Cleaning Cement Floor

[Guest]

My garage floor is 20 years old, no finish ever applied.  It is dirty where the tires have run on it plus two small spots of oil.  What would you recommend for cleaning?

Has anyone ever had satisfactory service from a painted on finish?

Thank you in advance for your advice and/or opinions.

[kgreen]

Solvent and absorption pads on the oil spots then shot blast the whole thing. Be careful of a non permeable finish on concrete on grade as the soil born moisture will migrate through the concrete. Read product ads for this kind of finish with a good degree of skepticism 

[Rusty_OToole]

There are special detergents available for concrete floors. Hardware stores may have some, or garage supply places. I would go to the local Home Depot or lumber yard and see what kind of concrete floor paint they have, usually there are several to choose from, old fashioned paint to expensive epoxy paints. For a home garage the cheap stuff should work ok. The epoxy is bullet proof but quite pricy. They should know what to clean the floor with, before painting.

 

The first garage I worked at, we cleaned the floor once a week with kerosene, a push broom, and hose it off with the garden hose.Not recommended these days.

[keiser31]

Cat litter on the oil first and scrub some Simple Green on there. Dawn dish washing soap is good, too. That is what they use to clean ducks who have been oil spill victims.

Edited September 14, 2019 by keiser31 (see edit history)

[Terry Bond]

I want to know how you've only got two small oil spots after 20 years!

 

[Marty Roth]

4 minutes ago, Terry Bond said:

I want to know how you've only got two small oil spots after 20 years!

 

 

I wish I had two small oil spots on my garage floor.

instead of the one large - very large, - very very spread out large one.

[jackofalltrades70]

20 minutes ago, Terry Bond said:

I want to know how you've only got two small oil spots after 20 years!

 

No Buicks in your garage......

 

Matt

[Robert G. Smits]

Sign into "garage journal" and do a search.  I used Epoxy Cote on my garage floor 6 years ago and very satisfied with the result.  Applying it myself cost $4/sq ft.  You will have to diamond grind the floor prior to application.  You can rent the machine at Home Depot.  An alternate is to acid etch which I found unsatisfactory.  Excellent instruction videos at Epoxy Cote web site.  Epoxy Cote is a commercial petroleum based product as compared to water based products found at box stores.

[Guest]

27 minutes ago, Terry Bond said:

I want to know how you've only got two small oil spots after 20 years!

Interestingly my wife's '98 Malibu and then her '08 Sonata both supposedly leaking at the front seal, according to the dealers.  Never found a spot under either car and never ever had to add oil between changes.

My 1930 Pontiac only had two small leaks (timing cover seal and rear main bearing).  Two small trays with an absorbent pad caught the drips.  Not enough to have to add oil between changes.  Once the pads were getting soaked I pulled the engine and rebuilt it.

[Guest]

7 minutes ago, Robert G. Smits said:

Applying it myself cost $4/sq ft.

I will probably just clean what I have and leave it.   In 20 more years I will be almost 100 and probably won't care anymore.  At 588 square feet that is quite a charge, probably worth it but not at this stage of my life.

 

Thanks for all the information guys.

[Robert G. Smits]

Sorry, the $4/sq ft was a commercial estimate, doing it myself was $0.50 per sq ft. 

[Guest]

Just now, Robert G. Smits said:

the $4/sq ft was a commercial estimate, doing it myself was $0.50 per sq ft.

Well then I know an old coot who just might try it himself.

[Robert G. Smits]

Go for it,  I was 73 when I did my floor and wouldn't hesitate to do it again.  Garage Journal and the web site provided excellent assistance.

[Lebowski]

1 hour ago, keiser31 said:

Cat litter on the oil first and scrub some Simple Green on there. Dawn dish washing soap is good, too. That is what they use to clean ducks who have been oil spill victims.

 

Grind the cat litter into the oil stains with your shoes and they will come up pretty easily. Several years I botched an oil change (don't ask) and ended up with 5 quarts of oil on my concrete garage floor. I put on an old pair of boots and had it all up in an hour or so with no stains. We have 3 cats so we already had 20+ pounds of litter. Good luck....

[51dyno]

Sounds like the oil pan plug fell out .

[Spinneyhill]

I epoxied our garage and my workshop floor. Major advantages include spills being easy to wipe up and there is no dust. Bare concrete continues to give off dust every time you sweep it, for a long time.

