Remove vinyl adhesive, level floor and apply epoxy on concrete

Hi,

While looking for solutions to my problem I ran into this forum - hello

Looks like this is the place to go if I want to understand what I am getting into.

Here's the deal: I have a concrete floor in the dry basement, about 1000 sqft. 500 sqft are covered in vinyl tiles, which I want to remove. Now taking them off is one thing, but removing the glue below is another.

It is probably important to know at this point that I want to level the concrete and apply epoxy to finish. I happen to like the industrial concrete look.

I know, thanks to a little water accident, that the adhesive will dissolve in water. But is it a good idea to use water to remove it when I want to apply epoxy?

Also, I will have to pour some concrete to fix some holes, so this stuff will have the cure for let's say 30 days. That should be enough to enough time to dry the concrete when I use water to remove the adhesive? So here is my actual first question: Am I on the right track?

The second would be: there is one little concrete "mountain", about .5 inches high, on the floor. What is a good way to get rid of it?

Thanks so much for your help

 

Welcome to the forums! Good that you have water soluble adhesive. Just let it dry completely before you apply the epoxy and you will be fine. You can use self leveling compound to fix irregularities in the floor. The mound???? Gonna take grinding to make it right. How large an area are you talking about? Is it in the middle of the floor or on an edge, corner??

 

The mound is sadly smack in the middle, pretty close to one of the foundation posts. Do you have any experience with grinding those down? What tools would I use for that?

 

I use a 4" grinder and "lap" it down rather than trying to grind it. Difficult to describe the motion, but I draw the edge of the blade over the hump repeatedly at a semi-flat angle. Wear hearing protection and most definitely eye protection as well as a mask as dust will abound.

 

Thanks! That sounds indeed like a very dirty job...! Will take all precautions!