Any flooring people here?

[Bill Stock]

I pulled up some Indoor/Outdoor carpet and Vinyl tile in the basement a couple of weeks ago, which all went fairly well. Except for the nasty yellow glue left behind by the carpet. After a bit of reading, I went at the glue with boiling water and a hand scraper. This helped a lot, as I was able to scrape off a few pounds of glue. The stuff that's left is fairly dry (tackless), so I thought I could sand the rest off.

I rented a 'floor maintainer' (honking big buffer) from HD today and some #16 sandpaper based on the advice of the rental guy. This did help, but some spots are not as good as others. It kinda looks like someone was at the floor with a power chisel in the past to take out some high spots. So the sander can't get at these of course. I really wanted to reseal the floor, but that's not going to happen without renting a scarifier or using paint thinner. Wow, I did not expect that sander to be such a beast to handle.

I'm either going have the floor redone with that fiberfloor (fiberglass & vinyl) or just plain old vinyl. The floor WILL be glued down and not just loose fit, so how clean does it have to be to lay the new floor?

[crokett]

By 'clean' do you mean dust or the glue that is still down? If the glue that is still down is that well stuck and is relatively flat, don't worry about it. The new glue will stick to the old. I pulled up some linoleum in our kitchen 2yrs ago and put down glue-down wood. I got the worst/loosest glue up before putting the wood down and it is still down 2 yrs later.

[cabinetman]

If the surface isn't smooth, the imperfections may read through non rigid flooring.
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[Bill Stock]

By 'clean' do you mean dust or the glue that is still down? If the glue that is still down is that well stuck and is relatively flat, don't worry about it. The new glue will stick to the old. I pulled up some linoleum in our kitchen 2yrs ago and put down glue-down wood. I got the worst/loosest glue up before putting the wood down and it is still down 2 yrs later.

Yeah, the leftover glue. I'll likely run along the walls with the half sheet sander, as the this is where it's the worst.

Thanks.

[Bill Stock]

If the surface isn't smooth, the imperfections may read through non rigid flooring.
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I have a few nail holes to fill where the carpet edging came up, so I'll see what other spots might need some levelling.

[herb fellows]

As Cabman said, it will telegraph through on vinyl, which is pliable. I'm not familiar with fiberfloor, but I'm sure the same rule applies. If it's a stiff product, you'll probably get away with it.
If you have a small spare piece and aren't in too much of a hurry, you should tape the product you'll use over a 'bad spot' and weigh it down and have a look in a few days (it may not take that long).