The black sticky stuff is the "cut back" adhesive. Check to see if it has asbestos in it (it often did). Ask your remediation company why they left the cut-back adhesive in place. Part of your paying for remediation = full removal of all asbestos containing materials.

The residue can be tested ($100/sample) to see if it does contain asbestos. If it is CLEAN, now you go ahead and have someone grind off the cutback adhesive and begin the repairs to the concrete slab. Testing for moisture content is crucial for these types of floor coatings.

Your flooring professional (the one who is installing the coating) should be able to do all the testing and preparation required.

You may want to put the money into fixing the reason why you have 'water issues' in your basement and then go with a floor that is easier to install once the problems have been fixed.

We purchased this house and the basement was carpeted. Then had the water pouring in a window when the entire town was flooding so ripped out the carpet. that is when I found the black sticky substance. I read that to make sure the floor isn't a moisture issue to tape plastic down and see if water accumulates. Is that good enough for a test? Does the sticky substance have to be removed before applying the rhino flooring? I'm checking your answers with what the installer told me.

Thanks for your help!!!

The "sticky substance" is a problem. It must come up. The asbestos content MUST be checked before you grind it out.

The "plastic on concrete" moisture test is useless. It only works for BIG issues. Medium and moderate moisture issues = won't show a thing. But medium and moderate levels of moisture can wreak HAVOC on concrete epoxy coatings if not dealt with. Even if you tape plastic down, you are still only seeing 5% of the issue. The other 95% of the issue could be sitting in wait...ready to cause huge problems with an epoxy coating.

The cut back adhesive has to come up or be coated over. Here's the problem. If it has asbestos in it, there aren't any products on the market that will coat over it. If it does not have asbestos in it, it can be ground down to a 5% coating (small patches of product left over but most of it is removed). That small amount of adhesive can then be coated with a few different options. Moisture mitigation must be done PRIOR to the epoxy coating.

If it has asbestos, you can't coat it with anything. You can't grind it out. You can't strip it down. To get rid of asbestos you need to have a remediation company come in a do it for you ($$$).

The cement testing takes specialty tools/kits and used in the appropriate manner, over the appriopriate length of time and calculations made with the appropriate measurements. A concrete specialist (like someone who applies epoxy coating for a living), should be able to do this. And they should do it before they TOUCH your floor.

Hi. Did you go with the Rhino flooring? Are you happy with it?