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.