Did I just etch my floor?

[scout80]

The PO had a ton of spray paint over spray on the floor that I wanted to get up before sealing the floor. I poured down some Behr concrete paint stripper, and after rinsing it off, I'm left with what looks like etched concrete in the same pattern as my scrub brush....

I rubbed it with my finger, and it feels like bare concrete, not like residue or stripper I didn't rinse off, and I scrubbed the snot out of it while I was rinsing.

The floor is so wavy and out of level, that I was going to just clean it and throw a basic sealer down, then save for the big shop to go up...but I'm hesitant to put anything over this now.

Do I need to just cover the entire floor in acid etch to even it out?

 

[boobag]

well since you're coating the floor, you might as well acid wash the whole floor with muriatic acid.

 

[ilikedirt]

A caustic stripper isn't going to etch concrete, it may have ate whatever finish was on there previously. A "stripper" doesn't usually etch.

But wherever you apply the stripper (Alkaline) you want to go back over it with an acid to neutralize the surface. If not you could have some adhesion problems with your new coating in the future.