Carpet glue removal advice - Ceramic Tile Advice Forums

kevinz · 03-19-2005, 12:49 AM

I am going to be putting down some tile in the basement of our new house, previous owners had some carpet glued down.. When I ripped it out most of the padding stayed with the glued areas pretty heavy. I have removed the bulk of the material with a big scrapper but was wondering what the best way to remove all left over glue and stuff would be.. Part of the basement is going to be framed off and remain unfinished so I would like to get back to the cement if possible.

I did find one product, but it says not to even use it in a basement, I guess its pretty toxic. I only have 2 smallish windows down there so I was a little worried.

Any advice on the best way to remove all this junk would be greatly appreciated

Thanks

loco539 · 03-19-2005, 01:05 AM

Not sure what other do, but after scraping by hand a few square feet I went down to the Orange store and rented a floor sanding machine that had a 'hexalock' carbide blade attachment. It had 12 spring loaded floating carbide blades about 1" wide on the disk. It still took a bit of work but I did 300 or so square feet in a few hours. All that was left was about a 2" strip around the wall. One room had carpet backing which after removing (and sanding off the sealer) I plan on acid staining. The bathroom had mastic and floor backing which will be tiled now that it is gone. It cost $70 or so for the day, less for a 4-hour period. Well worth the scraping time I thought.

mrjetskey · 03-19-2005, 08:34 AM

We also had problems removing glue from carpet padding.After using grinder and scrapper,we used laquer thinner ,and even though there was no glue residue that could be seen or felt,when we used the acid staining ,two coats.where the glue had been still stained differently from the rest of the floor.But hey it looks great!thats what makes acid staining look so unique is it is different on every floor!!!Two coats of poly. and it looks like a piece of artwork.(even though it looks great it will never unseat a good tile or stone floor,but it has its place.Good luck on it and have a great day!