remove carpet glue from slab

[Peter Pedisich]

Hi,

With the recent rains in the northeast, I got some water in my basement like every single house on my street with a basement did. I was lucky, just wet most of the carpet and I wet vac'd it up and pulled up and discarded the carpet which was glued to the slab. Now there is glue residue (some dry and flaking, some gummy) remaining on the cement. I'd estimate 50% remains on the slab.
Does anyone know of a method of removing this residue?

Also, on some of the spots where the glue came off the slab there is white fuzzy stuff I assumed was mold starting to bloom and I wiped it off with lysol cleaner. But someone told me it was efforvesence coming to the surface from the water in the slab. I have the windows open all day and the dehumidifier going 24/7 and it's truly dry as a bone down there now.

If it was mold I got rid of it, but if it's efforvesence will it just come back and ruin any future paint finish. I would like to paint the floor but I want to get rid of the glue first.

Thanks for any help.

Pete

[Vaughn McMillan]

Peter, I don't have a handy solution for the carpet glue, although you might see if heat helps to remove it.

Regarding the white fuzzy stuff, it sounds like you were seeing efflorescence, which is due to the soluble salts in the concrete coming to the surface. (BTW, efflorescence is the white stuff you see on concrete and masonry, and effervescence is the bubbly stuff in soda pop and beer. ;) ) I believe a good epoxy floor paint will keep the efflorescence contained, but I'll check with my concrete authority (my dad, the semi-retired concrete engineer) when I can get ahold of him and post back any advice he might have.

- Vaughn

[Peter Pedisich]

Vaughn,

Oh Boy, do I feel stupid!:eek: :o I should have looked up the word before using it twice in my post!!

Thanks, I'd appreciate any advice from you and your dad.

Pete

[James Stokes]

There is not any good easy way to get the glue up. If it is still gummy a sharp razor scraper is about the only way. They do make some chemical strippers but you still have to scrape with a razor.

[Joe Pelonio]

Peter,

I have some stuff I use to remove adhesives that's like a miracle product, not cheap though ($30/gallon). I use it mainly to remove the adhesives left from peeling vinyl lettering from trucks or signs. Within 2 minutes the adhesives turn soft and can be scraped off with a plastic squeegie. Never tried it on carpet adhesive though. It's called "Rapid Remover" and made by "The Rapid Tac Company" www.rapidtac.com (http://www.rapidtac.com) and is available from sign supply dealers.

[Vaughn McMillan]

Peter, no worries on the "vescence" confusion. You're in good company, since most people seem to mix the two words up. (I'm a writer/editor by trade, so I'm kind of a word junkie anyway.) ;)

The "semi" part about my dad's retirement is holding true...I've tried to call him twice in the past two days, and each time he's been out on a jobsite somewhere. I've left a message asking him to call me, so when I hear from him I'll let you know.

- Vaughn

[Peter Pedisich]

Thanks, Vaughn!
Thanks, guys!

Looks like more rain this weekend so it will be a while before I get to it.

Pete

[Vaughn McMillan]

Peter, I got ahold of my dad, and here are the bullet points, based on our assumption that the moisture is coming into the floor slab from underneath the slab, not from the top*:


I was incorrect in my assumption that epoxy paint would bond to an efflorescent concrete surface. Eventually, the paint would bubble or flake, since it's on the "downstream" side of the slab. (Picture the flow of water from underneath the slab.)
There are two products he mentioned that he's used or heard of for sealing this (and other moisture-related) type of problem. They are crystaline sealers, which bond differently with the concrete than a membrane sealer, and work well as "downstream" vapor barriers.
The product he's most experienced with is called Xypex (sounds like zy-pex). I Googled the name and their website is pretty informative. Their product comes in a variety of forms, but he's seen the roll-on and the admix (added to the concrete when it's mixed) used in a number of applications -- aquarium walls, for example -- with good results. The second product he mentioned was Vandex, which he had seen considered for jobs in the past, but I don't believe he's actually seen it used. Their website lists a lot of products, and he didn't mention any specific ones.
This type of product is not available at your neighborhood Ace Hardware. You'd need to find a concrete supply company, and they should be able to hook you up. (The Xypex that's used in Albuquerque NM is apparently sourced from a place in Durango CO, for example.) He didn't mention price, but I'm betting it's not cheap.
Crystaline sealers need to be applied to clean concrete, so in an existing situation like yours, you'd need to scrape and brush off all the existing white crud.
You might not want to rule out the possibility of mold. You can get home test kits, but I don't know anything about their accuracy. If it is mold, then there are probably folks here who can tell you more about what to do (if anything beyond what you've already done) to handle it. My dad did mention that a sealer like Xypex can prevent mold if it's being caused by infiltration from under the slab. I'm guessing this is a problem that can be dealt with in a number of different ways, with varying degrees of success, depending on how much money you want to spend, and what you're willing to live with. ;)

* BTW, if the original moisture was from flooding on top of the slab and not infiltration from below, the white fuzzy stuff was probably mold. Efflorescence is caused by water leaching through a slab, not sitting on top of it.

I hope this helps -

- Vaughn

[Peter Pedisich]

Vaughn,

Thanks very much for your help, I'm gonna look into the crystaline sealers.

I live in an area where there is a high water table, and it came in from below the slab.

Looks like I got myself a project!:eek:

And it's not a woodworking project.:mad:

Oh well, that's life.:D

Thanks,

Pete

[Norman Hitt]

Vaughn,

Thanks very much for your help, I'm gonna look into the crystaline sealers.

I live in an area where there is a high water table, and it came in from below the slab.

Looks like I got myself a project!:eek:

And it's not a woodworking project.:mad:

Oh well, that's life.:D

Thanks,

Pete

Pete, you might try a call to any one of the mfrs. of carpet glue, and see what they recommend to remove the glue from the concrete. I have tried different strippers and solvents in the past on SMALL areas, but nothing worked really well and all required a lot of scraping and wire brushing and several applications of the solvents and or strippers to finally get it clean. I haven't had to do this since we got a computer, so I haven't tried to contact anyone to see if there is a recomended solvent to accomplish this.

Good Luck.