Removing tile adhesive from concrete floor

[TechBoyJK]

Per a previous thread, I removed old vinyl tile from my basement floor.

Problem now is that there's still a lot of adhesive on the floor, and I'm not having much luck getting it up.

The adhesive remover solution I used to help getup the tiles isn't working to well on actually breaking the adhesive up from the concrete. If anything, it just kind of liquifies it and moves it around.

I'm to the point now that I'm thinking of just getting a floor sander and sanding it down.

Not sure what else to do and I don't want to be dumping all kinds of chemicals on the concrete. Thoughts?

I have 2 areas to do. One is approx 15'x15' and the other 4'x12'. So it's not something I want to do on my hands and knees.

 

[C1]

For me, it would depend on the ultimate objective for the floor. For example, if you want a uniform concrete look then maybe rent a sand blaster to clean the floor then seal it with a clear concrete sealer. Otherwise, paint the floor with an epoxy paint. You could even tile over the concrete floor.

 

[echo4747]

Per a previous thread, I removed old vinyl tile from my basement floor.

Problem now is that there's still a lot of adhesive on the floor, and I'm not having much luck getting it up.

The adhesive remover solution I used to help getup the tiles isn't working to well on actually breaking the adhesive up from the concrete. If anything, it just kind of liquifies it and moves it around.

I'm to the point now that I'm thinking of just getting a floor sander and sanding it down.

Not sure what else to do and I don't want to be dumping all kinds of chemicals on the concrete. Thoughts?

I have 2 areas to do. One is approx 15'x15' and the other 4'x12'. So it's not something I want to do on my hands and knees.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM6z3leZvm4

 

[TechBoyJK]

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YM6z3leZvm4

We actually rented the large one from home depot. It got the tile off, but didn't help with the adhesive.

 

[NetWareHead]

Check out these pics: https://goo.gl/photos/qvWfVHA56KJFxLXw7

I think I ran into the exact same thing as you did where mastic was used to adhere ceramic tile to a hardwoood floor. Stripper was used to dissolve and scrape the mastic away.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Check out these pics: https://goo.gl/photos/qvWfVHA56KJFxLXw7

I think I ran into the exact same thing as you did where mastic was used to adhere ceramic tile to a hardwoood floor. Stripper was used to dissolve and scrape the mastic away.

THis is what I'm going to attempt. I bought some adhesive remover and a scraper from Home Depot (online). $20 for the solution and $5 for the scraper. I'll see how far it gets me before I try anything more.

 

[Red Squirrel]

Good luck.... Had same issue but was carpet. Ended up putting drycore subfloor over. Could not do anything with that floor, it was uncleanable. The glue was basically part of it and trapped dust etc.

 

[paperfist]

Heat gun works great but it''ll take you all day.

Soy gel is supposed to be very effective against adhesive too.

 

[JamesSpear]

Some kind of flooring was decided but carpet worked here. And yes, satisfied result was also obtained. It was attractive and the cost was also okay. You can have it from many sources, may be this source might be helpful for you.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Good luck.... Had same issue but was carpet. Ended up putting drycore subfloor over. Could not do anything with that floor, it was uncleanable. The glue was basically part of it and trapped dust etc.

I tried using the solution last night and it worked so/so, but not enough to truly expose the concrete.

I'm guessing I'm going to just get a sander and sand it down.

 

[DrPizza]

I wonder how muriatic acid would do? It'll lightly dissolve the top layer of concrete - maybe it would do so enough that the adhesive would no longer be adhered?

 

[TechBoyJK]

I wonder how muriatic acid would do? It'll lightly dissolve the top layer of concrete - maybe it would do so enough that the adhesive would no longer be adhered?

I already used a gallon of this stuff on one of the smaller areas.

It pulled up 'most' of the adhesive, but not all, and it's still sticky. It's also messy and cleanup required a lot of water and mopping.

I'm really not feeling inclined to keep pouring chemicals on the floor because

1) It's time consuming and nasty
2) I've already thrown about $50 at this in chemicals and I've not even gotten to the larger area that has the worst amount of adhesive
3) I can rent a floor sander for $100 per day and use it on the entire floor and this is what most people recommend.

So I think I'll try and rent one and just get it done rather than keep experimenting with chemicals.

 

[Slacker]

Retracted, reviews say it is a slow and painful mess maker

 

[TechBoyJK]

How do I use that tool? Looks like just a disc.

 

[paperfist]

You can't sand adhesive. Unless you plan on buying a zillion pads as they re going to clog up like mad.

 

[Slacker]

There is a video as the second pic on that link, it attaches to a rotary buffer/sander

but, as mentioned above, it probably wont achieve your goal, the pro version with hd blades will cut a concrete floor mirror smooth.


https://youtu.be/dNGjQTP0ttc

 

[TechBoyJK]

Then what else can I do? 80% of the floor is just fine. I don't want to put down a new subfloor just to take care of 20% of the floor.

