After the abatement guys took out our asbestos tiles there was a black adhesive left. Any idea’s on either how to get it up or can I glue my new wood flooring down onto this? I have a slab house and this stuff is on every square foot of the house. It is hard as nails and isn’t going anywhere when scratched or sanded.
Any idea’s?
Thanks in adance,
Marc
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Replies
Removal of tile adhesive is a FAQ. Some adhesives are solvent-based, others are water-based. I am sure that others will chime in with recommended methods, including the use of dry ice.
I have had success on some adhesives using warm water, Mean Green, a 3M scouring pad, and a lot of elbow grease. On others, mineral spirits have helped loosen the adhesive.
Some of the really old adhesives were water soluable, so if the building is 40+ years old, try water first on a small area. Rejoyce if you find water based adhesive, it comes up really easy. If it's not water based, try mineral spirits, alcohols, etc, until you find what works.
-- J.S.
With asbestos tile, the glue of choice was an asphalt based glue often called "cut back adhesive." Some of that stuff also container asbestos fiber!
Have it tested before you start any removal procedure.
That said, cut back glue can be removed with mineral spirits and elbow grease. It is a messy, stinky, and time consuming process, not to mention the health and safety hazards. Short of removal, I would look at encapsulating or sealing the nasty stuff in place. Your abatement contractor can likely recommend a product.
You are going to glue hardwood flooring directly to a concrete slab?
Something doesn't seem right about that. There was a recent dicussion on using Dri-Lock sub floor panels over a concrete slab. Might be worth the effort to do a search for that thread. It had some good info in it.
Check out Citrut Depot online; I used thier stuff and it worked. It's a citrut based solvent that doesn't have the order issues min spirits will have. I would pour out small amounts; scrub with a brush, and use "speedy dry" (kitty liter) to clean it all up. Not cheap, but it worked!
First thing to be aware of is that there is a better than 50% chance that this stuff has asbestos also and they should have taken it up - or tested at least to be sure.
after that - ice, dry ice, or liquid nitrogen will make it brittle, really brittle or extremely brittle so you can chip it up.
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i've glued prefinished wood floors to slabs many times and never had an issue... and i've glued to what i would assume is the same black tar like glue you have... in my opinion you will never get it all up... even if it does have asbestos in it if you glue to it.... imho you'll be fine ... thats what i'd do... and wouldn't think twice
p
Have you tried a heat gun? We are talking about mastic and not thinset, right?
When I saw the title of your post, I immediately thought "heat gun and a scraper" but - after reading the part about asbestos - think that's the last thing you should do.
My money says that the adhesive has some asbestos in it and should be removed by the abatement contractor. There's just no way that the tiles separated from the adhesive without leaving something stuck to the adhesive.
If you really don't want to hassle with the adhesive, could you use some leveling compound to level the floor - and encapsulate whatever asbestos is in the old adhesive?
Unlike everyone else I DO NOT ASSUME THAT THERE IS ASBESTOS IN THE ADHESIVE.
At least not after I read the first sentence.
"After the abatement guys took out our asbestos tiles"
If these where real abatement people I can't see that they would take out the tiles and leave the mastic. At least without a warning about not disturbing it.
I have heard good reports about BeanEDoo
http://www.franmar.com/index.php?cPath=22
http://www.johnbridge.com/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=44084
This list several different type of strippers.
http://www.decosup.com/newsletters/december-2005/howtopreparefloors.html
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
Thanks for the all the responses guys. I've tried mineral spirits, water, green monster, some citrus based stuff, all with no help. Sorry I didn't put that in the first post. My total goof. Just frustrated with this stuff. 1600 sq/ft of it all over. Gotta love itMy abatement contractor said the sample they chunked up with concrete attached did not contain fibers but he also then said that doesn't mean it wont have it. What kind of answer is that? As far as the glueing to a slab, I've seen it done many times by contractor friends but they are usually newer slabs not my 55yr old slab, so we shall see how it goes. Also i Bostik does warranty an install with bostik best. I am going to install an engineered bamboo flooring as it is a more structurally stable versus trad. hardwood.Thanks again for the idea's guys. I'm going to contact my abatement guy again and see if he has any more suggestions.Cheers,
Marc
I hate to recommend this, but it does work....
Lacquer thinner or acetone.
Been there done that.
Just make sure there's no open flames/cigarettes or it could go "boom" just like a meth lab.
Oh yeah, wear a good respirator
There are some thinsets that are made to stick to left over cutback adhesive. Cut remenber the name, but really sticky/messy
I've had success with Bean-e-doo soy-based solvent. Dumb name but it worked well for me. Be sure to wear clothes that you will never wear again. Good luck.
I recall a fhb article a while back, could be years ago, about a product to use on black asphalt glue, which transformed it into something easy to scrape up for removal. I don't have access to an index of articles, and don't look forward to spending the day looking through back issues. Anyone know how to search for the info online?
There are 3 ways to look up stuff. Each one will give different results and none of them very good.At the top of the screen, under the FineHomebuilding.com banner the search window and Red button. That finds all contents that is on FHB.COM which is somewhat different than what is in the mag.If you go to FHB Mag and then back issues you end up here.http://www.taunton.com/cgi-bin/artresult-fh.cgiHere you can look up mag issues by how they indexed it or search by a key word.But none of the search are very good. A search on something like VCT Mastic removal will often hit on everything with any one of those words.And something like what you mentioned might have been in a hints or Q&A section which are alwasy indexed. Or they might be a comment in a side bar which would be indexed by the main article..
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A-holes. Hey every group has to have one. And I have been elected to be the one. I should make that my tagline.
I had an interesting experience with my bathroom floor ....
When I moved in, someone had removed the tiles from the floor. The floor was covers with a very heavily textured coat of the 'cut back,' or black tar-like adhesive.
I am not a tile guy, and something needed to be done .... so I decided to just paint it with Rust-O-Leum (oil-base) paint. I was more than a little surprised when it took the paint more than a week to dry.
When it finally did dry, though .... all the ridges in the adhesive had disappeared. It seems the solvent in the paint made the adhesive self-level.
When the time came to finally tile the place, the new tiles seemed to stick just fine.
Asphalt Mastic probably retains residual asbestos.So it might be prudent to cover it, rather than to try to dissolve it with petroleum based solvent?
kero/paint thinner/ terps/ benzene.
Years ago, in order to remove those tiles in a hurry, we broomed chunks of dry ice (frozen carbon dioxide)over three foot sections for a few minutes and the tiles would pop off.
We'd re- broom the ice to the next section and repeat 'til the whole floor was clear.
If the new wood flooring is the type that floats and is only glued at the tongue and grooves, a heavy duty plastic vapor barrier can be fitted and taped right over the mastic.... then, install the flooring. Any lumpy sections can be scraped to remove high spots that may 'telegraph' through the finish floor covering.
Steinmetz.
Edited 8/17/2008 7:25 pm ET by Steinmetz
Edited 8/17/2008 7:33 pm ET by Steinmetz