Sunday, March 1, 2009

Concrete Floor Cleaning

By Mercie Hallow

Concrete cleaning is a process that needs to be regularly maintained in order to attain a beautiful concrete surface always. There are many methods known to men on how to clean a concrete surface. Because of the natural appearance of concrete it is oftentimes hard to tell if it is dirty or not. Dirt in acid stained concrete is even harder to see because of the concretes natural earth tone color.

Dust, dirt and grime are the easiest to clean since power washing can effectively do the trick. A mixture of water and house detergent or soap is enough to clean these types of dirt. The mixture is then poured inside the power washer. A power washer is a pressurized water system that goes out of a nozzle.

Oil and grease stains are harder to remove since they cannot be removed through a simple water and soap mixture. Hot water should be poured onto the grease to lift it off the surface. Alkali degreasers are then added that emulsifies the grease which makes it possible to wash down by a power washer. Some floor contractors use alkali degreasers in cleaning simple dirt and dust since these can be oily too.

Paints are the hardest to remove since they tend to adhere more to the concrete surface. A potassium hydroxide cleaning agent should be used to remove paint stains. However, this type of cleaning agent tends to be too aggressive. A citrus-based solvent can be used instead which is less aggressive. A potassium hydroxide cleaning agent should be allowed to settle for a few hours before power washing.

Paints can also be removed by using an instrument of tungsten-carbide nozzle that shoots out sand together with the stream of water. This type of cleaning instrument tends to put little dents on the concrete surface because of the pressure from the water with sand mixture. A new instrument was the introduced which has softer sodium bicarbonate adhesives in power washers. - 15615

About the Author: