Removing mortar - prep for Epoxy-Coat?

[pmason0]

How to remove mortar from the concrete floor after block wall construction?

Have a new shop 1690 sqf and before I move anything in I want to get the Epoxy-Coat floor down. Have been cleaning the floor in prep, used Krud Kutter Concrete Clean & Etch to get all the tire marks and other stuff off the floor and it did a pretty good job.

When they put up the block walls dividing the spaces they cleaned up the big stuff, was able to scrap off the rest of the mortar with a shovel to make it all smooth, but I have a thin layer mortar left over from when they put up the block walls dividing the spaces. Now I have been able to scrap with a sharp scrapper but that is taking forever (walls are 56ft long) looking for a quicker way, was thinking maybe a floor belt sander or orbital any other ideas?

Searched the forum but couldn't really find anything, maybe searching for the wrong thing.

 

[Edger]

Depends on how thin the layer is. You can rent a tile lifter which is an oscillating blade, but it will more than likely dig into your floor. You definitely need to scrape it off with something heavy like a crow bar with a sharpened blade about 4 inches wide at the end.

If you use something to grind it down it is difficult to know when it has been removed and when the floor surface is being removed. Once you scrape it to a film you can acid etch the rest off as long as you have a pressure washer to blast it properly afterward.

The trick is to remove the mortar before you do surface prep so that the floor will be evenly prepped.