BLUE BEAR® 500MR BEAN•e•doo Mastic Remover – Professional Soy-Based Adhesive Remover for Carpet, Tile & Asbestos Mastics – Low-Odor, Non-Toxic, Safe for Schools & Hospitals – 1 Gallon

PROJECT: 58 year old black asbestos mastic under cracked, beat up, loose asbestos tile. WHAT I USED FOR THE MASTIC REMOVAL: - Blue Bear 500MR - Concrete degreaser from Rust-Oleum - Rubber disposable gloves - Cheap squeegee you can throw away - Cheap scrub brush you can throw away - Disposable shoe covers - Kitty litter - Metal dust pan - Lots of those strong blue shop paper towels. (Not the kitchen paper towels) SHORT STORY First Attempt: 2 hour soak time Result: .....Kinda worked, but not really. - Lots of water was still on the floor and my patience was wearing thin after I got the tile up, so I didn't spread the 500MR as well as I should have. - The added water from my tile removal diluted the 500MR so it wasn't close to it's full strength. Second Attempt: 12 hour soak time Result: Mastic Gone! - After cleaning up my first attempt, I reapplied the 500MR and very evenly coated the floor. - Let it sit overnight - Some scrubbing, kitty litter, and a couple rounds of degreaser gave us a mastic free floor! LONG STORY: Background: We just bought a house from 1960 and it has asbestos tile running throughout (tested). Not a big deal as we would just be covering it up with other flooring anyway. However the popcorn ceiling in the master and the compromised tile in the laundry room would not be a simple "cover it up and forget it" type of solution. We had the popcorn ceiling professionally removed and I went to work on the tile. After watching video after video about different ways to remove this black death tar adhesive, I finally decided to give the Blue Bear 500MR the starting position. It was a little spendy, but I liked the idea that it was biodegradable and their videos made it look so darn easy. Prep: After putting on my hazmat suit, gloves, goggles, respirator, and telling my wife I loved her, just in case I didn't make it out alive, I stepped into the plastic and duct tape sealed room, armed with a spray bottle, hand tools, and the 500MR. After two hours of spraying water, tile scraping, and muffled swearing into my respirator, the tile was removed and it was time for the 500MR to step up to the plate. Performance: At this point I was so frustrated with the tile that I didn't give the 500MR a setup that would lead to it's success. The floor was still soaking wet with all the water and I was about to burn the newly purchased home to the ground. I poured a little less than half the 500MR on the floor, spread it around (sort of), and got out of my astronaut costume so I could get into the makeshift decontamination shower. We went back to our apartment, had dinner, and I returned two hours later. The mastic remover did the best it could with my sloppy set up. All the water that I left on the floor diluted the 500MR so it lost some of its strength and my spreading job was lazy at best. After using kitty litter to clean up all the water and 500MR, I gave the 500MR the second chance it deserved. I reapplied the 500MR using mostly my hand in a rubber glove to very evenly spread it over every square inch of the cleaned up floor. I then left it over night and returned the next morning to a floor that was easily broken free of it's black mastic tomb with a scrub brush and some more kitty litter. A couple rounds of degreaser and the floor is sans mastic! Conclusion: What I thought was going to be the easy part, taking off the tile, ended up being the bane of my existence. And what I thought was going to be the hardest part of the job, removing the black mastic, was made extremely easy by the Blue Bear 500MR (as soon as I actually took the time to do it correctly). Things I learned that might help you: - Don't let the 500MR get diluted with water. It doesn't work as well. Just squeegee up the water before applying. It doesn't need to be dry (and shouldn't be dry if your dealing with asbestos), just free of standing water. - Kitty litter is awesome. Worked way better for me to make a little pile of litter and squeegee the 500MR/mastic soup toward the pile instead of spreading the litter around everywhere. Kitty litter gets pasty and not easy to push around when it starts soaking everything up. - Give it time. I was nervous that the 500MR would dry out if left too long on the floor. It didn't. This has a constancy something close to olive oil so I'm sure the longer it sits the more it soaks into the concrete. This will result in very easy mastic removal, but also more time spent with the degreaser and the concrete possibly being stained. So use your judgement to get a good balance of what's important to you. We are laying new flooring over the laundry room so we didn't care if the concrete was stained. - Wear shoe covers. The shoe covers will get soaked with oil/degreaser and will not protect your shoes from getting oily and tracking it everywhere, but they WILL prevent the tread of your shoes from getting CAKED with kitty litter paste which is not fun to remove. They are also cheap, easy to take off, throw away in your mastic trash bag, and swap with each stage of the process. - You will use so many paper towels. Get the good, thick, blue shop paper towels. Normal kitchen paper towels won't work. (Sorry Bounty) I hope this helps anyone with the mastic removal process. And please don't remove/mess with anything containing asbestos unless you are confident you can do it safely, responsibly, and dispose of it according to your local Department of Environmental Quality code. It's not worth the risk. That being said... This stuff is awesome.

