I have to remove icynene overspray from a concrete slab. We have tried scraper, concrete cleaner, power washer, and sand paper. We have made a lot of the yellow spots go away but there is a faint yellow shadow still on the concrete. Any advice. The scraping and sanding has left some marks. Will a concrete stain even out the marks. Has anyone had experience with this.
Thanks
Will
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Replies
Epoxy paint, or grinder.
I'm in a similar boat right now.
Ultraviolet light breaks it down. If it's indoors, use a sunlamp. Don't bake it, it's the light that does it.
Concrete is porous, and those pores contain water.
Since icynene is a "water blown" material, it is most probably hydroreactive in the uncured state. And, it is also probably hydrophilic in the uncured state and will "seek" water to react with.
Just an educated guess, but it has followed the pore water into the pores, reacted with the water, and is now there to stay.
Short of removing the top surface you will not remove it from the concrete, as it has completely filled the pores. And, reading the literature about how unreactive it is once cured, I couldn't hazard a guess as to a solvent that would break it down.
As was suggested earlier, paint may be the only option.
I suppose you could also scrape the slab with the guy who oversprayed it in the first place. If that stuff is ANYTHING like guerrilla glue, even remotely close... it isn't coming off.
Have you tried calling the installers to see what they recommend doing? They could probably give you a phone number to the manufacturer, too.
They have tried all options and they are stumped.
It isn't coming out. And, as I said before it is now part of the concrete.
But why remove it? Maybe someone can come up with an alternative surface treatment.
Is the floor going to be an exposed surface? Is it going to be an exposed acid washed surface?
I just ground the surface off the top of a 660 sf slab in about a day. Dry grinding with a 17" black pad on a big floor buffer. It went much faster than I expected it to but it was dye stained in the pour (shake-on) and I didn't have to go too deep, just surface smut, red clay, caulk, and latex paint.
Wish I'd worn a dust mask, I'm still hacking out the red concrete dust.
Finished it with two coats of urethane and it looks swell.
Michael
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"You cannot work hard enough to make up for a sloppy estimate."
Yesterday we tried a floor buffer with wire brushes to try to get joint compound and sprayed paint off a concrete floor, on the recomendation of the rental place desk guys. It sort of worked, got rid of the worst of it, but it's not perfect.
When I returned it, the guys in the yard said I should have used the grinding pads. Maybe that would work for you.