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Getting 1 part Expoxy paint off of concrete floor?

by Trish
(Paragon, IN, USA)

Q. I recently painted my basement floor with 1 part epoxy paint. Unfortunately, after all the work preparing the concrete, some areas still chipped up. In addition, I added "anti-skid" to my paint. This has made the floor really difficult to clean, since the surface is no longer smooth.

I have a small bathroom in the basement (that I painted as well) and I would now like to put down vinyl floor tiles. I'm pretty sure they won't stick to the paint. Do you think I could sand that paint off enough to get the tiles to stick?

I am trying go to for the most environmentally friendly way here to remove the paint. I have small dogs and birds in the basement and I can't risk all the fumes of a chemical strip.

Can I sand the paint off of this small area (about 6X6 sq2 ft)? Could I use a belt sander? ( I realize this is labor intensive)...

I know I could use sheet vinly (the glueless type) , but I like the design of the vinyl tiles.

Any thoughts on how to fix this mess would be appreciated.

A. You have a few choices. You can strip it mechanically with a grinder or shotblast machine(both can be dustless) or you can strip it with environmentally safe chemical strippers. The quickest method is to rent a grinder, hook it to a vacuum, and spend a few hours grinding. The hard part is getting the machine down the stairs.

There are soy based strippers that will loosen the paint which you can then scrape up. There are contractor supply stores in Indy that have it(Jobsite Supply). I live in Indy so I know this. The soy strippers are fairly expensive but they work and have no harmful fumes.