Concrete

[Jim Morrison]

A customer contacted me about cleaning 1700 sq ft of new concrete. I don't know what you call the effect but it isn't a smooth surface, it has a mottled look to it with shallow dimples and gullies in it. They are building a house and had the concrete acid stained with 1 coat of acrylic finish. Before they got poly down some of the contractors tracked mud and dirt onto 1/3 of the area.The homeowner left the dirt and covered the concrete with 6 mil poly.

The rest of the contractors did their work (electrical, plumbing, drywall). Now they would like the concrete cleaned so the final coat/s of acrylic can be applied.

The dirtiest area is the mechanical room where the plumber did a bunch of work before the poly was put down. There is dirt and grease on the floor in that area. Otherwise it will be minimal construction debris cleaning for the bulk of the job.

I am a newcomer to hard surface cleaning with 1 tile & grout cleaning to my name. The equipment I have is a tm, turbo hybrid, and some chems ( prochem powerburst, oxyblaster). I was thinking of pre spraying with some powerburst and scrubbing it up with a stiff bristtled shop broom before rinsing with a leaned out acid fiber rinse.

Would a citrus based spotter be safe for removing grease? I am unsure how to price this job also, I know how to price carpet cleaning, is there a comparative price between carpet & concrete?

Any help would be appreciated.

Jim

 

[ACE]

It shouldn’t take much to clean. If you get to aggressive with PH, Heat or PSI you could strip that acrylic finish off. Vacuum, then I would scrub the soiled areas with a soft deck brush or soft bush on a 175 or CRB with neutral cleaner then mop it up. You might try pine sol it’s a degreaser that won’t strip finish.

 

[Mikey P]

Play it safe and use a neutral pH floor cleaner, a scrub brush and your worn out glided wand.


Our your Turbo at about 600 psi tops.


The Citra Solve should be ok on the grease but you may need to poultice it to get it all out.

 

[Walt]

Play it safe. Pictures would help.

Acid staining only goes down so deep. If you get aggressive with your turbo, you could easily remove some of it. Depending on how it was applied and how the concrete was finished, the acid stain could be much more fragile then you'd think. The smoother the surface the more fragile. If it was stamped concrete (and likely porous), you are probably okay.

Look out for where they taped the poly down to the floor. If they used anything other than blue painters tape it will remove some of the acrylic and some of the color. If they try to fix it, it will probably be a lot darker. point that out before you start.

If it's fairly smooth I'd mop on some diluted simple green and rinse with your turbo (gently). You might have to use a deck brush on the worst areas to scrub the cleaner in.

 

[RThode]

I do some work with a concrete polishing company in here and the number one rule of cleaning any kind of polished concrete is NEVER use a citrus based cleaner. All of the information I've seen from the various manufacturers of sealers and other concrete products is that it will instantly void the warranty. I'm not sure why, but all the warranties seem to read the same.

Any kind of neutral soap that you use to mop a VC tile floor should be fine. There is a product i use here called K-400 that works great on this kind of floor and also removes the grease really well at just a slightly stronger dilution.

mix up a big mop pail with your solution. lay the floor liberally with the solution and run your cimex with the grey pads through the solution. If you don't have grey, beige will be ok. pick up the solution with mop or vacuum. Rinse floor. you're ready to go.

Rick Thode