I have acid etched radiant heat concrete floors that I love. I did the staining myself and then sealed them with polyurethane. Wrong choice! Everything scratches the surface and then dirt gets to the concrete making the tile look that I have created look mottled and eternally dirty. I have tried a chemical stripper on a small area but it is very slow and really plays havoc with my asthma. I have about 800 sq ft to do. Luckily I did not use the same product throughout the house. Driveway sealer works much better with a good commercial floor wax that needs buffing occasionally on top of that.
What can I use to remove the poly? What can I use to get the ground in dirt out of the concrete?
Thanks.
Replies
have you tried the other sealer right on top? You may be able to scuff the poly lightly and seal over. Other than that you should me wearing a respirator rated for organic solvents for the chem strip, and I dont know if you will get all of it.
Maybe ask in Breaktime, or Knots may have a chem that will loosen poly, but its still a chem.
Thanks Zendo, I find that the first sealer scatches so easily that I doubt that it would hold up with another layer over it. Then I still have the problem of where the first one scratched and the concrete got dirty but the rest around the unscratched sections didn't. I need some way to either get the dirt out or even out the obvious scratches marks left by grime.
your question kind of got burried before anyone picked up on it, if you posted this to breaktime you would probably have more response ideas then you can keep up with.
the other trick is write it to yourself and it stays in unread and on top
Muriatic Acid will clean anything off concrete. However the fumes are awesome.
Check your local paint stores for Orange stripper. It's more expensive than other strippers but has very mild fumes. I've also found it to be a better stripper than the others. Paint it on your poly and let it sit for as long as you can stand, at least 30 minutes. The poly should come up with a plastic scrapper.
Please do not use muriatic acid! It will not remove poly, it will cause any metal objects in your house to corrode and the fumes can kill you.
Thanks Rick, I've always been leary of Muriatic Acid plus any acid on an acid stained floor would prclude restaining it at a future date. I'll try the orange stripper. T....
He never came back and this message keeps coming up on my unread messages to me.
How bizarre. I've seen that when someone deletes a message to me before I've read it, but never on one that's addressed to someone else.It should time out after 90 days.
The darn thing wont go away. lol
thanks,
zen