We continue with the floors on the first floor in this post. After removing all the carpet (still very glad that it’s gone) we were left with glue remains everywhere. As we were planning to have the tiles bare for some time (so that we could use the rooms while tackling the ground floor), it wasn’t an option leaving it like that. Ergo, the glue remains needed to be removed from the tiles… All 65 m²…
We tried two distinct methods, looking for both speed and accuracy. As you’ll find out, neither was very fast though…
The gear
General
- Knee pad or something to protect your knees while sitting on them
- Safety gear: headphones, glasses, mask & gloves
- Brush
- Duster & dustpan
Method one
- Â Angle grinder
- Metal brush also known as wire cup brush or twist knot for said grinder (like this one on Amazon)
- Bucket of water (for a little variation)
Method two
- Scraper knife
The methods
Depending on the kind of glue that has been used some really ugly fumes might come off, or some chips might get flying. As usual, use your safety gear!
Method one
Lock the cup brush onto the angle grinder and make sure it’s locked on tight. Now get on your knees, turn the grinder on and go across the floor, inch by inch. That’s not so hard, isn’t it? Downside of the method: it’s painstakingly slow and produces a hell of a fume because you are kind of melting the glue. Also, the end result isn’t much appealing: it is nearly smooth but doesn’t look any decent:
As a variation we tried pouring a little water on the floor before firing up the grinder. It’s equally fast (or slow), it does a better job at removing the glue, but comes with a cost of getting your walls and yourself dirty with the sludge, which you also still have to somehow get rid of afterwards:
Also, think about the potential danger of mixing water and electrics.
Method two
Exit angle grinder, enter scraper knife. Here I was finishing up the last part, remembering I needed to take pictures in the process:
It’s a tad slower to scrape off the glue, but the end result is far better:
Afterthoughts
It’s a hell of a job and I hope I’ll never have to do it again, but we ended up with a floor that isn’t really perfect, but good enough for now. How would you tackle the glue?