Getting ready to coat your concrete floor? Do This First:

Clean concrete and remove oil, grease, and other chemicals - safely

06-28-2017

Article 4 of 5 in a series

The two primary pitfalls that cause concrete floor coatings to fail are the presence of moisture and inadequate surface preparation.

In this series, so far, we've covered Step 1, testing for moisture, and Step 2, repairing your concrete floor. Once those steps are complete, the concrete floor is ready to be cleaned. However, there's more to cleaning concrete than a good scrub.

Contaminants, sealants and previous treatments prevent a new coating from taking hold, and must be removed. The first order of business, then, is to test for the presence of anything other than concrete on its surface.

1) Check for oil, grease, and other chemicals. Dark spots are often an indicator of oil and grease. Even if there are no spots on your concrete floor, you'll still want to perform this simple test, to identify sealants or other treatments that may contaminate the surface:

Place a few drops of water on the concrete. Since concrete is porous by nature, the water should soak into the concrete. If, instead, the water droplets "bead" on the dark spots, oil or grease is present and must be thoroughly cleaned.

If water beads elsewhere, a sealant or other treatment may be present. Removing these will be covered in the Profiling Article.

2) Blot up any excess oil. Before applying a cleaning agent, cover grease stains with a layer of absorbent material to soak up excess oil, such as sawdust or concrete degreaser or stripper. Leave the material on the floor for at least one day.

3) Thoroughly sweep the area to be coated with a push broom with rigid bristles, to remove the absorbent material, as well as any dirt and loose debris. The floor is now ready to be cleaned, and any stains removed.

4) Apply a cleaner and degreaser. For the health of your contractors, facility inhabitants, and the environment, we recommend working with a non-toxic, biodegradable cleaner and degreaser with low VOCs (volatile organic compounds, which can irritate eyes and skin). CPC™ Degreaser is a heavy-duty, citrus-based concrete stripper and degreaser that's easy to use, yet powerful enough to erase heavy dirt buildup, tire marks, oil spills, grease, hydraulic fluid and other contaminants. Did we mention, it smells like oranges?

Apply the degreaser over the entire floor, allowing it to soak for 20 minutes (or longer, if removing curing compounds). Work the degreaser in with a stiff broom or floor buffer. After scrubbing, rinse thoroughly with water, then vacuum or squeegee dry.

Finished! Your concrete floor is now ready for the next Profiling Article.

Wondering whether your concrete floor is ready to coat? Let our experts answer your questions and guide you step-by-step through the solutions unique to your concrete coating project. Click here to schedule a complimentary, no obligation consultation.