I just bought a building and the offices had commercial carpet glued to the concrete floor. I took out the carpet, but now have a hard glue residue on the concrete that does not appear to come off with scraping. I was hoping to just paint the floor with an epoxy paint or something similar. I'm not sure what might or might not work with this glue residue. Am I stuck with something more in line with tile or linoleum?

Any ideas would be appreciated.

 

you can rent a commercial floor buffer with a "scrape away head" to take the glue off. it has 3 carbide steel prongs on it that will remove all glue down to the concrete

 

I've never seen carpet glue that was too hard to be scraped off. It all depends on the amount of effort one is willing to put forth, and using the correct tool. Dull putty knives won't cut it. Go to a flooring place, where you can buy a "standing scraper" having a 3' handle, and a head that uses replacement (razor-sharp) blades. Mine takes 4"-wide blades, but I've also seen them in 6"-wide versions. I've had mine more than 40 years, and a typical room will require about 3 or 4 blade changes. Either by becoming dull, or the occasional breakage caused by hard imperfections (lumps) in the floor concrete.

 

' bought a building ' - sure you want to diy ? ? ? both responses are correct,,, rent a 110V or 220V WALK-BEHIND diamond grinder, use the right grit pads, remove the glue, & ( AT THE SAME TIME ) properly prep floor to receive coating.

we do thIS work for a living - imo, tile guy's attachment's good if time's cheap,,, guess what i think of hand scrapers ? but we have 3 of 'em

caution about the coating: complete & proper prep, ONLY solvent-bas'd material, 18" roller covers, spiked shoes, 200sf/gal so buy in 5gal pails, base coat, urethane top coat - imo, forget sher-wms & apron/vest stores for coating supply

might consider getting some prices 1st then run the #'s,,, can give you some names for advice/materials IF you wish [ no $ INTEREST ]

GOOD LUCK !

 

I've used a large stand-up scaper with a heavy steel edge. The glue is very old and very hard. The hand scraping might work, but I'm not willing to put in that type of time. I wasn't aware of tile grinders. I'll check the local rental store.

Stadry, I'd appreciate any recommendations on materials. Thanks.

While you're at it, we have a small loading dock with a very slippery-when-wet concrete floor. What material would you recommend to make this a more non-slip surface? I appreciate your input.

 

not sure i've heard of ' tile grinders ' either,,, let us know

when you finish diamond grinding office/showroom floors, grind the dock too,,, sounds as if it was ' burnished ' when the conc was finished making it slick/slippery when wet

materials - i like polymax [ no $ interest ] epoxy w/urethane top coat - its easy to roll on ( 18" rollers ),,, some vinyl flakes make it look even better & will disguise any ' holidays ' - good source of info is ' concretenetwork.com '