Laying self-stick tile on a cement floor?

Question

Just removed the 1968 linoleum and can not remove the black adhesive from the cement. Any suggestions on how to prepare the floor for new tile?

Answer 1

Oh my God,been there, done that. I tried all kinds of stuff,  of course, stripper, cleaners, hand sanders, heat gun, torch..........finally I went and rented a stand up diamond head sander, cost 35.00........priceless.!!!!!!!!! Got ALMOST all old glue off.  

Answer 2

From a retired floor man:

As Don just said, buy either Ardex or Henry's at Home Depot in the flooring dept, either bag or box patch material,

Get a small bucket, start mixing with water, JUST A LITTLE AT A TIME, not a whole lot of water, then mix up with a stick to the consistency of peanut butter, get a metal trowel, and spread over the glue THINLY, with the trowel raised up on an edge, leave no puddles and let dry, REMEMBER A THIN COAT!

After that, scrape down to get any humps or bumps out of it, or it will show thru the tile when you install, if not correct, spread so more until its level.

Answer 3

buy some ARDEX feather finish and mix with water and spread over the old tar based adhesive with a flat trowel.let dry then put down the new,That's what a lot of the pros would do in a situation like yours.

Answer 4

onr of the best adhesive removers is charcoal lighter fluid.get a fan and open the window. other than that it works great.wait ten minutes after appling fluid and it comes off easy