Perel I just went through this with our basement remodel - Did all the possible water abatement possible - starting w/gutters/pitch, grade of landscaping, removing large bushes around foundation, putting in a new patio, dry lock painted on walls (after a good cleaning) - Floor clean then application of floor paint. When I researched about possible flooring on our refinish side - I decided I did not want any flooring where I had to wonder what was lurking or growing under there.. So an inexpensive wall to wall carpet ($250 including pad) seemed to be the answer - I purchased it knowing it may get wet & if so, I'll just throw it out - I have the tack strips on all perimeters - so it would be fairly easy to take this out & put a new one down. On the utility side I purchased a nice vinyl rolled flooring and had the floor cleaned,painted as well as dash patched for pitted areas - this would be an easy application for you - found in hardware stores just apply to pitted, unlevel areas like a cement let dry I just think adhesives will make the application much more difficult + the VOC factor - as well as difficulty removing in the event of water - and need to remove old adhesive for applying a new tile etc... Good luck

How about one of those upright electric floor sanders, the orbiting kind? With lots of drop cloths taped down well over everything that has to stay in the area while sanding. And using good breathing protection such as a snug-fitting, soft pleated surgeon's mask. Those masks filter out tinier particles than the rigid white nose-cone type masks do. Also, wearing a nylon-type track suit (or whatever those 2-piece sports outfits are called) while sanding would shed a lot of the concrete dust off you. After sanding, close the door on the room tightly and exit quickly (any windows to the room should have already been closed so that there was no turbulence in the air to stir the concrete dust around any more than necessary). Wait 24 hours for the dust to settle (literally), then either hose down the floor if you have a drain or damp mop the entire surface to pick up the dust on the floor. Or go over it with a vacuum cleaner (doesn't have to be a shop vac unless it looks like more dust than what a regular vac could choke down) and then wet mop. Next day, carefully remove the plastic drop cloths, folding the cleanest sides over onto the dusty sides, keep whatever has settled onto them bundled up, and toss them. Anyway, that's how I would go about it.

I just went through a similar thing. 30 year old astro turf green carpet on our front porch and planning to sell the house. I tried an adhesive remover from Lowes but it didn't do anything. I hired someone to grind it off. He had a small hand grinder and it took them a long time but it got done pretty well. There was a crack underneath that was repaired. After that it didn't look that great. No reputable concrete person would skim coat because it won't last. They coated it with a product called miracote. I think it was the MPC version. The porch is 7 x 16 and it cost $750. I got quotes of about 2K to re-pour the whole porch. The guys doing the miracote could have done a better job but the house sold and no one complained. It should last for years. We looked at two part apoxy but it would have been to glossy and slippery and wouldn't have looked like concrete. Here is a link that might be useful: miracote mpc

thanks all. --probably thought I'd gone away, taking so long to answer. It just seems one "challenge" follows another. The time goes by and you try to hold things together or repair things including your body and sometimes, things just keep coming. Hopefully, I'm forgive for being long time in answering. It's been in & out of docs. for me and tonight, wife goes to hospital. I managed to get a small, very small, strip piece of the paneling off, intact. I used a blow dryer to heat it. The adhesive cement is very, very strong. the blow dryer took a long time to heat the wood--I thought it was going to scorch , before the paneling came loose, but I finally got it. That 4"x4' section took over an hour of work! There does seem to be though a magic temperature, if I can get up to it, the adhesive softens enough to let me hammer a putty knife between it and the wood, other wise--no go. the putty knife won't cut it and the piano wire I tried to use, broke. I hoped that was the piece that would give me access to what I needed to work on, but no. I'll have to remove at least, maybe two, of the full 4x8 sheets. If I destroy this Walnut, there will be no way to replace it. And I do not want to have to figure out some other way to refinish the basement--I guess I could glue sheet rock to the walls, if I glue enough shims in first. I just hope I can get the panels down. You'd think that 30+ year old glue after being so old and going through freezes and thaws would be brittle and give way, but it sure doesn't. Probably the easiest way is to pry the furring strips from the walls and try to put them back up? Because of the unevenness of the concrete walls the strips are glued on both horizontal and vertical. And to get them off, I'll have to take down the entire wall! -- ouch! Is that the only way? I did such a great job putting this stuff up, I can't even see the finishing nails I used to make certain the panels stayed attached to the strips while the glue set. Then of course, I dabbed a bit of paint, the same color of the dark, vertical seams they are in, on the nail head. they are virtually invisible. To find them, I hope a magnet will work. If I pull off the furring strips, they won't be a problem. If I try to take off the paneling, I'm not certain if I have enough room to drive them through the panels before they hit the concrete. What a job. In removing the one little piece of paneling, I learned that I'm going to have to pull an entire corner of the ceiling tile down, as well. It just gets worse and worse...or maybe I should look at it as an exciting challenge? Let's see if I can do it? --yeah, right :( Instead of using a hair-dryer to try to heat the wood, what about trying an electric iron? Think I could do that without scorching the paneling? If so, how high of heat would you set it to and what would be good to put between the bottom of the hot iron and the paneling? --I don't think laying an iron, directly on the walnut, would be very good for it. Or should I just give up and try to separate the furring strips from the wall, leaving the paneling attached. --What a nightmare it was putting those up--absolutely nothing was plumb, level. It took hours and hours to get them level and plumb. Maybe there's an expert way to get these down--it'll take at least 4 people to take a wall all in one piece, especially to not cause damage to any of the panels. Then, how do I get it back up? Is it time to throw the walnut away and put up sheet rock? Bob