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Mastic clean-up, then painting concrete floor

14 years ago

A couple questions for those who have gone through the challenge of mastic removal, then painting a basement floor.

I removed the mastic using first, bean-e-doo, then touched-up with "contractor's solvent" comprised of citrus oils. The floor has been rinsed at least 3 times with TSP, then water rinse, but the orange solvent smell is still quite strong (2 days have passed). Any idea how many days until the smell is negligible?

For what it's worth, that bean-e-doo stuff is effective - but you need to patient and let it do it's thing for at least an hour or more. I would have preferred to do the tough-up with it, too, but ran out of stuff, which is why I switched to the contractor's solvent.

It's now drying and pretty damn clean (other than lingering citrus smell). Do I really need to prime the floor, or would Behr 1 part epoxy basement floor paint be just fine as it is? Thanks.

Thanks.

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Comments (2)

User
14 years ago
YOu most likely have compromised the ability of the paint to bond with the surface by using chemical solvents. They seep into the concrete pores and don't allow bonding. The correct method to remove adhesives from concrete if you want to paint or stain is to sand them off. Even using a bonding primer may not allow the paint to stick. Basements already have issues with water seeping up through the concrete which can bubble paint off, and now that concrete also has solvents embedded into it.

A floating floor like laminate or the Allure vinyl may be your best bet if you want to make the space more decorative.
homebound
Original Author
14 years ago
Thanks for the reply. I'll soon find out whether the paint holds or not.
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