Best practices for adhesive removal

[JCobb]

Hello all and Happy new year.
I have a job starting in a few months at my local Wally-World. It is approximately 5000sf around all the tills and checkout area. To be done at night only. I haven’t been authorized to do any tests or remove any tiles yet. The existing V.C.T has areas that are blistered and or cracking. In certain areas. Dollars to doughnuts it is alkali salts and high moisture. The adhesive is undoubtedly black-out/Asphalitic adhesive. If they want any mitigation done, what would you do to remove the old adhesive to get it clean enough to stick to? In the past I have razor scraped then used a 7” grinder, but it takes forever. Being as the store has to be fully open the next day, what products have you had good luck with for a roll on vapour retarder (not sure if that is the proper term). Such a big pain in the butt, good thing I have a month to do the job.
Thanks J. Cobb

 

[C.J.]

I’ve always heard there are two kinds of contractors: Those that won’t do a Wally World and those that don’t yet know that they won’t do a Wally World.

I’ve never done one myself but I have done many a grocery store. I was fortunate enough that the company I worked for had a few terminators for demo. They would demo the VCT then put a fresh blade on and scrape all the adhesive that they could get up. After that we hit the floor with buffers n patch until we were ready to lay more floor. What kind of demo equipment are you rollin in with? I couldn’t imagine using a junky eddy to demo 5K of well stuck VCT. I do believe I’d shoot myself.

Even though I’ve never done a Wally World, I have read the specs for one and they do call for asphaltic emulsion adhesive to be used so be prepared for that. I’d say have plenty of mineral spirits available cus I just imagine a black mess everywhere on the remaining VCT. If you’re dealing with a possible moisture issue, are you the one responsible for moisture mitigation? Shot blasting? Or does your contract simply call for removal and reinstall? Either way I say take it easy the first night cus whatever you tear up usually has to be put back down by 6 AM the next day. Or at the very least the floor has to be ready for business as usual.

When you’re all done please post back and let me know if there’s any validity to my first statement.

 

[JCobb]

I’ve always heard there are two kinds of contractors: Those that won’t do a Wally World and those that don’t yet know that they won’t do a Wally World.

I’ve never done one myself but I have done many a grocery store. I was fortunate enough that the company I worked for had a few terminators for demo. They would demo the VCT then put a fresh blade on and scrape all the adhesive that they could get up. After that we hit the floor with buffers n patch until we were ready to lay more floor. What kind of demo equipment are you rollin in with? I couldn’t imagine using a junky eddy to demo 5K of well stuck VCT. I do believe I’d shoot myself.

Even though I’ve never done a Wally World, I have read the specs for one and they do call for asphaltic emulsion adhesive to be used so be prepared for that. I’d say have plenty of mineral spirits available cus I just imagine a black mess everywhere on the remaining VCT. If you’re dealing with a possible moisture issue, are you the one responsible for moisture mitigation? Shot blasting? Or does your contract simply call for removal and reinstall? Either way I say take it easy the first night cus whatever you tear up usually has to be put back down by 6 AM the next day. Or at the very least the floor has to be ready for business as usual.

When you’re all done please post back and let me know if there’s any validity to my first statement.

Lol. I have done work at Wally World before, the only reason I even looked at this one was I was the only bidder. Demo machine will be whatever I can rent at the time, I live in a fairly rural area with around 60,000 people in the area and no major cities close by. I usually do more heat welded vinyl, haven’t touched a tile in 5 years.Only planning on removing 200-300 sf per night if we are lucky since we are going around 30 or so cash registers. Just waiting on the go ahead on my quote do do the moisture testing. I had a feeling shot blasting might be an answer. Just waiting for patch and moisture barrier to dry with installation, is a pretty tall order for one night. It’s gonna be a long month of nights.
J.Cobb

 

[Commercial Floor Rep]

Just a heads up on roll on “barriers”. Watch your instructions on your vapor retarder. Many of those products are very specific and touchy with the timing. If you cover them too early they will be dry on the outside and still wet internally. This can lead to the product separating within itself causing a disbonding problem.

We stopped selling these types of products for that reason.

It’s kind of similar to what happens to a modified thinset when used between porcelain and a waterproofing membrane, it never finishes curing because it needs exposure to air to dry completely. That’s also a big reason so many of these products are no longer available. Quite honestly they’re all pretty much snake oil in my experience.

Instead of using a roll on product I’d recommend using a spray adhesive like Spraylock. You’re going to get the same level of moisture protection as you would using a roll on barrier and it’s going to save you a ton of money and time. It can also be turned over to immediate traffic as soon as you’re done so the store can use the space the next morning.

Wish you the best and hope it goes smooth for you!

 

[Floorist]

With some adhesives,it would be easier just to burn the place down and start over.
But seriously, when they redid the floors in our local Wally World they hired some guys who had no clue. They were back a couple weeks later replacing much of it. They were using pressure sensitive adhesive and laying the tiles in it wet.

 

[JCobb]

Just a heads up on roll on “barriers”. Watch your instructions on your vapor retarder. Many of those products are very specific and touchy with the timing. If you cover them too early they will be dry on the outside and still wet internally. This can lead to the product separating within itself causing a disbonding problem.

We stopped selling these types of products for that reason.

It’s kind of similar to what happens to a modified thinset when used between porcelain and a waterproofing membrane, it never finishes curing because it needs exposure to air to dry completely. That’s also a big reason so many of these products are no longer available. Quite honestly they’re all pretty much snake oil in my experience.

Instead of using a roll on product I’d recommend using a spray adhesive like Spraylock. You’re going to get the same level of moisture protection as you would using a roll on barrier and it’s going to save you a ton of money and time. It can also be turned over to immediate traffic as soon as you’re done so the store can use the space the next morning.

Wish you the best and hope it goes smooth for you!

Thanks for the heads up on the drying times.