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Posted to alt.home.repair
thelooch
 
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Default vinyl tile installation

Hello, I'm building a kitchen in my basement and would like to put down
peel and stick vinyl tiles for the floor. I pulled out the old carpet
which was glued down, and it came off fairly easy. However, there is a
layer of glue on top of the concrete which is not easy to remove. It's
about 1mm thick. I bought a 14" floor scraper which isn't good for
taking all the glue off the concrete, but it does a good job of
knocking the ridges off the glue so I'm left with a smooth surface of
old glue on concrete.

The only way I seem to be able to get it off is by using a belt sander,
which clogs up the sand paper after a few suare feet. The floor is
over 250 square feet so I don't really want to do this over the entire
floor. I can also scrape it off with a flat head screwdriver, but I
really don't want to scrape 250 square feet with a screwdriver.

My question is, is it okay to install peel and stick vinyl tiles over
this smooth glue surface? I tried putting a test tile down on the
floor, standing on it for a few seconds and then trying to peel it off.
I could just barely get it off with my fingers, and I have pretty
strong hands. I tried the same test in an area where I had cleaned off
the glue with a belt sander and I couldn't really get it off with my
fingers, the tile was breaking off in chunks and I had to use a
scraper. Is it normal for you to be able to get a peel and stick vinyl
tile off the floor with your fingers 30 seconds after you laid it down
and stood on it?

My other options is to just put down a sheet of vinyl, which should go
down fine over the surface as it is right now, but it would be a little
more expensive and since this will be a rental suite I like the idea of
being able to replace individual ruined tiles for about $1.00 each.

Any advice would be appreciated!

Tony.