I am removing old vinyl tile flooring from the 1980's that was glued down with a black adhesive that has an incredibly strong chemical odor. It doesn't contain asbestos, we had it tested. The subfloor is plywood. The smell is definitely coming from the adhesive because there is no smell at all until the flooring comes up. Can we apply the Hard Seal over the adhesive that's stuck to the subfloor to encapsulate the chemical off-gassing before installing the new wood floor? The last thing I want is for some horrible chemical reaction between this product and the adhesive. (Unfortunately we do have to remove the vinyl flooring rather than lay the new wood flooring over it because it's so uneven.) SAMPLE - AFM SafeCoat, Hard Seal Wood Stains & Sealers

Question

I am removing old vinyl tile flooring from the 1980's that was glued down with a black adhesive that has an incredibly strong chemical odor. It doesn't contain asbestos, we had it tested. The subfloor is plywood. The smell is definitely coming from the adhesive because there is no smell at all until the flooring comes up. Can we apply the Hard Seal over the adhesive that's stuck to the subfloor to encapsulate the chemical off-gassing before installing the new wood floor? The last thing I want is for some horrible chemical reaction between this product and the adhesive. (Unfortunately we do have to remove the vinyl flooring rather than lay the new wood flooring over it because it's so uneven.) SAMPLE - AFM SafeCoat, Hard Seal Wood Stains & Sealers

Status: Open May 26, 2020 - 03:36 AM

1answer

Answer

May 26, 2020 - 05:40 AM

We confirmed with AFM Safecoat that its better NOT to use the Hard Seal for this purpose. It was formulated for wood, so it would work great to seal the plywood, but who knows how it would react to the black mystery adhesive, if could make that smell worse, just like the "horrible chemical reaction" you are fearing. Our best suggestion is to apply Silicone Vapor Shield (a non-toxic vapor retarder) in between the two layers of plywood.