by joining and inlaying solid pieces of linoleum. Cheaper patterned linoleum was printed but is often mistakenly called inlaid linoleum.

Assuming asbestos is not a problem would you consider removing the linoleum you have now and go back to the faux marble tiles? In my old house we had a faux brick linoleum that was absolutely hideous and dirty looking. Under that we discovered black and white tiles that were 100% better than the orange linoleum. There was a closet built on top of the floor and in there we saw that under the tile there was a beautiful fir floor so we ended up ripping the tiles.
I know faux marble tiles is not what you are after but it might look better from what you have on top.

Alexia - I wish we had black and white lino under our ugly floor like you did! Unfortunately, the faux marble is really not a good look. It's a rather unnatural shade of forest green and black, and you really have to look at it a while to realize it's supposed to resemble marble. ;)

I really wanted a wood floor in the kitchen, and since there is none under all that lino and vinyl, it looks like a new one will have to go in. I am going to try and see if my city's ReUse center has enough old wood floorboards I can salvage before I install brand new. I think there will be plenty of old floors to choose from, given the amount of old homes my city demolishes every year...sigh.

I do feel better, though, knowing that there is more of the original faux marble lino in the loft of our barn, just in case some future owner wants to look at or use it. I'd feel terrible ripping it out and not having a trace of it left for future generations, even if it is ugly!

We found the leftover faux marble tiles from the upstairs kitchen in the original box in the cellar. Proudly proclaiming their asbestos (fireproof) content. That room is our future bedroom and we do want to pull them up. Needs lots of caution though. You may be able to bring a tile somewhere to be analyzed. And mine are not attracive either. Good luck.
Kathy

Don't assume the flooring couldn't be hardwood. In 1927 the Bruce Flooring Company invented a way to mass produce wood flooring so everyone could afford it. This changed everything for middle income households. The flooring in our home is marked "BRUCE USA 20" or "BRUCE USA 21" which helped us determine that there was a major home remodel in the late 20s or early 30s.

The first pass layer of linoleum, went down in our house in 1948, as shown by the newspaper between it and the subfloor. May it rest in peace.

The original floor in my 1940 colonial's kitchen had 1"x6" or 1"x8" boards laid on the diagonal across the floor joists, with black paper on top, and then tongue and groove softwood flooring laid on top of that. On top of the wood flooring was a sheet of linoleum. They may have replaced the linoleum over the years, but everything underneath appeared to be original.

When we renovated our kitchen and dining room we were able to purchase new hardwood that was the same thickness and width as the dining room. They interweaved the strips of new hardwood in the kitchen with the old dining room hardwood at the transition from kitchen to dining room, and then stained it all the same color. It is impossible to see the transition, and it now all looks like one continuous floor from the kitchen to the dining room.

Bruce

We have a 1920s house and EVERY floor is the same hardwood. In the kitchen they glued sheet linoleum over it. By the time we got the house, that basically was gone, there was cheaper linoleum down and kitchen carpet had been glued over that thus saving the hardwood floor which we restored.

In 1940 we had inlaid linoleum throughout the first floor, even the living room. It was cut in patterns because my mother had lots of ideas and confidence. The kitchen was red marbelized with a white star in the middle and a thin white 'ribbon' about two feet in as I remember. I would give anything to have one of those linoleum rugs now. They laid flat and were a good temporary cover -- that's how I'd use them now. Yes, the edges did get kicked up but it took awhile and the linoleum rugs were cheap and cheerful. I'd use them in my studio or office and if they were nice patterns, maybe in other rooms too.

I might as well add - the entry hallway was a black and white pattern -- not squares, kind of an optical illusion. Living room was deep blue marbelized and tan and I won't bother to tell you the fantastic pattern. The bathroom was yellow inlaid linoleum, marbelized look again, with red and blue ribbons around the edge about a foot in. It was a long skinny room that had been a sunporch. Here's the thing -- the house was a very old house but the floors were rather art deco, like a Fred Astaire Ginger Rogers Movie. Nothing spoke of any one "style" but it was a wonderful house that a professional would not have even thought of, might even have disowned, but who cares. The living room ceiling was dark blue with golden stars pasted on.

I would like to inform all that we have a lovely second home that has a full living basement that was built in mid 1940's. The floor and outer walls are cement. thick. the floors through this basement dwelling. (close to 2000 square feet.) were covered with apprx 9"x9 " Brown and beige marble looking tiles in some of the rooms and Dark green and light green marble looking tile in rest of rooms. They had to be scrubbed clean, rinsed and then waxed to look nice and they did but, anything wet ruin the beauty. While we were gone, We had a toilet water issue upstairs that run and filled the basement with 1 foot of water. Of course this soaked the tile up and also ruined the insulation and sand plaster on the walls. We rushed to get the mess cleaned up, took up all the tile without thinking about asbestos. We would like to know if any of you know what the content of these tile might have been, please inform us. It was easy to take the tile up and out. However, a lot of the tile left the black tar paper backing stuck to the floor. We are at the point of finishing this portion of this home, but, is the black stuff that is still sticking dangerous? or can we clip I t out ourselves. no one seems to know the content. we will not be putting any type of square tile back in. and do not want to have a problem with asbestos.

Ellen "We rushed to get the mess cleaned up, took up all the tile without thinking about asbestos. We would like to know if any of you know what the content of these tile might have been, please inform us."

It's too late now to do anything. However, if you were taking up whole tiles, your exposure was very low.

The people who got cancer from exposure to asbestos were working with it EVERY DAY FOR YEARS ... making brake pads, servicing brake pads, mining asbestos, spraying asbestos insulation. And most of them were heavy smokers, too.

"However, a lot of the tile left the black tar paper backing stuck to the
floor. We are at the point of finishing this portion of this home, but,
is the black stuff that is still sticking dangerous? or can we clip I t out ourselves"

I don't know. What do you mean by "clip it out"?

I live in a bungalow home built in 1942 for the shipyard workers during the war. My Mother has had the house since 1957. I remember some kind of tiles growing up, then over the years we installed sheet vinyl. The rest of the house is hard wood flooring. I would love to rip up the vinyl in hopes of the kitchen having the same wood floor. Any idea what flooring was used for these homes when built?

623082, your best bet is to nose around in some local homes. I used to go to estate sales, open houses, any house that I could think might be a Time Capsule House to get a good idea of whatever concept I was after.

I would rip up a corner or under the fridge and take a look. I was lucky and took out a drawer in my pantry and found the original maple hiding in the void. DH was not so lucky, LOL!

If it is just straight subfloor (wider/rougher planks), then it's possible you had original Linoleum. Or maybe it is a different species of wood from the rest of your home.

Asbestos is only dangerous when breathed in, in powder/dust form. There for removing the tiles with a saw/shovel, jackhammer, chisel etc. Is dangerous, unless the entire area is wet. When cutting through this material, wear a mask. And hose it down first. If the tiles do have asbestos in them, and are buried under other varieties of flooring, they are not hazardous to you. It is not necessary to pull up the flooring to remove the asbestos-filled flooring underneath. In fact, it is safest to leave it where it is, rather than demo the floor. Once again, do not cut through, and create dust, and breathe that dust..... that is the dangerous scenario. call specialized professionals to remove it. Or leave it alone.

Probably linoleum, but it might depend on the style of your house and where it is located. This southern house has terra cotta tiles in the kitchen:

https://www.zillow.com/homedetails/1971-Harbert-Ave-Memphis-TN-38104/42141679_zpid