Painting - Painting an old wood floor

I am remodeling a 50 year old house, and need to fix the side entry. The landing and step were most recently covered with carpet, which after removal shows that there must have been vinyle tile there at one time...thus my problem. There is still some old black glue that I can not remove. I have tried adhesive remover...citruse...and sanding...and still cant get it all up. I have decided, because of this, that I will just paint this landing and step...Can I paint over this stuff?.... Can I get it up?....I think the wood is oak (what I havent sanded up!)...Thanks for any help.

The adhesive that was used long ago could be almost anything. If you used adhesive remover, look on the can and see if it contains mineral spirits or some other petroleum distillate. If it does, then you may need something that is stronger maybe a ketone or something like that. You can get Methyl Ethyl Ketone or Acetone or other Ketones at store like Wall Mart. If the adhesive remover isn't anything like mineral spirits, see if mineral spirits will work. If that doesn't work and the adhesive is still on the step then I guess you can paint over it. The bad thing about painting a floor is that you can always see the spots that wear quickly because they need repainting sooner.
Usr a solvent based paint. I think it will last longer.