The previous owners installed a parque floor that was glued down. It was removed and carpet installed over the top. I want to install a pergo floor but all of the old glue remains.
It is black and very hard and crusty. Any ideas as to the best method to remove this?
Thanks
Devin
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Hopefully Devin this isn't a product sometimes called cut-back. If so it has an asbestos ingredient. Don't sand this! I have a similar problem.
If I'm right I would be interested if anyone has a safe idea on removing.
Otherwise I'm just going to put down a floating bamboo floor, myself.
JAGWAH,
Do you know how to tell if it is cutback, the floor was most likely installed in the 60's or 70's.
Devin
The date you gave is the most likely reason it's cut-back. The beano product looks promising. I'm going to look into it myself.
as to the mastic idea, don't. My tile distributer should me a tile that obviously had a good bond. It seems it lifted some of the old mastic up when it cured and delamented itself from the floor.
Here's hoping beano works.
Edited 12/1/2003 8:22:31 PM ET by JAGWAH
Edited 12/1/2003 8:23:12 PM ET by JAGWAH
I know I sound like a broken record, but it's seem rare that I come across a product that actually works as advertised. ;o)
Prior to the Beano (awful name, btw) I tried some stuff I picked up from menards. It worked well, too, but had zylene and some other REALLY nasty stuff in it. Probably would have been OK had we done in in the summer with fans blowing to exhaust, but, we didn't. Someone else in another forum suggested the beano product and it works great. The only catch is that it doesn't dry up (like the zylene product did) so once you get it on the floor, it will turn the mastic forever sticky until you scrape/brush/mop it up.
I'm requesting a sample of their paint remover next to give that a shot. I'd much rather work with soybeans than zylene ;o)
Don't remove it. Knock down the high spots, then skim coat it with underlayment patch. Pad it. Pergo it.
If it's black stuff, it may have asbestos, but may not. Have it tested if you plan on sanding it.
that said, I wouldn't sand it.
Try this stuff:
http://www.franmar.com/mastic.html
It's a soy-based product. No fumes. No hazardous warnings. And (what surprised me the most!) it works wonderfully. We've ordered 5 gallons to strip our basement floor.
If you email them, they'll send you a small sample bottle to try out.
Some of the older adhesives are water soluble. There is an orange-derivative product that may remove the black adhesive you are dealing with. Sorry, I don't remember the name of the product. One of the big box stores might carry it, otherwise check with a flooring retailer or supplier.
I have had luck getting some types of adhesive off with "Goof Off", but haven't tried anything like you are describing.
Testing probably wouldn't be a bad idea to give you peace of mind. I had some samples tested a couple of decades ago for $50 for two samples. With the higher volume of tests today, it might not be much more. Go to the yellow pages at http://www.yahoo.com , type in the name of your town or your closest larger town, and enter something like "asbestos" or "testing laboratory" and you should get something.