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My major concern is abestos - I know that the only way to be sure is to test, but I'm trying to get a good feeling for what the materials involved are. I am wearing a mask, this is mostly just a curiosity.

I have been tearing up the flooring in my 1950s kitchen. The top layer was a laminate, and it was glued (the glue came apart pretty easily) to another plastic-y layer that doesn't seem to be a vinyl tile - it could conceivably be another layer of laminate, but I'm leaning toward an underlayment of some sort. What is this under-layer?

That layer was stapled through 1/4" ply that way laid on top of what I assume used to be the kitchen floor, a beige-with-red-border marble-pattern-looking... chipboard, maybe? It's quite flimsy (admittedly, 70 years will likely do that) but I can imagine it was super stylish in its' heyday. What is this layer, likely?

Beneath that is 1/2" plywood (maybe 5/8, maybe even 3/4) subfloor. Beneath that is some black fabric-esque paper that sits on top of the diagonal struts that lay across my floor joists. It seems too thin to be for cushioning purposes, and I'm unsure if it's waterproof. What is this layer?

Detail of laminate layer

Overview of layers

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  • @RMDman if you write this as an answer instead of a comment I can accept it. The odd thing is that the beige/white stuff doesn’t seem to be tiles, per-say: each color is one big chunk (the red is mitered pieces, but still not individual squares if that makes sense)
    – user112697
    Commented Nov 15 at 12:43

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The black layer is most likely felt paper. A tar impregnated product used during that time period as a waterproofing layer.

The white and red tiles are the most likely to contain asbestos. They were commonly used in the 50s and early 60s and came in various sizes that were glued down. You may want to have that tested. If it does contain asbestos, abatement measures should be taken.

In lieu of abatement, you could opt for containment. Do not disturb this layer and cover it with subflooring suitable for the planned finish flooring. Just place leveling compound in the area where you already pulled it up. Then you can cover the floor with 1/4 cement board, ( a great underlayment for LVP) or 1/2 inch if you plan ceramic tile.

Other layers are probably sheet vinyl and laminate flooring as you surmised.

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