[Robert Street]

13 hours ago, Terry Bond said:

I want to know how you've only got two small oil spots after 20 years!

 

 

He probably doesn’t own either 348 or 409 car especially with power steering😬

Robert

[Frank DuVal]

16 hours ago, Terry Bond said:

I want to know how you've only got two small oil spots after 20 years!

 

You certainly are not trying hard enough! Do some work in there and , oops,  oops,   oops,   will happen! My garage floor looks like Marty's I'm sure! Actual work = mess, no matter how hard I try......😁

 

When the concrete was fresh, they suggested a clear spray on coating, with some grit in it for traction. That dissolved with the first gasoline, lacquer thinner, acetone,  or brake clean that was used in that area.....🙄

 

So I get up the fresh oil spills, typically using old fashioned oil dry - saw dust from the table saw. Yes, do be careful, it was a major source of promoting fires in industry until cat litter style oil dry came along. Sawdust does not cause a fire, but adds fuel to it....😲  Then I live with the dry stains.....   oil stains, wood stain stains, paint stains, etc etc etc.😉

[CHuDWah]

20 hours ago, keiser31 said:

Cat litter on the oil first and scrub some Simple Green on there. Dawn dish washing soap is good, too. That is what they use to clean ducks who have been oil spill victims.

 

 

I wash my cars with Dawn before waxing - removes old wax, which is basically grease.  Course, test it on an inconspicuous spot first.

[CHuDWah]

20 hours ago, Marty Roth said:

 

I wish I had two small oil spots on my garage floor.

instead of the one large - very large, - very very spread out large one.

 

 

The obvious solution is to coat the whole floor with oil. 

[CHuDWah]

18 hours ago, 51dyno said:

Sounds like the oil pan plug fell out .

 

 

Or forgot to put it back in.  Never did that with an oil plug but forgot to close a radiator petcock once - lost a couple bucks worth of fresh antifreeze before I got it closed.

[keiser31]

Just now, CHuDWah said:

 

 

Or forgot to put it back in.  Never did that with an oil plug but forgot to close a radiator petcock once - lost a couple bucks worth of fresh antifreeze before I got it closed.

Working at Firestone my first day....change the oil in a customer's car. As I was putting the oil in I started sliding all over the place. I had forgotten to reinsert the oil drain plug. Messy AND expensive lesson learned.

[Marty Roth]

18 minutes ago, CHuDWah said:

 

 

The obvious solution is to coat the whole floor with oil. 

 

CHuDWah,

Yup !

That seems to be a really slick solution

Edited September 14, 2019 by Marty Roth (see edit history)

[kgreen]

Baking soda works better than cat litter. Smaller particles with great affinity for absorption. Spread it, let it sit, broom it around then sweep it up and dispose of it. 

[JACK M]

I put the dark and light tiles like a grocery store has on my shop floor.

I have one of those scrubber machines that one needs to balance perfectly or it will drag you across the shop in a hurry.

I clean it with Simple Green and use the same sealer that the stores use after it dries. Expensive yes, but I think it was worth it in the long run.

The nice thing about a good clean floor is that I may not hesitate crawling if I have to and if I get a few drops of oil (often) it wipes right up. But it doesn't like gasoline spills. No permanent damage but I get worried when I see the adhesive bleeding up thru the seems.

 

[keithb7]

I placed an original 1938 engine on a stand today in my shop. I tore it down. It had lots of sludge from non-detergent oil use over its life. An outer layer or dust and crust, a soft creamy sludge centre. It falls like dried dirt on the shop floor until you step on it. Then you drag it everywhere. What a mess. I was on my knees scraping off the floot what I could. Then a degreaser and shop towels.  

 

Edited September 15, 2019 by keithb7 (see edit history)

[nick8086]

I got a bid to do a granite epoxy garage floor. Not sure about the 4500.00. That is a lot of money, It may look nice.. But a pan or cardboard is OK also.. 

[Brooklyn Beer]

Acid concrete stain and 3 coats of sealer. Love the marbling look. Just be sure to roll stuff around the floor and not drag it.  But being the acid transforms the minerals in the concrete and stains them, a roller with sealer fixes up the scratch. If it is a deep gouge that gets 1/2 inch deep just hit with a little stain and seal. Acid staining for me is the way to go.  And the colors are endless. No two floors will come out the same due to the differences in mineral content.  An 850 sq ft garage will cost you less then 400 bucks to get this result doing yourself over a weekend

[ron hausmann]

Sorry, but have to comment in the interests of civil engineering purity - - - - -  

      There is no such thing as a “cement floor.”

