Cleaning a garage floor

[WhiteLightning]

Hey all. Just joined this forum since I just bought my first house. I have a question about cleaning the floor.

I have a 1.5 bay garage. The full bay goes the depth of the house. The half bay is full width, half depth. In that area they put 12" x 12" carpet tiles on the floor. Needless to say, they were filthy/damp/etc. When I pulled them up to throw them out, the carpet tiles left "square" marks, and underneath each tile was signs of mold/mildew.

My question is, what is the best way to clean this floor to make it
1. Sanitary- remove mold/mildew
2. Clean looking- remove any "square" marks, if possible.

Thanks for looking!

-Andrew

 

[WhiteLightning]

34 views and not one recommendation?!?

 

[daveroy]

What was the floor surface before you put down the carpet tiles... This will have a lot to do with what you should clean it with.

The first thing I would do is get a 50% mix bleach and water and mop it (real wet) and let the bleach kill any mold/mildew that may still be 'active'...

 

[uncletater]

Try this. (ZEP concrete cleaner with citrus smell) I have used it and it has a good smell but do keep the door open and try setting up a fan.

 

[WhiteLightning]

What was the floor surface before you put down the carpet tiles... This will have a lot to do with what you should clean it with.

It was bare concrete before the previous owner installed these carpet tiles. The concrete appears to be in good shape, just has all of these markings on it.

I'll try the bleach and water tonight to see what happens. I'm headed to the hardware store after work so I will see what they say and see if they offer the ZEP or similar.

Thanks!

 

[2fat2fly]

My question is, what is the best way to clean this floor to make it
1. Sanitary- remove mold/mildew
2. Clean looking- remove any "square" marks, if possible.

Thanks for looking!

-Andrew

Scrub it with bleach. Since it's a new house to you, you have no idea what's been on the carpets, or what chemicals the previous owner used in there. This way you will know it's all clean and safe for you and any family,friends or pets to be on it.

 

[Outlawmws]

Power washer does a great job of cleaning nearly anything off of concrete.

 

[blasto9000]

I'd go with the power washer too. Mike Holmes ("Holmes on Homes") doesn't recommend using bleach to remove mildew due to its toxicity.

 

[Brian_B_]

34 views and not one recommendation?!?

Impatient?

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=152973

 

[WhiteLightning]

I didn't know which section to post. So I tried "flooring" and then "general garage". It isn't flooring in the sense of epoxy/etc, so I tried the other section as well.

Sorry.

 

[Brian_B_]

I didn't know which section to post. So I tried "flooring" and then "general garage". It isn't flooring in the sense of epoxy/etc, so I tried the other section as well.

Sorry.

Just picking. No offense meant.

 

[Milton Shaw]

You might try scrubbing it with a power buffer with a scrub pad on it. They will clean nearly anything off a floor. Rental places have them, shouldn't take more than a half day rental if you don't know anyone to borrow one from. The black scrub disk are usually the most aggressive. They should remove any square marks and the mold also, use them wet to get the best results.

 

[Hobbit]

Check the flooring threads. There are several suggestions on how people cleaned their slabs. If you go the pressure washer route make sure you seal any sheetrock walls or ceilings with plastic first. My basement garage had no sheetrock walls or ceiling so I was able to go wild with a pressure washer. I then cleaned the slab w/muratic acid, but I was prepping for a coat of epoxy.

 

[fordbroncodave]

muradic acid and water

3 parts water 1 part acid.

push it around on the floor (do not scrub it) and wash it off with extra water.

works very good

 

[WhiteLightning]

Update:
Went to the house last night and to my surprise, the floor looked a little better than it did when I first removed the carpet tiles. The floor was dry and looked better than the other night.

I went to Ace Hardware to get some keys made. While I was there, I asked the salesman what he would recommend for solving this little problem. He recommended:

So I purchased that and a gallon of simple green concentrate. The plan is to hit the floor with some bleach/water solution to kill any mold. Then use this Wet & Forget followed by some simple green for a final cleaning. If the marks don't totally dissapear, I am okay with that. I just want it to get a little bit better.

