Kentile Floors Inc.

Company History & the South Brooklyn Plant

Kentile Floors Inc. was founded and headquartered in Brooklyn, New York, where it built its reputation as one of the leading floor tile manufacturers in the United States. For decades the company’s signature plant operated in South Brooklyn, a densely populated working-class neighborhood adjacent to the Gowanus Canal. The facility employed hundreds of local workers and supplied vinyl-asbestos tiles (VAT) and asphalt floor tiles to building contractors, hardware stores, and home improvement retailers across North America.

The company also went by the names Kentile Inc. and Kentile Floors in various corporate and product contexts. Its tiles were marketed under the Kentile brand and were recognizable fixtures in mid-century residential kitchens, bathrooms, and commercial spaces. The distinctive 9-inch and 12-inch squares came in dozens of colors and patterns, making them a popular and affordable flooring option throughout the postwar housing boom.

At its peak, Kentile produced millions of square feet of floor tiles annually. The South Brooklyn plant sat at the center of this production, and its manufacturing processes routinely involved raw asbestos fiber — primarily chrysotile (white asbestos) — blended with vinyl binders, plasticizers, and pigments to produce durable, flexible tiles. Workers in mixing, pressing, cutting, and finishing departments faced repeated, often daily, exposure to airborne asbestos dust. Neighboring communities near the Gowanus Canal were also potentially affected by fugitive emissions from the plant.

In addition to the Brooklyn facility, Kentile operated a secondary manufacturing plant in South Plainfield, New Jersey, which served demand in the Mid-Atlantic region and expanded the company’s production capacity. Workers at the South Plainfield plant faced exposure conditions similar to those in Brooklyn.

By the late 1980s, mounting asbestos litigation, combined with declining demand for asbestos-containing building products following regulatory restrictions, put severe financial pressure on Kentile. The company ceased operations in the early 1990s and was dissolved. Unlike many asbestos defendants that reorganized under Chapter 11 bankruptcy and created structured compensation trusts, Kentile simply shut down without establishing a formal asbestos trust fund — a fact that significantly complicates the legal path for surviving victims and their families.

Kentile Asbestos-Containing Products

Kentile manufactured several categories of flooring products that contained asbestos. The asbestos content in vinyl-asbestos tiles typically ranged from 10% to 35% by weight, with older asphalt-based tiles sometimes containing even higher concentrations. Below is a summary of the principal product lines that have been identified in asbestos litigation and industrial hygiene investigations.

Although the tiles themselves were relatively stable when intact and undisturbed, asbestos fibers were readily released during manufacturing, installation, and particularly during maintenance activities such as dry-buffing, grinding, sanding, or removal. Tiles installed decades ago in older buildings remain a source of asbestos exposure today whenever renovations or demolitions disturb them without proper abatement procedures.

Kentile Floors Manufacturing Facilities

Kentile Floors operated two confirmed manufacturing facilities during its operational history. Both sites have been associated with occupational asbestos exposure claims in litigation. The Brooklyn plant in particular is a landmark site in the history of New York City asbestos disease cases due to the scale of its operations and the concentration of local workers who were employed there over a span of decades.

The South Brooklyn plant’s proximity to the Gowanus Canal neighborhood meant that workers’ family members may also have faced secondary (take-home) asbestos exposure through contaminated work clothing. Secondary exposure is a recognized pathway to mesothelioma and other asbestos diseases, and attorneys pursuing Kentile-related claims have included household members of plant workers among potential claimants.

Flooring Workers & Building Trades Exposure

Asbestos exposure related to Kentile floor tiles was not limited to the company’s own factory workers. A broad range of trades and occupations faced significant exposure when working with Kentile products in the field. Understanding which occupational groups were affected is important for anyone seeking to establish a legal claim or assess their own exposure history.

Occupational Groups Most at Risk

Flooring installers and tile setters were among the most heavily exposed. Installing vinyl-asbestos tiles required dry-cutting tiles to fit corners and obstacles, a process that generated fine airborne dust laden with asbestos fibers. Many installers worked in poorly ventilated spaces — residential kitchens, basements, and bathrooms — without respiratory protection, because the hazards of asbestos in floor tiles were not publicly disclosed by Kentile or the industry as a whole during the peak decades of use.

