Remove adhesive residues from exposed concrete ceiling

I could cry and really hope that someone here can give me a tip. We have modern exposed concrete ceilings on the ground floor of our house. We masked them ourselves for the plasterer with foil and crepe tape. Then we thought – very clever – let's just leave it up for the painter as well, so he doesn’t have to mask the ceilings again. Unfortunately, the painter came more than a month after the plasterer... Well, when we removed the foil last week – the painter is now finished – I almost had a nervous breakdown: the tape left unsightly stains on the exposed concrete ceiling (see photo above). Unfortunately, these cannot simply be "rubbed off." It seems that the solvent from the adhesive has penetrated the porous concrete. Even my husband's attempt to sand the ceiling again only brought minimal improvement. What now?! I’m afraid to use common adhesive removers on our ceiling because I worry about causing even more damage with the oil they contain. I have already searched online half to death, but somehow nobody can help me. Maybe one of you knows an advice?! It just can’t be true that we have ruined our new ceiling because of this carelessness?! I am grateful for any help!

Have you ever called the bricklayer or the concrete factories and asked?

Regards Yvonne

My standard prefabricated elements as a base/form for the reinforced concrete ceiling looked exactly the same. Does a "Sichtbeton" differ in any way? We tiled and painted our ceilings, after that you don’t see anything like that anymore.

But the concrete should be seen! That probably leaves only the question to the specialist before you make it worse yourself.

Good morning,

have a look here:

Maybe you can benefit from the experiences of the user "One00"?

Rhineland greetings

Yes exactly, the concrete is supposed to be visible and is usually not further treated/ processed. We specifically paid for exposed concrete quality, for example, completely new formwork panels were used to make it as even as possible. Unfortunately, our contractor does not have much experience with exposed concrete. At least he couldn’t give us any advice. Experts in this field are somehow rare. I even contacted the manufacturer of the adhesive tape, but have not received any response so far... Wow, "One00" really took a risk - simply mixing paint into the primer?! I think my husband would object to that. It might blend a little, but since some of the adhesive areas are already very dark, unfortunately, you will probably still be able to see them. Still, thanks for the answers so far, and if anyone has any ideas - PLEASE!!