After I do that this weekend I can start on my workbench project!

 

[Mister Moose]

It might be over the top for you, but when we were painting a 10,000 sq ft concrete floor, we rented a machine that looked like a buffer, but had some stones set on the buffing pad. I think the sequence went stone cleaning, bleach, chemical etch, paint. That kind of polishing stone will take marks off, or they aren't coming off.

 

[Raze]

Wet & Forget is an outdoor mildew/mold treatment that requires rain to wash away anything it reacts with, i.e. multiple rains. I know because I use this on my exterior brick, stucco accents, and concrete driveway which mildew every spring in the very moist Atlanta climate. Make sure that if you use this product you rinse it liberally AFTER it properly sets, which is anywhere from 8 hours to 3 days depending on humidity and drying conditions. Since it's indoors making sure it's fully dry and reacted I would let it sit a day or two before rinsing...

Oh, I forgot to mention, this product does really work, and work well. My concrete and stucco had some nasty stains that this removed within a couple of rainstorms and was much easier and faster to apply than a power washer...

 

[70redbee]

Be very careful with the chemicals you are using. Mixing some with others can put off toxic fumes, that can make you sick or worse kill you. Just read up on what can be mixed with what, especially the bleach.

 

[wnstwolf]

I second the Muratic acid approach is applied properly in well ventilated space. We just finished a powerhouse refurb and after the new boilers were in place the floor was nasty with soot oil and the like from removals and install. Company came in to epoxy the floor for us and prior to install they eteched it with the muratic acid dilution. Cleaned it to the bone but alst made a little etch in the top layer of concrete. I was a bit worried about that but teir approach was the epoxy needed something to bite on. They installed three coats and wow looks like glass...

 

[TONE]

Well, he did wait an hour and 3 minutes.

Impatient?

http://www.garagejournal.com/forum/showthread.php?t=152973

 

[WhiteLightning]

To give everyone an idea of what I'm working with. I will try cleaning it this week or during the weekend. Stay tuned!

 

[Zeke]

Wasn't sure where to post this but figured the kitchen guys would know more. What products/techniques would you use to do tile floors? Basically, I have a client that runs a hospital that wants the bathroom tiles done. Not sure of how he could do it or if i was suited to do it. One major factor is that outside the bathroom carpeting cannot get wet. I was thinking more along the lines of steam cleaning but I have never done that.

Thanks,

Steam works great on tile grout. Keep a wet vac handy for the carpet. You can pretreat the grout if you wish. For all that want to clean something, going to the janitorial supply or the cleaning supply aisle at the box store will yield more choices than the food market.

If you use bleach, use nothing else. Even vinegar/chlorine or peroxide related products will produce chlorine gas which is deadly.

 

[marak]

If mixing acid and water, remember: "Do as you otter and add acid to water."

Adding water to acid can result in a violent, boiling chemical reaction when the acid is of high enough concentration. When you add acid to water there is less surface area of acid relative to the water, which results in a slower chemical reaction.

 

[jkuro]

TSP and Bleach. The directions are on the back of the box. You can also get it at Home Depot or Lowes.

https://www.amazon.com/dp/B07CNR85C6/?tag=atomicindus08-20

 

[cpttuna]

don't paint the concrete

 

[Dig Doug]

A lot of that will bleach out / fade in time.

What are your plans for the garage concrete? What type of finish do you want?

if you remove the top layer (hard trowel finish ) of the concrete it will become etched and can **** in more moisture in the future, concrete is like a sponge and likes to **** up moisture ( this can break down the concrete over time)

The hard trowel finish makes for a strong durable finish that lasts for years & is more resistant to moisture

so be care using acid or power scrubbers/ grinders.

if you want to epoxy coat /stain etc the garage floor than etching / shot ping is required for the coating to bite / bond