Maintenance and janitorial workers faced ongoing exposure from floor care routines. Dry-buffing and burnishing Kentile VAT floors with high-speed rotary machines abraded the tile surface and could release asbestos fibers into the air of commercial buildings, schools, hospitals, and apartment complexes. Workers who spent years maintaining these floors in enclosed spaces accumulated substantial cumulative exposures.

Renovation and demolition workers encountered Kentile tiles when older buildings were updated or torn down. Removing old VAT flooring — especially when the tiles were brittle or had been adhered with tar-based adhesives — involved scraping, chipping, and grinding that could generate heavy asbestos dust. Prior to widespread awareness of asbestos abatement regulations in the 1980s and 1990s, this work was often performed without any protective equipment.

Carpenters, general contractors, and construction laborers who worked alongside flooring installers or who themselves laid floor tiles as part of broader construction projects were also exposed. In residential construction during the postwar era, general carpenters commonly installed flooring, and Kentile tiles were a standard product on many job sites.

Hardware store and building supply workers who handled and stocked Kentile tile boxes, and who may have cut display samples for customers, faced lower but still meaningful exposure levels over years of repeated contact with the product.

The Renovation Hazard Today

Kentile VAT tiles installed between the 1940s and 1980s remain in place in countless older buildings across the United States, particularly in the Northeast. These tiles are not necessarily dangerous when intact and in good condition. However, when buildings are renovated, when tiles crack or crumble due to age, or when adhesive backing deteriorates, asbestos fibers can be released. Anyone who performs renovation work on pre-1985 buildings should test floor tiles for asbestos before sanding, cutting, or removing them. Homeowners undertaking DIY renovation projects are particularly at risk because they may not be aware that their floor tiles contain asbestos.

No Trust Fund — What Legal Options Exist for Claimants?

One of the most challenging aspects of pursuing a claim related to Kentile Floors asbestos exposure is that there is no Kentile asbestos bankruptcy trust fund. When many major asbestos companies faced overwhelming litigation in the 1980s and 1990s, they filed for Chapter 11 bankruptcy protection and, as part of their reorganization plans, established structured asbestos personal injury trusts that continue to pay claims today. Kentile did not take that path. The company ceased operations and was simply dissolved, leaving no trust mechanism for victims to file against.

Insurance Carrier Proceedings

Even defunct companies may have had liability insurance policies that covered asbestos claims. Some asbestos attorneys pursue Kentile-related claims by identifying and proceeding against Kentile’s former insurance carriers. This can be a complex process requiring investigation of historical insurance records, and the available coverage may be limited or disputed, but it is one avenue that experienced asbestos litigation firms have explored on behalf of clients with Kentile-specific exposure histories.

Naming Other Defendants

Many mesothelioma and asbestos disease cases involve exposure from multiple sources and multiple manufacturers. A person who was exposed to Kentile tiles may also have been exposed to asbestos from other flooring manufacturers, from pipe insulation, from roofing materials, or from dozens of other asbestos-containing products used on the same job sites over the course of a career. An asbestos litigation attorney will typically evaluate a client’s full occupational and product exposure history to identify all potentially liable parties — which may include other flooring manufacturers, asbestos raw material suppliers, distributors, or building owners.

Other Legal Avenues

Depending on the specific circumstances of exposure and the state where a claim is filed, there may be additional options including workers’ compensation claims, third-party tort claims against property owners or contractors, or claims against other corporate successors in the asbestos supply chain. The legal landscape for asbestos claims is highly jurisdiction-specific and fact-intensive. An attorney who handles asbestos cases regularly will know the current state of Kentile-related litigation in your jurisdiction and can advise on the most viable strategy given your diagnosis and exposure history.

The Importance of Acting Promptly

Asbestos claims are subject to statutes of limitations that vary by state, typically ranging from one to three years from the date of diagnosis (or from the date when the claimant knew or reasonably should have known that asbestos was the cause of their illness). Because Kentile is defunct and the legal pathways are more complex than a simple trust fund claim, it is especially important to consult an experienced asbestos attorney as soon as possible after a mesothelioma, lung cancer, or asbestosis diagnosis that may be connected to Kentile floor tile exposure.

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