cleaning salt from garage floor?

[iahawkz4]

this is sort of a detailing question - any ideas how to remove salt residue from the garage floor? After a long winter I finally hosed out my garage floor this weekend and scrubbed it with some Simple Green.

My problem is that I still have powdery salt stains around all my relief cuts in the concrete. It almost looks like the efflourescence (sp?) you get on brick walls.

I thought the water and scrubbing with the detergent would remove this but it didn't. Any tricks that you guys use?

[rockhopjohn]

Maybe a little CLR? It usually does pretty well on those sorts of things. I am guessing that what you have isn't salt, but some product of a reaction between road salt and the concrete in your floor. Anyway, something slightly acidic like CLR might help, I would spot test it first to see what happens.

[WtMtns]

Try a bottle of cheap vinegar. I know it works on carpets and it should work on a garage floor. You might want to have a box of baking soda handy to neutralize the vinegar.

[iahawkz4]

thanks, guys, I guess that makes sense that it'll take a mild acid to clean it up.

I'll give it a try.

I was trying to get the garage all cleaned up in anticipation of getting my wife's Outback in the shop on Thursday for an oil change and to get the winter wheels and tires (Blizzak WS60's, awesome) replaced with the factory tires and rims.

Gotta park it in a clean garage, right?

[skipjack]

Any thoughts on painting the garage floor? It really makes a big difference, at least perception-wise as to how clean the garage can be....

[rockhopjohn]

Painting a garage floor is a huge commitment to maintenance. Sure it looks great initially, but if you do it wrong it will turn to crap the first time you pull the car in the garage on a hot summer day. Best case scenario, you spend 500 bucks every 5-7 years to redo it with the good stuff, worst case scenario, half of it peels up within in a year and you have a huge mess on you hands (which is the most common scenario).

[bikerboy]

I hope I'm not derailing the thread, but in the same manner as salt stains, does anyone know how to remove oil and oil stains from concrete? My mom's van has been dripping oil for a number of years, and have had other leaky cars parked in the garage.

I generally keep my garage (2 car) extremely clean, but I want to do something about the floor. When it gets warmer out, I think I'm going to try putting down one of those epoxy floors and see how it turns out.

[iahawkz4]

I dream about having a beautiful, epoxied garage floor, but it'll probably remain a dream. I don't really want to go through all the prep work (I'm pretty anal about that stuff so I would probably end up killing myself over a weekend getting the floor prepped).

I sure don't want to pay someone the big bucks it would cost to do it for me so it will probably remain a dream.

Not to change subjects but does anyone have any real life experience with epoxied garage floors, good or bad?

[rockhopjohn]

Originally posted by iahawkz4
I dream about having a beautiful, epoxied garage floor, but it'll probably remain a dream. I don't really want to go through all the prep work (I'm pretty anal about that stuff so I would probably end up killing myself over a weekend getting the floor prepped).

I sure don't want to pay someone the big bucks it would cost to do it for me so it will probably remain a dream.

Not to change subjects but does anyone have any real life experience with epoxied garage floors, good or bad?

I worked for Home Depot in the Paint Dept for 5 years, and sold a variety of products for painting concrete floors, and worked with a number of them in the dept (we painted the floor behind out desk are with several different products to try them out).

There is the run down from worst to best.

Worst: 1-part water based products (i.e. Behr 1-part epoxy garage floor paint $30 per gallon) - even with the best prep, don't expect more than a year or so out of them in a garage before you have considerable peeling.

2-part water based epoxy (i.e. Rustoleum 2-part water based garage floor coating $50-60 per gallon) - with good prep you might get 2-3 years before serious peeling begins, but won't hold up to impacts, such as dropping tools, paint buckets, etc, that will not the paint right off.

Xylene based concrete stains (i.e. H&C Concrete Stain [must be xylene based] $20-25 per gallon) - requires tedious preparation, and can only be used on unsealed concrete, but holds up well if applied properly, usually lasts 6-8 years.

2-part xylene based epoxy (i.e. Rustoleum Industrial 2-part epoxy $100 per gallon) - applicable to a wider variety of surfaces, including surfaces that have already been sealed. Still requires proper prep, but will hold up quite well, usually lasts about 5-8 years.

Best: 2-part xylene based fiberglass reinforced epoxy (limited availabilty $150-250 per gallon) - much like non-fiberglass reinforced products, but has an extended durability, usually holds up for 7-10 years.

A gallon of any of these materials is good for about 200-250 square feet (1 coat on a single car garage floor), so if you have a double car garage don't be surprised if it take 4-5 gallons to do it right. All of them require meticulous prep (thorough degreasing and acid etching), and application (multiple thin coats applied quickly and consistently with in the working time of the epoxy) for them to hold to the mentioned time frames.

[iahawkz4]

rockhopjohn - great description of the various types of epoxy.

Is it possible to repair a partially peeled floor or are you SOL?

Would the entire floor need to be stripped and recoated?

Instead of an epoxy coating are there any good clear coatings available?