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Last Updated: Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008, Created: Tuesday, September 23rd, 2008
Carpet or tile adhesive can be almost impossible to remove from a concrete floor, especially when it has been there for a long time. If you try sanding, it will heat up and clog up the sandpaper. If you wire brush it with a wire wheel on your drill, again if you let it heat up, it will just clog up the wire brush. A heat gun can soften most adhesives and allow for some degree of scraping, but it is slow as the concrete below is quite cold and will draw the heat away from the adhesive. The good news is that most of these adhesives can be softened up by using their original solvent.
Before you go onto the hard way to do this that I explain below -- there is an update on new products to help out. SurfPro from Quebec has one carpet glue remover on the market and now Circa 1850 is bringing one out as well -- so read the lables carefully in the "Paint Stripping" department, you may just find a product specifically for removing carpet glue.
If you can't find the new removers, then you will have to go back to the old techniques. First you want to determine if it is a water base or a solvent based adhesive. Take a face cloth and soak it in hot water. Place it over a patch of the adhesive, even cover it with plastic to keep it from drying out. Leave it for about an hour. Try scraping. If at least a little of the top has softened up enough to scrape off with a putty knife, you are in business. Cover as large an area as you can reach with hot water and something to avoid evaporation. You can either dam up the water, or just keep rags soaked. You will soon learn just how long it takes for each patch to soften up. This is a slow process but the more patience you have the less elbow grease you will need.
If the water doesn't affect it, try the same technique with paint thinner. If you have to go this route, turn off all heating devices, all pilot lights and assure yourself some good cross ventilation. Put plastic over the soaking rags to prevent evaporation, force the solvents down into the adhesive and have less fumes to deal with. Work in a relatively small area at a time. This should soften up just about any adhesives that won't respond to water. Hang the rags out to dry or keep them in a closed metal container to avoid the possibility of spontaneous combustion and fire.
Keywords: Adhesive, Carpet, Cleaning, Concrete, Glues, Techniques, Tiles
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