We have lived here for 7 years and decided that it was time to rip out the 1970's carpet and we want to paint the floor. The only problem is when we pulled up the carpet we found floor tile underneath. We pulled it up as well but there is still a layer of adhesive on the concrete. What I want to know is can paint be applied over this 30 year old adhesive if we clean it and smooth out the rough spots? Tha lady at the Home Improvement Center said it could, but I want to know if any of you have first hand experience with this. I don't want to strip it to bear concrete if I don't have to, but if I do what would be the best way to accomplish this?
Thanks in advance.

 

The best place for advice on painting and painting materials is your local Paint Shop

I know of no way to paint over the adhesive and smooth out the rough spots on a concrete floor
If you paint over it, it will look horrible

Removal is the best way
It can take a lot of scraping, but it should come up

The next alternative is to consider a new layer of concrete or another type of flooring

 

Hey slickshift can you or anyone else elaberate a little more on this? I'm in about the same spot as Kentdoss except mine is a job i'm going to bid. The house had carpet and there is some glue left on the concrete from the carpet pad. Owner wants to paint it. I planned on scraping the glue up and washing the concrete floors down and let them dry and start painting? Please tell me if I'm missing something here. Dont want to go in the red on this dang job!!!

Thanks
Jim123

 

I have not found a quick easy way for this
Those scrapers on a stick help
Less bending
For sure these are ""waiver" jobs
"Depending on condition of the substrate"-type deal

Stain if it cleans up nice, latex enamel if it's not
(we have a lot of dampness out here-can't use oil)

 

Some of the citrus stippers work well on carpet glue. You can grind whats left if need be. There are stronger products out there, but you need a LOT of good ventilation.

Kent - you do get better advice from a Paint Store.

 

I would get up as much glue as possible(sand, scrape ect.) then I would etch the surface w/muratic acid. Let it dry out a few days and you are ready to go. I would NOT stain the concrete unless I was 110% sure I removed every last bit of the glue. Latex would work fine(ben moore 122 line) or oil if you are going to be getting a lot of wear and tear. Though, realize, most oil-based floor paints only come in gloss, so when that floor gets wet, it gets very slippery.

 

Wow--I thought I was reading my own post. Same situation. 1920's house with basement finished in 1950s with vinyl-asbestos tiles. In the 1970s, they glued a carpet to the tiles. A year after I bought the house, the basement flooded due to an uncleaned rain conductor. I pulled up the mildewed carpet and found the tiles. I carefully pulled up the tiles and double bagged them. They are most likely vinyl asbestos so I picked em up and threw em out. The asbestos is fairly well contained in the vinyl, but the mastic likely has asbestos as well. I've been told that scraping it off will be next to impossible, and I don't want to use a grinder as that will powder the mastic and probably make it actually dangerous.

My plan? I am thinking of sealing it with Ames Super Primer and then coating it with Ames Vapor Barrier to seal it up. What do you all think?

http://www.amesresearch.com/basement.htm

After that's done, I think I'll build a subfloor on it and finish it off with vinyl tiles or laminate. I spoke to the guy at Ames and he thinks that if the mastic is hardened on the concrete, that the Super Primer will seal it up and the coating will stick well. He told me that if I just wanted a painted floor, I could use their floor paint on the primer instead which is less rubbery and more resilient for walking directly on.

My other alternative is using floor leveling concrete, but I am afraid of really unleveling my floor with it and just making a mess.

 

Well, chiefobrien
I think you should look into how much a mason would charge to pour a new floor in there
They don't actually need to pour a floor, just a skim coat of sorts

I'm sure the Ames saleseman thinks it will work fine, and I guess it might
I'm just afraid that after all that work and expense, you'll still have a super-bad looking floor

I'm no expert, but I know my tile guy (sub) would either do the new layer, or the self-leveler if it was a small enough area
Even if he was going to build a sub-floor on it

Whatever you end up with for the top, cheesing out on the bottom will affect the subsequent layers adversly somehow

 

I don't think a concrete "skim coat" will adhere very well. If doing a subfloor, just a vapor barrier should be enough.