Flooring Tile - polishing concrete floors

I own a condo and would like to end up with polished concrete floors. I have removed the carpeting and the padding, the tack boards around the edges and all the staples that I can find. The concrete appears clean / pourous /rough but of course, there are strings of glue left from the carpet layers gluing down the padding.

I am wondering how to remove this glue. I have used a putty knife to scrape up as much as possible, but where the concrete is particularly rough it would require some kind of solvent.

I have researched concrete products used to resurface or stamp concrete that can be applied as thin as 1/8". I am wondering if I could simply apply these products over the entire surface without having to remove the glue or if the glue has to be removed. In most areas the glue really is a string, but in one room it is more like a ribbon, up to two inches wide in places.

Any thoughts / suggestions would be most appreciated.

It's a little out of my area, but I would remove all the glue. You need some sort of mineral base solvent. You can start with paint thinner (which will cut it), and work your way from there. Check with the guy at a real paint store.

Topping concrete is a very trickey proposition.. That is, getting the topping to stick and stay there is tricky. You might be better off checking in with some people who do it all the time.

http://www.concretenetwork.com/