Carpet glue stains

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Impatient

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Three weeks ago my husband and I took the plunge and pulled up our carpet in our downstairs living/dining area. We live in a townhouse and have witnessed our once-white carpet deteriorate into a color that can best be described now as stained chocolate milk. It was time to do something, but now I fear we have bitten off more than we could chew. We are wanting to stain the concrete. Last weekend we rented a floor scrubber and wet/dry shop vac and went to town. The dried spackle is gone and the top gooey film of the carpet glue squiggles is gone, but what remains is a bunch of deep set-in stains from the carpet glue. We have tried sanding it by hand. We have tried various chemicals such as acetone and phosphoric acid. Nothing is getting these stubborn stains out and now I am starting to panic. We aren't rolling in money so it's not like we can just run to the store and buy tile or hardwood. Besides, I WANT to make this work! I have looked at other options, such as painting the concrete or even trying the paper bag method, but I fear with the heavy traffic from our family those options won't be very durable. So is there ANY way to remove these stains? Also, what is the best solution for the divets created along the edging from ripping out the tack strips? We bought some concrete mix and plan to just create a separate decorative line around the edging. But if anyone has a solution for this as well I'm open to suggestions! Thanks so much for any advice!
 
The best I can recommend is to either float the entire surface with a new concrete skim coat, or place wood on it. Most concrete is not finished in the quality that looks nice stained.
 
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I agree with the others that you can't remove those stains. However, someone with some skills in staining concrete could fairly easily DISGUISE the stains the way a skill tatoo artist can cover over an unwanted or offensive tattoo with something more complex that integrates the existing so it's no longer "visible" but instead part of a new image.

Capiche?

The toppings are another alternative but I've been trained in those processes by the manufacturer and despite a lifetime in this trade..........it doesn't look like easy money to me. You'd probably want to shot blast to get the topping to bond correctly.

With a high budget your options increase dramatically. Most people come here looking for cheaper alternative to conventional residential quality floors. Often their ideas are MUCH more expensive if they were to be done correctly.

Stained/sealed concrete takes quite a bit of technology and equipment to the point it's usually NOT a cheaper solution than COVERINGS.
 
Heavy duty grinder with a diamond wheel will resurface that. I would check rental stores in the area. You will need a Shroud and pulse vac to remove the dust or suffer the consequences.
 
Heavy duty grinder with a diamond wheel will resurface that. I would check rental stores in the area. You will need a Shroud and pulse vac to remove the dust or suffer the consequences.

Sure, a planetary grinder would work. I didn't suggest that because these are DIY and, well that's a scary thought to me.

I don't believe you can get a NICE surface to stain/paint/clear coat with a hand held.
 

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