Removing contact adhesive cement/mortar floor, repairing cement

[Clive]

Hi,

I removed some old (really disgusting state) carpet floor tiles from the kitchen. I want a really hardwearing replacement so I have thought of painting the floor. Utility trumps aestethics (spelling?) in this situation.

1. A few tiles were stuck down with (I guess) contact adhesive. The black backing on those few tiles came away form the tiles and is stuck to the floor in places. How do I remove this? Just scape, scrape, scrap with an old chisel? Do I remove the old backing and adhesive with a heat gun? Do I need to treat or sand these areas after I have removed the gunk?or the whole floor?

1. In a few small areas the top cement/mortar (sorry, can't think of correct word) skim has broken away and needs replacing. Do I make a mortar of 1:1 cement and sharp sand and smooth it down with a float trowel? Or some other mix? Do I apply PVA adhesive first to the exposed concrete on which I am going to skim? Can I fill small cracks and small imperfections with Tetrion (or similar) filler? A good adhering, hard-wearing finish is the most important result.

2. Does the cement, old and new, need any preparation before I paint it? Do I sand the floor with 40 grade "sanding" belts? Or prime it in some way?

1. Can I use any external render paint on the floor or something else? Colour isn't really important (although I fancy dark blue for some reason) as long as it is dark and resists staining.

Thanks for any help

Clive

[stuart noble]

Paint stripper is your man for a nice clean finish. Nasty job but less labour intensive than all that scraping and sanding

[George]

Heat gun is far cheaper and faster than messing about with paintstripper. With paintstripper you have to wait till its done its job and still end up scraping off the messy residue,wereas you burn and scrape as you go along. Ideal burner would be a roofers torch and bottle gas.

[The Natural Philosopher]

Scrape and use solvent like acetone but hearing what you say next..

screed

To be brutally honest, the quick and easy way to make this good, but nt the cheapest, is to hire a kanga..sort of pneumatic drill with a serrated chisel bit..and chisel everything that isn;t good screed off the top.

Then seal with PVA and use leveling compound (beware: it isn't self leveling) To cover all teh imperfections.

Paint is not hardwearing, but it is cheap.

Not really. You want something that stands abrasion.

You are best to go for Vinyl, if you cant afford tiles, or better still, natural stone.

Lok if its simply a quick and dirty, just scrape, fill and paint. It wont be perfect, but it will last a couple of years of light use.