Removing Tile Glue

[Dan]

We have rmeoved some tile pieces from our basement floor. Underneath remains a residue of light brown glue. Any hints on removing it the glue?

[BUB 209]

Is it vinyl tile? Unless there are other tiles surrounding the repair that you don't want to damage, a heat gun works well, aside from the nasty fumes. You could also use adhesive remover, available at tile and hardware stores. Again, the fumes.

[Brian V]

Dan, I'm in the middle of redoing my kitchen in which the walls were covered in ulgy ass tile. The tiles came right off, leaving the old remaining glue. I tried everything, heat, adhesive remover, scraping, sanding etc etc. Nothing friggin worked, only made things worse. I was about to give up, tear down the walls and just hang some new drywall or wanescoat(sp?) it. I saw an infomercial on TV for a paint stripper, I said, well, I might as well give paint stripper a try. I went to the borg and got the smallest cans of everything they had to see if anything would work. None of them worked except one, and it works friggin AWESOME! It's a citrus stripper called Citristrip, made for paint and varnish removal. The directions say to let it sit for 15-20 minutes......or longer depending on the application, 1hr works perfect for the tile adhesive. Regular putty knife and that glue is coming right off. A wash down with some mineral spirits followed by a TSP wash and it's done. Even makes the house smell nice!

It's pretty cheap too, 15$ for a 1/2 gallon size, 10$ for a quart.

Good luck,