How to remove vinyl mastic from concrete?

[EightFingers]

Redoing my kitchen floor that had tile installed over vinyl sheet flooring. Who does this?
Anyway, pulling up the tile then the vinyl left a layer of mastic which is difficult to remove.
I need to get this prepped for tile.
Googled and looked at a number of youtube videos.
So I tried boiling water, some sort of mastic remover from Home Depot, propane torch, rotary hammer,
ROS with 32 grit paper, scraper mounted in recip saw, oscillating saw with scraper attachment and a 1” chisel.
None of them really worked well at all. I did get about 10 sqft done in 4 hours.

Open to suggestions!

[TheCabinetmaker]

Around 12 years ago I had to remove some from a wood floor that some Wizzard of Smart decided it was a good idea to put down vinyl tile in a bedroom. I rented a floor sand to do this. After getting approximately 1 square foot done and ruining $20 worth of sandpaper I went and purchased some of the strongest paint stripper. That day I became a professional striper for 24 hours. Although the floor was still somewhat black from the mastic it sanded a lot easier. I am sure that by today the EPA has made paint strippers safe enough to drink (to protect the stupid) however you might want to try it on your floor.

[Snipe Hunter]

Are you trying to refinish the floor with the mastic on it? Or is it subfloor and you plan to install new flooring?

If installing new flooring, just go over it. But my guess is that isn't what you are trying to do because vinyl flooring was usually put over a layer of luan.

[tomsteve]

ive done something like this once. many hours with a hammer dill with a floor scraper attachment.

[EightFingers]

Are you trying to refinish the floor with the mastic on it? Or is it subfloor and you plan to install new flooring?

If installing new flooring, just go over it. But my guess is that isn't what you are trying to do because vinyl flooring was usually put over a layer of luan.

This is to prep concrete slab for tile.

[AnHonestOpinion]

Redoing my kitchen floor that had tile installed over vinyl sheet flooring. Who does this?
Anyway, pulling up the tile then the vinyl left a layer of mastic which is difficult to remove.
I need to get this prepped for tile.
Googled and looked at a number of youtube videos.
So I tried boiling water, some sort of mastic remover from Home Depot, propane torch, rotary hammer,
ROS with 32 grit paper, scraper mounted in recip saw, oscillating saw with scraper attachment and a 1” chisel.
None of them really worked well at all. I did get about 10 sqft done in 4 hours.

Open to suggestions!

How about your sawzall and something like these. I used them to clean adhesive off my concrete floor in preparation for engineered floor installation.

There are cheaper and more expensive versions of the one I linked to at Harbor Freight and the big box stores.

How old is that bottom layer; any chance there is an abestos issue?

[brianwelch]

I used a heatgun and a 3" wide putty knife, over wood, not concrete...not fun, but got the job done (for me at least)
I know there are primers available to go over adhesive residue, but geared toward another layer of resilient flooring. Not sure how that would work for tile...
Good luck

[EightFingers]

House was built in 1998, so no asbestos fortunately.

[Oldwood2409]

House was built in 1998, so no asbestos fortunately.

I had the same situation about 15 yr ago. I used lacquer thinner ,putty knife. and rags. Glue residue came off and tile installed and still good today.

Greg

[EightFingers]

Sounds like a good idea to try, will do.

Best way to describe this job is it’s like removing the shiny top layer from a 400 sqft ceramic tile.