Concrete cleaning gone wrong, salvageable?

[zag300zx]

Had a new slab poured in a garage I’m finishing. There was some efflorescence or mineral deposits that i was hoping to remove before Applying some Ghost Shield 4500 densities and 8510 sealer. Just wanted the surface to look a bit more consistent and clean.

After and before photos here

Cleaned the floor with a 10:1 water to muriatic acid mix for about 10 minutes before pouring water with some baking soda on it to neutralize. Flushed it twice and pressure washed it with a floor cleaner. After drying it looks really bad and inconsistent. Clearly my plan was poorly chosen and executed.

Any way to fix this and make the surface look better and more consistent? What are my options moving forward? Really didn’t want to go the epoxy route. Figured I’d ask someone who might know what’s going on before I mess it up further.

 

[CombatNinja]

Still looks wet to me? Particularly in those control joints it looks damp. Those dark areas should dry up soon and the color should get more consistent I'd think. It's been a day since you posted, any change to it yet?

 

[zag300zx]

Checked it this morning after the fans ran all night. The cracks are dry and the few puddles dried out, but the issue is still just as apparent. can almost see my pump sprayer marks, which makes me think maybe I just didn’t get enough on? What’s even crazier is I can see foot prints in the picture of shoes I did not wear yesterday. I only wore those shoes during painting, but the entire surface was covered in a tarp.

do I apply another soak of muriatic acid or use something else? Don’t want to make it worse but it’s not useable now.

 

[RPH]

Stain it! Whether acid or water based it will improve the look.

 

[LegacyIndustrial]

Grind it and apply a high performance coating system.
That natural look is gone at this point.

 

[Itsjustdirt]

How fresh is that? Looks like it needs a lot more dry time.

 

[zag300zx]

How fresh is that? Looks like it needs a lot more dry time.

The cracks have were not dry in the pictures, and a few puddles were visible. Since then, it has fully dried but has not changed in appearance. Still lots of light and dark sections. Pretty sure its messed up, not sure another clean will make it look any better. Probably have to do a polyurea coating or something similar if I want a consistent look.

 

[Itsjustdirt]

How old is the concrete?

 

[zag300zx]

How old is the concrete?

Roughly 8 months old. I had kept the concrete wet for 7 days after pouring, which is where I believe most of my discoloration came from initially (mineral deposits and efflorescence).

 

[Itsjustdirt]

Nothing wrong with keeping it wet for 7 days. I did the same and mine looked similar. I ended up doing a regular strength vinegar wash/soak which helped it a bit. It eventually evened out after a few months. Mine was outdoors in direct sunlight though.

 

[BillK]

If you would like to email me your contact information and these photos, I can get with the manufacturer. These issues are typically caused by not diluting the densifier or going on too heavily. It is not beyond repair. Regardless of where you purchased we are always happy to help.

Justin (AT) GarageFlooringLLC.com

I dont think he has sealed it yet. He only cleaned it with the acid and that is his result.

 

[Garage Flooring]

I dont think he has sealed it yet. He only cleaned it with the acid and that is his result.

Well shoot. That’s embarrassing. Totally misread

 

[Garage Flooring]

Had a new slab poured in a garage I’m finishing. There was some efflorescence or mineral deposits that i was hoping to remove before Applying some Ghost Shield 4500 densities and 8510 sealer. Just wanted the surface to look a bit more consistent and clean.

After and before photos here

Cleaned the floor with a 10:1 water to muriatic acid mix for about 10 minutes before pouring water with some baking soda on it to neutralize. Flushed it twice and pressure washed it with a floor cleaner. After drying it looks really bad and inconsistent. Clearly my plan was poorly chosen and executed.

Any way to fix this and make the surface look better and more consistent? What are my options moving forward? Really didn’t want to go the epoxy route. Figured I’d ask someone who might know what’s going on before I mess it up further.

Let me try again

With etching this is usually caused by allowing the acid to dry on the floor and or not rinsing enough. Personally I never suggest acid before a penetrating sealer.

You could try to reetch but my concern is you are going to add more profile that your sealer won’t fill.

 

[dcg9381]

Stain it! Whether acid or water based it will improve the look.

I could not agree more... All of this stuff, after stain and then a coat of polyurea (or similar) will be stunning.

If you want "consistent" you go over it with a solid color - epoxy can do that, as can polyurea. It'll look uniform.

I'm in the "stain it" camp.. Leverage the variation.

 

[CombatNinja]

You could bite the bullet and hire a crew to come grind it. That would surely take care of it but at a cost of course.

 

[zag300zx]

After discussing with Justin at GarageFlooring llc, I ordered a 3 coat polyurea system from him. Should look wicked sweet and satisfy my OCD tendencies. I'll post some photo's when I get that installed in a few weeks.

 

[dcg9381]

You could bite the bullet and hire a crew to come grind it. That would surely take care of it but at a cost of course.

I've done that - at least when I do it, I ended up with some swirl marks that show through my stain. I'm sure someone else could do it better, but I'd assume corners and things like that will look different.

After discussing with Justin at GarageFlooring llc, I ordered a 3 coat polyurea system from him. Should look wicked sweet and satisfy my OCD tendencies. I'll post some photo's when I get that installed in a few weeks.

If you want a solid color, this is totally going to work. You won't see what's under it. I just used a polyurea-approved primer (tan) in my cargo trailer and it completely created a solid base. Went over it with clear polyurea. I know you can buy polyurea already tinted (non-transparent) - I think you'll be real happy with it.

My one "suggestion" is that polyurea is slick as **** when it gets wet. Consider an anti-slip agent if you things might get wet sometimes, IE - water from the cars... Our garage doesn't have the anti slip and you have to be careful getting out of a wet car.

 

[zag300zx]

I've done that - at least when I do it, I ended up with some swirl marks that show through my stain. I'm sure someone else could do it better, but I'd assume corners and things like that will look different.



If you want a solid color, this is totally going to work. You won't see what's under it. I just used a polyurea-approved primer (tan) in my cargo trailer and it completely created a solid base. Went over it with clear polyurea. I know you can buy polyurea already tinted (non-transparent) - I think you'll be real happy with it.

My one "suggestion" is that polyurea is slick as **** when it gets wet. Consider an anti-slip agent if you things might get wet sometimes, IE - water from the cars... Our garage doesn't have the anti slip and you have to be careful getting out of a wet car.

Nice looking trailer!

Sweet, thanks for the suggestion. Looking at the kit I ordered, it is one coat of tinted poly, colored flakes, and two coats of clear, with included anti-slip agent, so hopefully I won't have to worry about the super slick surface you mentioned.