Can anyone give me the benefit of their experience in successfully stripping black mastic from flooring? I read the recent article in the Winter issue of FHB, volume 175, by Christopher and Ellen Kunz in which they used 3M Safest Stripper with good success to remove the mastic from T and G fir floor. I have a similar kitchen remodel going now and decided to give the same thing a try. I’m not having much success so far.
I followed the instructions, putting on lots of stripper and covering it overnight with sheets of Saran Wrap to keep it from drying out. I returned 18 hours later and basically found that the stripper had done nothing. So I took a scarifier used in wallpaper removal and really roughed up a few test areas with that and repeated the application of the product. After soaking overnight again I returned to find that the mastic had softened a little and that I could actually remove very small amounts with a scraper. However, in most instances removing the mastic would also bring up a little bit of the top grain of the floor along with it. And, in a half dozen spots about the size of a fifty cent piece I sucessfully scraped up a bit of mastic without it also bringing up the top grain of the flooring. At this rate, I might complete the entire 170 square feet by summer!
Does anyone have any experience or advice to lend me?
Replies
Mike,
I am having success using mineral spirits to remove black adhesive from oak T&G flooring. I "wet" the adhesive with mineral spirits and scrub with a 3M "stripping pad." It sometimes take several passes to remove all the adhesive.
I've heard that dry ice is just the thing, but I haven't tried it myself.
Greg
Test a variety of solvents, but especially, be sure to try plain old water. Surprisingly, sometimes that old black mastic is water soluable, and comes off quite easily.
-- J.S.
cut your loses and remove the wood. if it is being this troublesome save yourself the aggrivation and lay new subfloor.
Did a kitchen remodel six months ago same situation you say, went through almost a hundred dollars worth of strippers and chemicals to remove the mastic I would've swore the stuff was bulletproof.
Went to Lowes to get truckload of 3/4 tongue and groove plywood to replace the exisisting subfloor, come back the homeowner spilt a bucket of hot water for mopping the bathroom floor on the kitchen floor and was cleaning it up and appoligizing for being in the way I take a look at where she drying the water up and there the subfloor sits without the bulletproof mastic. Good Luck.
On a concrete floor I have found the same water soluble black jack. Worth a try but remember, you're putting it on a TxG wood floor.
edit: And have sanded it off. Strong possibility you will lose several belts to gumming up. Go over quick with a pretty coarse grit, try not to heat up the adhesive. Could contain, probably does contain, asbestos fibres, so decide on this with extreme caution. Is it worth a potential health hazard for that cool looking floor?
A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time
Edited 1/13/2006 5:05 pm ET by calvin
I've used a heat gun. This was black very sticky stuff under old linoleum tile. Tile came off easy enough. Tried using stripper but it took a LONG time and would have been very expensive, so on a whim I ran the heat gun over a small section. The mastic bubbled and when I removed the heat gun I was able to scrape off the stuff while still hot. But the best discovery was after the already bubbled mastic got cold...a metal scraper/spatula did the trick. The mastic broke to pieces and was easily removed.
Floor refinisher did a great job. T & G maple floors in the kitchen, under hideous split pea soup green tiles. Some people should be shot.EGGGGZZZZ TERMINATE, EGGGGZZZ TERMINATE!! Daleks/Dr Who
I'm in the process of having that "water soluable" glue removed as we read/type(literally). The floor guy tried using a little water and found that it really screwed up his belts, so he's back to sanding dry. It will take him about 2 days to remove 600sqft of adhesive and paper underlayment.
Make sure that this adhesive does not contain asbestos. Costed $35 per sample to have mine tested(it didn't)
Yessir, tough to bid the unbidable. I even came back to edit because it's one of those "try this" type of things.
Too many variations, regional and then some. No clear answer.
A real Breaktime puzzle. And only a few come back to report on what worked for them. A great place for Information, Comraderie, and a sucker punch.
Remodeling Contractor just outside the Glass City.
Quittin' Time