      It is a “concrete floor “.

      ”Cement “ is the finely ground powder that you mix aggregates and sand and water together with to form “concrete”.

      So unless your floor is powder, you have a “concrete” floor, not a “cement floor”.

     Ron Hausmann P.E. (Civil)

 

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, ron hausmann said:

Sorry, but have to comment in the interests of civil engineering purity - - - - -  

      There is no such thing as a “cement floor.”

      It is a “concrete floor “.

      ”Cement “ is the finely ground powder that you mix aggregates and sand and water together with to form “concrete”.

      So unless your floor is powder, you have a “concrete” floor, not a “cement floor”.

     Ron Hausmann P.E. (Civil)

My apologies Ron.  I did know that and I often correct people on their misuse of the English language.  When errors are repeated enough times one sometimes fall into the same misuse.  Thank you for the refresher.

[ron hausmann]

Tinindian - not trying to be a smart a—s. Just thought to add this kernel of trivia. Those words are often misused.

ron

[plymouthcranbrook]

Although certainly not something I would ever suggest you do when I was a young gas jockey there was one of my co workers who swore by (wait for it) battery acid.  He would spread acid on the floors of the repair bays and then wet them down. Scrubbing until the oil and grease was dissolved, then wash down the drain.  Warm weather project as the bay doors had to be open.  He did it a couple of times before meeting the fate of all Bub Wade’s employees. Fired for something or other

[Spinneyhill]

Concrete is alkaline. Acid will attack the cement slurry between the aggregate and sand particles. It may also be detrimental to the reinforcing (mesh?) if it is near the surface of the concrete, like sea water is, if left on the concrete for very long. I would use a degreaser of some sort, but not a solvent, which would carry the oil in further.

 

An acid wash is used to produce the "raised aggregate" concrete finish.

[Restorer32]

After 28 years our paint booth has accumulated maybe 1/4" of overspray on the floor. Obviously we clean the walls and ceiling each time we use it but the concrete floor not so much.  In some places you can scrape the paint off with a putty knife. We are thinking of having it shot blasted. 

[JACK M]

Don't they use acid on new patios and such to get that look?

You know, the ones that show the stones after they wash the top skin from the surface?

[Bloo]

Not exactly. The exposed rock effect is called "Rugasol", and I have a bunch of it around my house that was poured in the early 60s. The chemical retards the hardening of the surface of the concrete, and IIRC you wash the top bit off after the rest of the concrete cures, exposing the rocks.

 

I just looked the chemical up, and not surprisingly they wont tell you whats in it, even on the sds, but it has a ph of about 6.5, so not much of an acid.

 

Rugasol.pdf

[plymouthcranbrook]

20 hours ago, Spinneyhill said:

Concrete is alkaline. Acid will attack the cement slurry between the aggregate and sand particles. It may also be detrimental to the reinforcing (mesh?) if it is near the surface of the concrete, like sea water is, if left on the concrete for very long. I would use a degreaser of some sort, but not a solvent, which would carry the oil in further.

 

An acid wash is used to produce the "raised aggregate" concrete finish.

What he said.  Left a nice clean white finish that lasted until the next spill.  I think it wasn’t done enough times to heart any thing.  

[Spinneyhill]

Another brand of exposed aggregate spray is Solomon Surface Deactivator. It has pH 1.5-2.5, similar to vinegar. Its active ingredients are Tartaric and/or citric acids and chloromethyl isothiazolone. 

[MochetVelo]

10 hours ago, Restorer32 said:

After 28 years our paint booth has accumulated maybe 1/4" of overspray on the floor. Obviously we clean the walls and ceiling each time we use it but the concrete floor not so much.  In some places you can scrape the paint off with a putty knife. We are thinking of having it shot blasted. 

 

You might have a Mother Lode of "Detroit Agate" there (or "Glen Rock Agate")

 

 

[60FlatTop]

I have a roll of nice, high quality, vinyl Linoleum that has been in my garage for the past ten years. It is left over from relocating our bathroom and building a laundry room, Last week I mentioned to my wife that I was going to do a small area of the garage with it. After ten years NOW it's a big deal to use that precious stuff on the garage floor.

 

And she wonders why we don't have conversations any more.

Bernie