Cleaning Stained Concrete Floor

[ransley]

won't

Call the conrete guy.

[Oren]

Squeeze half a lime onto a inconspicuous place and see it helps in cleaning the dust. Do not use Muriatic acid on stained concrete, imo.

There must be a reason the floor hasn't already been sealed?

[Edwin Pawlowski]

Drywall dust is ground gypsum. I don't think chemicals will do much good. I'd try a wet vac or carpet cleaner of some sort that puts down water and sucks it up. I've seen commercial scrubbers that do a fantastic job on concrete floors and it will probably work on yours if you get the right combo.

[Malcolm Hoar]

I think anything potent enough to react with drywall dust is going to make a real mess of the existing stained finish.

I'd focus on wiping, sucking, floating it off. I might try water with a little dishwasher rince aid or laundry detergent added as a wetting agent. Denatured alcohol might be worth a try too since it has good wetting properties even though it's rather volatile.

I do think disolving drywall dust is a loosing proposition.

[SteveB]

My house was built by a concrete man, so he put in textured stained concrete floors that look like slabs of rock. I like them and I don't. But we won't go into that.

We took out a wall to make room for the pool table, and we had some soffit work done to accommodate HVAC. During the process, drywall dust was dropped on the floor. We have vacuumed with a shopvac, a good vac with a HEPA filter, swept, mopped, mopped again, swept again and still there is a dull white film where there should be rust colored concrete.

I want to put a sealer on the floor, but not with this white stuff on there.

Has anyone cleaned these before? I have only tried vacuuming and mopping with regular cleaners so far, but it's still there. I am considering vinegar, diluted muriatic acid, or whatever other acid or alkali solution that may react with that dust and neutralize it or help it go into the mop water solution.

Help appreciated as always. Will definitely test small out of the way areas before doing the major part. We're going to put a three foot strip of carpet around the wall, so there will be plenty of places to test that will be covered.

Steve

[DanG]

It would be important to find out what type of sealer was used the first time. Water based/solvent based, breathable/non, gloss factor (not as important). You don't want to change families.

Good information here:

This page might also be of use: it is more about cleaning existing concrete prior to stain or other treatment.

[SteveB]

Call him what?