Hi Just received this enquiry through my website can anyone help?. Name: Craig Todhunter Email: xxxxxx Tel: xxxxx xxxxxx Message: I spoke to someone earlier in the week abou t the best way to remove bitumen from the base of reclaimed oak tiles. I would like the name of this product if possible. I did advise cellulose thinners but not so sure now that it would be strong enough! Dave
Hi Dave , welcome to the forum, i,m sure someone on here will give you the answer you are looking for!
We normally recommend to throw blocks, tiles into the freezer. Makes the bitumen brittle and easier to chisel off. Never try to sand it off it there's still loads left - will clog up the paper in seconds. As long as much as possible bitumen is removed (a "stain" is all that should be left over maximum) you can glue them down with modern adhesive, although the bonding time can take longer before you can start sanding. Oh, and welcome Dave!
I think the standard solution is to remove it mechanically - ie with a scraper or an old chisel. Hard work! Some find that chilling the blocks in the freezer helps as it makes the bitumen more brittle. Bear in mind that if the bitumen is very hard to remove, meaning it's well adhered to the blocks, then you can leave in on and glue them down using a bitumen-compatible adhesive (Lecol make one) or even more bitumen (F Ball still make a traditional modified bitumen adhesive)
Never happy to glue with bitumen related products and also never happy to trying to glue old bitumen residue on blocks to old bitumen residue on the underfloor. Effectively all you do then is bonding bitumen to bitumen, if that gets brittle (and it will) nothing bonds the blocks to the underfloor and you can start all over again. Better do it right the first time round and remove as much bitumen as possible. (Or if you buy reclaimed blocks online or from a reclamation yard, don't pay over the odd for blocks still caked with bitumen!)
