I am almost finished with my enclosed patio (sunroom). The old concrete slab that is the floor is, well,… old. It has drips of old house paint, new house paint, drywall joint compound, polyurethane adhesive,… all sorts of things on it. Is there a way to clean this thing? It is not covered with oily residues of the type you might have in a driveway.
It isn’t that big, only about 200 sf, so I can get on my hands and knees and soak and scrub it with a bristle brush, then mop up the wash water. Is there anything else I could do or should use? For example, how do I remove dried latex paint drips or oil-based paint drips?
I’ve been thinking of just rolling out an area rug to cover most of it. Still, the border would show and that’s where most of the messes are. I was also thinking of painting it but it has to be clean for the paint to stick. Then there’s the problem that once it’s painted it’s, well,… painted,… forever.
Any thoughts or help would be appreciated.
Replies
DW mud: Add a little DW soap to hot water. wet a rag andf lay on the mud. Lay some plastic over that and weight the plastic down with another rag. Wait 10-15 minutes, Scrape freshly wet mud up and scrub rest with brush and saopy water, picking up mud and water with Tiler's sponge.
Paint: dab brake fluid on latex, wait, scrape. Use oil paint remover on oil paint, dab, wait and scrape. Repeat both and use wire brush and sponge to get residuals up.
Polyurethane: Find a friendly farmer who'll give you some dynamite. Really, idunno.
To make it like new after you get it clean, wet mop it with a 3: mix of water and swimming pool acid. USE EXTREME ventilation. Keep floor wet for 5 minutes, then rinse with plenty of clean water, picking up as much liquid as possible. Repeat 10 times. Let dry.
Dampen the floor with water and apply a mix of 400-600 grit silica sand and portland cement at a 3:1 by volume ratio with a Black sponge float as thin as possible, making sure you leave no ridges. Really rub it in good. Mist the floor with water twice a day for 1 week. Only walk on it that week with clean white cotton socks.
sounds like some
good tips from that guy. More food for thought. Muratic acid can work. Power washing. Possibly a floor buffer w/ a stripping pad, too. I used one to help acid etch my concrete floors. ... which might be a consideration ... very nice. You can design tiles or a free form type of design to get a very nice affect and a host of colors to choose from. BUT ... you do have to have a pretty clean floor to do this as the acid etch can emphasize any of the 'flaws' you refer to.
I did acid etch for like 50 cents/SF. Very nice. FHB had a pretty good article on it as well ... and bet you could google some good stuff as well. A concrete/masonry supplier might have the acid stain and other products (your finish coat) you'll need. I got finish coat from my local lumber supplier ... it's just standard concrete sealer/finisher ... forget the right name for it.
There is no one method that will make a dent in the variety of junk on your floor. I'd pressure clean it first to remove any fairly loose stuff, scrape what's left with a heavy duty razor scrapper and go at anything that 's left with a 4" grinder and a flap wheel. At that point I'd go at it with the pressure cleaner again and then plan on applying an epoxy finish to make it look good again.
Concrete can be ground with a diamond blade on a mini grinder. It will make unbelievable quanities of dust, so put a box fan in the window and wear a mask.
Coarse wire wheel can help too.
slap cleaning
lots of accetone. scrup it forever. etch it with acid. scrup it forever. power wash if posible. done. lots of water to nuetralize the acid