This stuff worked like a charm! I had about 1200 sq ft area in one end of my shop that had been a temporary apartment while we built the house. After we had the house built, I remodeled the apartment area to keep just one room and the bathroom. The remainder went back to the shop. But, I had used the peel-and-stick carpet tiles and after removing them, there was a lot of adhesive remaining on the concrete. I want to paint the floor, so the adhesive had to go (besides, it was sticky and a pain to walk on). I tried the floor adhesive remover sold at Home Depot and Lowes both (two different brands). All they did was make a mess. I did some research, and apparently most carpet tile (and probably other floor tiles as well) use a pressure sensitive adhesive that is totally different from regular floor mastic. This was one of 4 products that I found in researching that would break down the pressure sensitive adhesives. I applied it with a acid brush and let it stand 4 hours. Then scraped the floor. The adhesive came up easily. after scraping all the adhesive out, I had an old Hoover floor-mate that I used to clean up the rest of the floor. After it dried, there was not a spot of adhesive anywhere. I did a little touch-up scraping around the corners and around the door, and the floor was clean as a whistle, ready to etch and paint. Be aware however, that if you use a floor scrubber/shampooer after scraping, the adhesive will still be in the stripper and it will dissolve in the water. Clean up of the machine can be a bit involved. In my case, I had an old machine that was on its last legs anyway, and as soon as I finish the shop I'm going to trash it. A mop and bucket would probably work too, but it would have been a bit more work.

I had 5 days to remove the black adhesive from 1950 floor tiles. I ordered this product and it came the next day. The directions were very clear and easy to use. At first I did a small area. I tested this product and another, this one was hands down. Within one hour, I was able to get the area up with no stubborn adhesive. The product does go a long way. I had 500 square feet to do. It did take me 3 days to do the project, but for an upper 50's woman I think I did great. The contractor was very impressed. He said most people get about 80% off, I got 98% off. I will recommend to wear clothing and shoes that can be tossed. The black adhesive turns into a black sticky gooey mess. There was no strong smell. The cleanup was easy. The product leaves a greasy mess. Hot water with a little bit of degreeser did wonders.

This stuff took off 67 year-old black mastic that had been used for asbestos tiles on our basement floor. (The mastic was checked for asbestos and had none.) We poured a generous amount on a section and let it sit for an hour before removing. It worked like a dream; it literally dissolved into a black, gooey mess. We used a floor squeegee and a shop vac to get it up off of the floor. If you don't mop up the residue right away, it is very hard to remove the stain (if you should get it on another surface besides the one you are using it on). I got some on the sole of my shoe and tracked it onto another floor and used a little bit of Comet cleaner and a soft rag and rubbed gently to remove the stain. I did get some on my pants, and they now have a black stain that I can't get out. So wear old clothes, old shoes, don't track it in your house and WORK IN SECTIONS. I can't stress that last part enough or you will have a big mess on your hands. This is a great product, you just have to be careful when mopping it up. Be prepared to replace shop vac filters as well.

This worked ok. Didnt take everything off but floor is smooth enough to work with now