Carpet glue over concrete...

[highland145]

They ripped the old carpet out of the wife's new office. The floor is covered with the old glue. She wants to put down stikey tiles. I don't think the tiles will get enough surface adhesion since you can see/feel the trowel marks on the old glue.

Thoughts, suggestions, other options, free labor...

Thanks.

 

[boomerang]

The retail space I took over (formerly a Blockbuster) for the gym had carpet squares affixed with some very aggressive glue. They make chemical products to remove it but the fumes are very nasty. If the space can be adequately ventilated it may not be a problem. If there are adjacent tenants, the fumes will migrate so that has to be considered

What the landlord (we negotiated that it was to be his responsibility, not mine) ended up doing is grinding the glue off. He wasted two weeks using adhesive remover that wouldn't piss of the tenant next door. He said it would take two days to remove it initially but it ended up being closer to three weeks. In the end, as I said, he ground it off.

 

[highland145]

Yeah, eff that. She's getting the space for free (non profit) but has to handle/pay for the renovations. That means I'm free labor regardless of it being football season...damned ring of power...I am not grinding the floor.

I'm guessing more glue, ATM. Put a floating floor in most of the building but this room will have rug rats/spills/messes...

 

[EliteRetard]

I'd say just rent a professional concrete grinding machine. Can be had for $100-150 a day (single or dual disk / electric or gas) or $300-500 a week.

Something like this would take care of a decent sized room quickly:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Gw5SA5sfdUQ

 

[highland145]

You are hired.



The goal is to go over what's there, have it stick and keep me weekend free. I spent 1.5hrs last Sunday just vacuuming the floating floor that was put down.

I've had enough...or so I say....of her project.

 

[Red Squirrel]

You're not going to get that floor smooth again without some SERIOUS elbow grease. Concrete grinder MIGHT work, but they may also not do well with the glue. It will just gum up the pads/knives. I would just install a subfloor over it like Dricore. That's what I ended up doing in my basement as there was nothing I could do with the floor (glue from a previous carpet too). It was too rough/dirty to paint, and because of the roughness it was not really cleanable. I could vacuum, brush, use compressed air, do anything, it was always dirty from dust etc. So putting a thin layer of self leveling concrete or tiles or something would not have held together very well. I had tried a small area with a heat gun and was able to somewhat scrape the glue off, but to do the whole basement would have been an insane job not to mention the cost of running that gun for days on end.

If it's not a moist area you could probably skip the drycore and do plywood right over. You can either use a ton of glue and hope for the best, or nail it in. For plywood type products I prefer regular nails than powder actuated, what I do is drill a hole with a masonry drill bit, drop a couple pieces of rebar wire, and nail it in with a regular hammer. It ain't coming out.

 

[highland145]

Thanks, Red. That sounds like the situation that I have, dirt and all, but it's not my home so I have no interest in investing the time you did.

And today, she buys low pile carpet and plans on using it "temporarily." Thresholds for the door ways to hold down the edges and spot glue it with adhesive. Win for me.

Thanks.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Oh yeah if not your place then just throwing another carpet over should do. Another option would have been some cheap linoleum.

 

[highland145]

That too. There's going to be rug rats on it.

 

[paperfist]

If you go over it with a vinyl product you're going to see the imperfections (ie uneven surface) show through the vinyl.

 

[IronWing]

We used a handheld orbital sander to grind the ridges off the glue before laying tiles (with mortar). It went pretty fast.

 

[highland145]

If you go over it with a vinyl product you're going to see the imperfections (ie uneven surface) show through the vinyl.

That a problem but since she bought the carpet Saturday, it's going down regardless.

We used a handheld orbital sander to grind the ridges off the glue before laying tiles (with mortar). It went pretty fast.

You're hired too. Thanks.

 

[paperfist]

That a problem but since she bought the carpet Saturday, it's going down regardless.

You're hired too. Thanks.

Carpet isn't so bad. For some reason when you put vinyl tile or sheet vinyl down over an imperfect floor all the imperfections transmit to the vinyl surface.

 

[Mr.IncrediblyBored]

What was the point of this thread? You clearly weren't going to do any actual work. Were you hoping somebody would just say, yeah go ahead and put tile/vinyl/carpet down directly over the old glue?

 

[TechBoyJK]

Did this recently. Had to use a floor scraper to get up old tile that was stuck to concrete.

Still had a ton of glue leftover. Tried adhesive remover, all kinds of stuff. Nothing really worked.

Had to rent a concrete sander. It's basically a floor buffer with a bladed head that scrapes rather than buffs.

Here's my friend and I using the tile scraper.

I can't find a pic of the actual floor sander we used (different than the tile scraper in the first pic), but here's a pic of our floor after scraping the adhesive off.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Cliffs: You need a concrete floor scraper that will literally scrape the top mm of concrete off. It'll create a lot of dust, but doing it any other way is a waste of time. Suck it up, rent the scraper, hire a friend, and get 'r done.

 

[highland145]

What was the point of this thread? You clearly weren't going to do any actual work. Were you hoping somebody would just say, yeah go ahead and put tile/vinyl/carpet down directly over the old glue?

The point was to draw you out so I could read your inane post. Win?



@TechBoyJK Out of curiosity, was that ready for new adhesive/thin-set or did you have to come back with some type of cleaner (muriatic acid (?))?

 

[highland145]

I think you just answered the question above.

Cliffs: You need a concrete floor scraper that will literally scrape the top mm of concrete off. It'll create a lot of dust, but doing it any other way is a waste of time. Suck it up, rent the scraper, hire a friend, and get 'r done.

If the ring of power says so but I think she's sick and tired of the project. Turns out the building is 5K sqft. Doesn't mean that I won't be doing it in 6 months though.

Thanks all.

 

[TechBoyJK]

"before"

after being scraped down to raw concrete and having sealant applied

After sealant