# Cleaning a floor to prep for acid stain.



## Joasis (Mar 28, 2006)

The ICF home we are building caught a twist when the HO's decided to have acid stained floors throughout....and of course, we have drywall mud, dirt, etc that has been well trodden into the concrete. 

Had this been in the plan from day 1, we would have protected the concrete....but it wasn't, and I have recieved differing advice on the mosr practical way to get it clean and ready...so what do our resident experts think? Tips?


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## Tmrrptr (Mar 22, 2007)

*cleaning floors*



joasis said:


> The ICF home we are building caught a twist when the HO's decided to have acid stained floors throughout....and of course, we have drywall mud, dirt, etc that has been well trodden into the concrete.
> 
> Had this been in the plan from day 1, we would have protected the concrete....but it wasn't, and I have recieved differing advice on the mosr practical way to get it clean and ready...so what do our resident experts think? Tips?


 We just did one... and our circumstances just popped up the way yours did.. I wanted to do acid stain. NOT enough time. Couldn't get proper supplies locally, fast enough. So, went with what was available... @ HD ! Behr cleaner and scrubby brush on long handle. We diluted quite a bit, maybe a bit much, and scrubbed a lot. Flushed very well w mucho water and out the doorway w 24" floor squeegee. Fans and rags/broom, etched w behr stuff after a few hours, then flushed a LOT, same squeegee process and let dry for a day. Then we used the Behr acrylic semi-transparent floor stain. Coverage was 200ft per gallon. Applied w hudson type sprayer and rolled all over multi direction w course spongy texture roller. sprinkled a little more all over w sprayer for randomness effect. edges had been cut in w brush. Water cleanup was excellent.... no fumes, ez washup of tools. 5 days later, now. client very happy w finish and effect. we only applied 1 coat, and no sealer. behr etcher is phosphoric acid... not real strong. muiatic would have been stronger/more robust. pretty safe stuff to use, on the scale of things. We did use the same scrubby brush to agitate it on the floor. We used 12" paper masker w green laquer paper around walls. worked fine. ...back to the phosphoric etcher... we didn't apply it straight, maybe not even 50/50... and it left some blackness on the slab from the rough construction work... yet, that ended up as part of the overall effect, when completed. I think, I like it! One thing about Behr... it's available NOW, and they have dandy brochures you can show the client. ...Client has asked that additional room be done, same way. r


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## RhodesHardwood (Jun 28, 2010)

Acid etch the floor first


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## tsb (Jul 6, 2008)

acid etching a floor prior to an acid stain is normally not recommended to prep for an acid stain because it can "use up" a lot of the lime in the concrete possibly resulting in an unsatisfactory reaction of your acid stain.

muratic acid will etch the concrete providing "bite" for sealers to bond to and may remove some surface laitance, but they don't do much to remove surface contaminants.

Scrub with a tsp solution (trisodium phosphate) and vacuum up.


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## opiethetileman (Apr 7, 2005)

also here is a tip to dry the floors. Take that squggee ya got take a towel cut a hol in it slide it down the handle. And wham now you can dry the floor with out bending down. Its wht we do the dry off the floors int he dog kennels. works great


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## scployd (Jul 14, 2010)

*re: phosphoric acid*

Phosphoric acid (often what is sold as an "enviro" etching product is simply about a 20-40% dilution of phosphoric acid... again as in previous post regarding muriatic acid... acids will only profile by dissolving lime in the concrete..they do not remove contaminants, previous sealers etc... contrary to much advice revolving around prepping floors... but if you want a good wood brightener for wood restoration purposes,particularly to remove grayed oxidized areas or areas darkened from using High pH cleaners or strippers... phos acid is great... buy 75% strength and use 4oz per gallon of water... works better and is cheaper than any mass marketed wood brightener... and you can also add 2 oz of good strength quat ammonia disinfectant to same mix and brighten or neutralize and kill mold and mildew spores in same application... but as a concrete floor prep... you would be better off grinding prior to acid staining... giving some attention to how smooth a profile you need to avoid seeing swirl marks.

If you have animal fat contamination, e.g., restaurants, food prep areas, or petrochemical oil contamination, a better way than degreasers is to use KT Microbials, either FOG for animal fats or Surface for petrochemical. Rather than emulsifiying and dispersing grease/oil and still leaving a residue which can negatively affect adhesion of coatings, those products digest the grease, without leaving a residue. Don't know if that is considered a spam or not as I am new to forum, but I don't sell any of those products... just know they work very well.


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## NE Painting (Jul 22, 2010)

DO NOT ACID WASH PRIOR TO ACID STAINING.
Use trisodium phosphate (tsp) solution with water and commercial Scotch green pads or a rotory floor scrubber if you have one. You may also have to just get down there with putty knives and elbow grease and work to get that crap off.


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## NE Painting (Jul 22, 2010)




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