To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!

Basement floor cleaning and prep for coating?

cybrnook

New member
Joined
Sep 3, 2019
Messages
1
Location
Michigan
Hello all, and thank you in advance for any help and suggestions.

My wife and I are pressing the reset button on our basement after our Michigan home recently faced what is called leaking "Rod Holes" (holes in the poured concrete walls due to manf techniques used from original contractor). We typically don't have a wet basement, at least nothing that is obvious. So seeing some water on the floor was a red flag. We have since had the walls professionally repaired, and all 120 rod holes that showed signs of age were repaired, as well as the 4 foundation wall cracks (injected). Previous owners hid all this behind drywall framing, which I recently found out. anyways....

We are using this as a time for me to break out the spray gun and paint the ceiling black. Hopefully paint the walls white with a "Lime Wash" (seems to allow the walls to continue to breath), and if I pass the chloride test (already have the kits, just need to get some clean concrete) and have a relatively dry slab, then I want to lay a nice coating on the floor.

THE ISSUE: is the previous owners apparently seemed deathly afraid that the linoleum tiling they laid down was going to come up. So in typical fashion of everything the previous owners did, it was wrong and way wrong (in my opinion) and it seems they dumped and rolled tile adhesive on the floors prior to laying the tiles down (I swear they must have used 10 gallons for our 1800sqft basement). Maybe someone should have told him that tile adhesive and leveling cement are not the same thing. Or perhaps he was attempting to first fiberglass the cement in.... :) sorry I am bitter as I am writing this the more I think about it....
My wife and I rented a rip-r-stripper from home depot to get the tiles up, so that's done:
20190831-183611.jpg


Then, I rented a floor finishing tool and the diamond blade coating removal tool (not the finishing blade with all the teeth, mine has but a few). I am trying to get it as best I can without burning a hole through my slab:
20190901-141054.jpg


However there are areas where the adhesive persists, after what I would consider a good amount of elbow grease in one spot:
20190902-160518.jpg


So, I am thinking I will finish the floor with a good once over using the finishing tool without trying to risk damaging the floor. However I am going to be left with a half @$$ed mess that I believe will need to still come up.

MY QUESTION: What would be the best way to remove the remaining adhesive from the slab in order to prep for a coating, which I intend to use a primer first? I was thinking maybe I could just buy a couple industrial handled scrubbing brushes and some chemical adhesive remover and hit it section by section, but maybe that's too hard work and could be costly? Figured I would ask the pro's before moving much further.

Again, any help is appreciated. I also don't wish any harm to the previous owners.... but I think a couple boils out of reach would be okay in my book :bounce:

FYI, I already have Voicemails with ArmorPoxy and Legacy Industrial (Though I think the Armorclad is where I may end up). So, I am not trying to complete this job with a off the shelf kit, I want it done right!
 
Last edited:
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
To avoid these ads, REGISTER NOW!
Top Bottom