The mastic should be somewhat brittle which will make it relatively easy to scrape away, but don’t use a sander or grinder as this will wear the mastic down and actually make it a bit harder to remove. The reason behind this is that for stairs your flooring will be glued directly to the stair and this should not be done with the mastic remaining.īeside flooring over the top of the mastic you can remove it yourself using a scraper in order to keep within your budget. The problem with a floating floor is that you will not be able to easily match your stairs. Aside from carpet you will want to choose a floor that can be floated. As far as the mastic is concerned there are few options to look into. The goal line level of humidity in the air should be between 40 and 50% for a wood floor of any kind. I have try the plastic taped on floor test in a couple spots, and it was dry.Ī: That level of humidity isn’t too bad. My floor has the black mastic on it, but it is always dry. That problem has been corrected, and since then I bought the humidifier and meter, so it appears my basement is humid, even though it is dry (or at least appears to be). Finally I happened to be downstairs during a heavy rain fall, and notice where the water was coming from. But I had rain come in from my chimney trap door, that was coming onto the carpet (though I thought originally it was coming up from the drain, so I tore up my carpet to get to the drain (because it was covered with carpet), only to find out, that was not the source. To me it doesn’t seem humid, I never thought it was. I have purchased a humidifier that I have to empty every 24 -48 hrs. It has been ranging from High 40’s to High 60’s percent humidity. I did some follow up with Janet to address to moisture issue she mentioned and to ensure I gave the best advice possible. Any suggestions and/or recommendations would be very helpful as well. Perhaps doing one section of the floor then moving the stuff over onto it and then doing the rest of the floor. I was hoping for flooring that will not only hold the weight, but that it can be put on the floor right away. I know certain floors require that nothing can go on it right away. I have heavy exercise equipment and a desk that can’t be removed from the basement, during installation, without having to disassemble them. I forgot to add a couple of things to my questions below. I have been researching this and there are such differences of opinions, I don’t know what to do. I have read about encapsulating the mastic. Can you give me some options, and what type of underlayment and/or moisture barriers would be required for each option? I did have the black mastic tested for asbestos, and it came back with none. I would like something moisture resistant. My floor appears to be dry, though my basement is humid. What type of flooring would you recommend for concrete floor and wooden stairs with black mastic on it. So I would like to be able to cover the mastic. I have a limited budget and don’t have the extra money for removal of mastic or stair replacement. Some suggested I have a carpenter come and replace the stairs. Some suggested I just leave it and put new flooring over it. I got a few quotes on removing the mastic ranging from $1200 – $2500, some didn’t include the stairs. So we removed the remaining tiles, and now am left with black mastic on the concrete floors and wooden steps. When we pulled up the carpet there were 9×9 tiles that were stuck to the carpet. Q: I removed carpeting in my concrete basement and wooden stairs leading into basement.

Black mastic removal