 

[TechBoyJK]

Some of the diamabrush concrete prep blades have great reviews

http://www.homedepot.com/p/Diamabrush-7-in-Concrete-Abrasive-Removal-Hand-Tool-9207001202/203993974

 

[boomerang]

I owned a franchise that was in retail space. It was formerly a Blockbuster. The flooring that existed was a mixture of various materials and all of it had to go. The landlord, as part of our deal, was to remove the existing flooring. The contractor was hopeful that the adhesive used was not the aggressive type. Unfortunately for him it was.

What they predicted would take several days ended up taking two weeks. They eventually ground it off and even that didn't work all that well because it still took them a long time. The landlord was loathe to use harsh chemicals because of backlash from the adjacent tenant. The space was an end cap so there was no tenant on the other side.

Using mild adhesive remover, a concrete grinder (for leveling floors) and a lot of hand scraping got the job done but it took four times longer than was predicted.

I have no answer for you but I relate the story to let you know what you're in for. It may be best to hire the pros.

 

[Micrornd]

You might want to try boiling water, a scraper and rags.
I used that before to soften the adhesive.
Be sure and use proper PPDs.

 

[NetWareHead]

Try a different chemical then, buy a small bottle to sample the result before investing in quantity. Agree that sanding won't work. The adhesive will heat up due to friction and get the sanding disc all gummy.

 

[slashbinslashbash]

I removed some 30+ year old linoleum from my house. It had crappy old adhesive residue all over the place. I bought a big scraper from Home Depot and that barely worked at all. You want the smaller scraper with an actual razor-blade-ish blade that can be switched out. I didn't end up having to switch mine out (just a single smallish room, so the single blade was enough) but it was a much finer blade than the one on the big scraper.

The one that I started with was like this:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/QEP-14-in-Wide-Floor-Surface-Scraper-20900Q/100147899

The one that I ended up using (and worked a lot better) was more like this:

http://www.homedepot.com/p/QEP-4-in-Wide-Razor-Scraper-and-Stripper-62900Q/100194275

 

[paperfist]

What about a screen sander like they use on hardwood floors or rotatory machines? It's going to clog up but not as bad as straight sandpaper. You can rent them from Lowes and Home Depot.

And the soy stripper I mentioned above is not a hard chemical, it's derived from the soy bean.

 

[Humpy]

A previous thread mentioned carpet squares.

Are you removing all of the old adhesive only to apply new adhesive for the carpet?

 

[TechBoyJK]

Ok, got the job done this weekend.

1) Plan was to remove the remaining tile that was covering about 30% of the floor in mostly random patches. There was one large section that was about 15x15ft, but the rest was 4-6 tiles in random places.

2) I attempted to use Sentinel 747+ adhesive remover, but it didn't work to well.

3) Last weekend, we rented a floor scraper from home depot. This worked well in regards to getting all the tile up. However, it couldn't get most of the remaining adhesive up except for larger chunks.
http://www6.homedepot.com/tool-truck-rental/PRO_Floor_Stripper/FCS16/index.html

4) Tried using a little bit of the Sentinel 747 and a hand scraper on a small area to test it. It actually did help remove some of the adhesive, but it was really messy and took a lot of labor just to clear 2 tiles worth.

5) This past weekend I rented a floor polisher with a 'coating removal bit'.
Polisher - http://www6.homedepot.com/tool-truck-rental/Floor_Polisher/56382881/
Removal Bit - http://www6.homedepot.com/tool-truck-rental/Coating_Removal_Disc_7/12569/index.html

7) Since I'm in a sling, I hired a friend to come over to do the grunt work. I bought another gallon of the Sentinel 747. We hooked up a garden hose to the hot water hookup for my laundry. We hosed the entire area down with super hot water, then used a mop to spread around the adhesive remover. We let it set for about 30 minutes then started 'sanding' the floor.

We had the windows open, and dust masks on. That helped. It was pretty time consuming. We had to sand small areas at a time and be very thorough and patient. All in all, it took us about 8 hours, but we ended up sanding almost the entire floor, not just the spots with adhesive.

It worked. It actually worked rather well and I'm super glad we rented that machine. Every last bit of adhesive is gone, we got rid of a lot of random marks and stains on the floor, and we able to smooth down some areas where the texture was rough.

The floor now looks better than ever, it's super clean, the concrete looks like new in many areas, and it's now prepped for being sealed and painted.

Cliffs:


Used scraper to remove tile.
Sprayed hot water on floor to warm up adhesive.
Mopped Sentinel 747 on adhesive and let it set for 30 minutes.
Spent 4+ hours with the polisher+prep bit slowly but surely sanding down the concrete until it was smooth and clean.
Hosed down floor until all debris was gone.

Now I'm running a dehumidifier to dry the basement out before I seal the cracks and then put a sealer/paint on the floor.

Case closed.