BLUE BEAR BEAN•e•doo Mastic Remover – Low-Odor, Soy-Based Adhesive & Carpet Glue Remover for Concrete – Removes Black Asbestos & Vinyl/Acrylic Mastics – Easy Cleanup – 5 Gal

I used this on the dreaded black mastic that is sticky and tar like and most likely has asbestos in it. It softened it up within a few hours and a second coat took off the last residue where it may have been thicker. This mastic had been down since the 50's I believe and now the floor is clean and ready for tile. I did use a degreaser after finished so the new tile would adhere well. I like the fact that it is hard to have airborne asbestos when it is all in a gooey liquid form so it seems quite safe. It smells a bit like citrus, pleasant and mild.

This stuff is awesome. Our house was built in 1970; the floor was an asphalt tile probably with asbestos. During the time the most popular mastic was black asphalt, which in some cases also included asbestos. After we decided to upgrade to tile and wood floors I found the Black Mastic under the entire floor tile. I did some research and found out the following. This product is used in hospital floors because it has little or no odor. Additionally, Asbestos cannot harm you unless it is airborne. Thus if you try to remove this mastic with a grinder you could get asbestos in your lungs. This product removes the black mastic by liquefying it thus no airborne problem. I bought it and used it and I was amazed because it loosened and liquefied the black mastic after letting it sit on the mastic about one or two hours. I noticed that someone complained about removing the liquidified black mastic and to overcome this problem on my floors by getting a lot of paper towel rolls and used them by spreading out the paper towels to soak up the old black mastic. Additionally, I used a pump sprayer with paint thinner to keep the old black mastic in solution. Once it appeared to be clean I washed the floor with liquid soap and water. When I was done the floor dried clean and we sealed the floor, where the wood floor was installed and we had the tile put in right on top of the floor I had just cleaned. I would recommend this product, it worked well, it is the only mastic remover I found that works well yet doesn’t smell up the house.

I needed to remove about 700 square feet of black mastic from 1967. First, tried two other products that weren't able to soften my mastic. I switched to the Blue Bear and it did the trick. I did my job by applying the wettest coat of Blue Bear that I could. I used 10 gallons for my 700 square feet of floor. I allowed it to sit overnight. In the morning, the floor was still wet in areas, but in other areas the mastic had absorbed the Blue Bear liquid. Next, I went over the whole floor with a rubber squeegee and collected all of the now liquified mastic in a bucket. After the squeegee work, a lot of thick mastic still remained, but it had been softened. I then rented a 17 inch floor buffer and bought 20 of the 3M black floor stripper pads. I also bought 7 gallons of Zep citrus degreaser concentrate to wet the floor and help with the cleanup. From there it was almost easy! I poured the degreaser concentrate right on the floor and used the machine to wet scrub the mastic. This method would remove about 4 square feet of mastic every 15 seconds. All of the liquid and mastic wound up soaked into the stripper pads. Once a pad filled up with sludge it would need to be changed. I easily used all 20 of my pads and wished that I had bought 5 more. I finished the main job in about an hour and then cleaned up the corners by hand with a steel wire brush. Finally, after two rounds of mopping with detergent, my floor was clean and ready to tile.

I’m iffy on my overall rating. To be clear, this worked wonderfully on cutback adhesive. I removed the VAT with a wallpaper steamer and a 6” drywall knife. In some areas, the tiles came off with essentially no effort. This was a mixed blessing: the more steam needed to remove the tiles, the less effort involved in removing the cutback (because most comes off with the tile). Alas, the converse is true: if the tile is easy to remove, the cutback is attached to the concrete, not the tile. (Also, a recommendation: put the tiles in very small cardboard boxes and then wrap the boxes in plastic— that will keep them from poking through the asbestos bags. When I say very small, I do mean very small, because those things are heavy in any quantity.). I used a 3/4” nap roller on a long handle to apply the mastic remover. The first application, I let it sit while I did something else. The second application, I walked around with a deck scrubber and scrubbed at every area where I’d applied the remover. The first time, I tried using a squeegee, but the concrete was uneven enough that the wide squeegee didn’t work well. (Also, one of the areas was a small bathroom in which maneuvering the squeegee was impossible— something I hadn’t considered.) The second time, I used a 7” floor scraper to move the liquid instead. That was more effective. In both cases, I ended up liberally covering everything with oildri quicksorb and then sweeping/vacuuming it up. The oildri worked wonderfully. I went after the floor afterward with the matching degreaser— which I’d give a low score. After two applications, there was still noticeable oily residue and smell. My third try was with Dawn dish soap, which seems to have been more successful. (Maybe the Blue Bear degreaser works better with a commercial floor scrubber?) The remover says it also works on carpet adhesive: let it sit 4 hours and use a scraper. My experience is that it doesn’t work on the carpet adhesive at all. Followed directions exactly; 0 carpet adhesive removed. (I can probably get it off with a steamer and scraper, but I was hoping for a miraculous success like the cutback.) I guess ultimately it depends on what you’re buying it for, and how much work you’re willing to put in. But! Learn from my experience: use a deck scrubber to agitate and a smallish floor scraper (instead of a large squeegee) unless your concrete is like glass.