Adhesive Removal from Concrete Basement Walls

I'm in the process of remodeling my basement. The previous owners placed bead board as insulation against the basement concrete walls using some kind of brown adhesive. I've tried everything possible to remove the adhesive, in preparation for a Drylock application, but have been unsuccessful. I'm hoping someone has an ingenious way to remove this old adhesive that's stuck very well to the concrete walls?!

 

Welcome to the forums! If you have water problems, they should be attacked from the outside, rather than using Drylok or other wall coatings. Proper drainage of downspouts away from the foundation, french drains around the perimeter, leading water away, all will reduce the amount of water touching your basement walls. Once you have that done, the glue won't need to be removed, but you can frame up your walls and run your electrical, etc. and install your final surface. Fill us in on your water problem. How extensive is it? What measures have you taken so far to eliminate the water?
BUT, to your question, if scraping doesn't do the trick, you can use a low VOC solvent to soften it and scrape off the residue.

 

Maybe a carefully used grinder if all else fails?

I'd be careful also about drylok. I know it's commonly used but also people commonly change their oil every 3k and it doesn't make it right, either

 

It's not as easy as scraping the adhesive off the wall, as the concrete wall is not a flat surface. The builders used brick like forms, and so there is not a single smooth spot on the wall, which makes it much more difficult to remove the adhesive.

I don't have any water problems in the basement. I was just going to be on the safe side and put the Drylock on the walls regardless.

 

franmar's ' beanee-doo ' may be the ticket for this,,, the only caution is that the residue is a large pita to remove in prep for your proposed ' Drylock ' which, in itself, is a waste of time/$$$ in my professional opinion,,, diamond grinding MAY work but, as mentioned, conc is porous & total removal won't be practical IF possible.

do a moisture test 1st - you may have nothing to worry about.