Cleaning Clay off the floor.

[600SL]

Getting ready to epoxy. Need ideas for cleaning red clay off the floor. I don't want to start grinding or etching until this stuff is off.

So far the power washer works well except as soon as the water dries the clay just settles back down on the floor. Tomorrow I will attempt to follow the power washer with a squeegee to push it out the door while the clay is still in suspension. I may also try my vacuum.

Any other ideas.

Pictures are after my first attempt with the power washer.

 

[hifi_hokie]

I cleaned my folks' basement a few years ago after a hurricane backed up their drain and deposited a nice silty layer of NC's finest red clay over every square foot.

I used a power washer with Simple Green to lift it off, but ultimately I had to wipe it down by hand to remove it one dirty rag-full at a time. Was a winter break project home from undergrad, IIRC...

 

[600SL]

A little progress today. Three pressure washings and squeegee out the door and I am now down to the stuff that will not come out with the pressure washer. Well it will come out if I hold the nozzle 1" away from the floor and for a long time. So now I'm down to cleaning by the square inch. There are ~ 200,000 square inches of floor to clean. I also have quite a few leaf pockets to fill. Unfortunately this slab was poured at the peak leaf fall season. Good news so far not a single crack in the slab.

Tool of choice for the rest of the cleaning would be a steam cleaner.

 

[Zeke]

The leaves are actually kinda cool. Fossils.

 

[wesalexleft]

I agree that the leaf prints are cool. If the epoxy would fill and level them, but "leaf" them visual, that would be awesome.

 

[600SL]

One of them is about 3/4" deep most are just a fossil on the surface. The real problem is going to be the pine needles that you can hardly see but will need to be ground open to fill. Floor will look like a mess until I get some concrete patch on it.