The Home Improvement and DIY Thread

[Scinetic]

I'm fairly hopeless when it comes to any traditional handy crafts. Home improvement, auto mechanics, and so forth. I never want to start a thread with my questions, because then I'd be spamming the Lounge with every trivial issue I run into.

I have to imagine I'm not the only person here in that kind of situation. And I'm sure there are people here with the expertise and are willing to help, or maybe just want to share with the world their most recent accomplishment. Hence this thread, we'll see if it catches on.



The current task I'm looking to accomplish is to remove linoleum tile from the basement, and apply a plain paint/sealant to the bare concrete. The tile is easy enough to scrape up, but I'm not sure what to do with the thick layer of adhesive below it.

Any tips? Scraping is yielding some results, but I was hoping for ideas on how to make the process easier or more efficient. I expect either way it's going to be a lot of elbow grease, but any advantage helps.

[Magnetto]

That **** is called mastic (I think that's the right spelling), and the solution is elbow grease and lots of swearing.

I helped a friend get that crap off her entry way when she ripped up the tile. It suuuuuuucked.

We never found a tool that worked better than a plain old heavy-duty scraper. They have the kind that you can hit with a hammer that was good for getting up the rough chunks, but you still have to go back with something smaller to smooth it out.

I wanted to try one of those Dremel saws (not the rotary, the one that goes back and forth) to see if it would work, but we never did because neither of us have one.

I did see a flooring guy tear that stuff up in a hurry with a long scraper (the kind you can use while standing), but I couldn't reproduce his results. I think it came from years of practice knowing just the right angle of attack to actually scrape the stuff up instead of either skipping along the top of it or digging in and stopping.

[CrazyReaper]

Hi, unfortunately I can't help you, I'm not an expert in this. But the topic is very interesting and I want to share my experience in home improvement. I recently purchased a new building and the rooms were completely empty. I bought a lot of new furniture, but everything remained pretty empty, so I decided to buy some decorative textiles into the house. I turned to Or & Zon and got quite high-quality products. I am very glad that I found such guys.