Just finished with BOND-LOK (etching).. Questions..

[DatacomGuy]

I finally settled on doing Quikrete on my 1150sqft or so garage floor, just based purely on budget.

I've been doing prep all week, took over a week to get the garage emptied. UGH. My house is destroyed right now.

Last week I used Seal-Krete oil stain remover.. jury is out on this stuff. Last night I pressure washed.. Tonight I used the included Bondlok to "clean and etch".

Questions:

1. Is this stuff supposed to change the appearance of the concrete at all? Concrete looks the same, but surely is smooth.

2. Is this process supposed to remove any paint on the concrete surface? Will paint on the concrete effect the epoxy sticking to the concrete?

3. There are a few spots where, even after etching, water repels a little and beads.. What is the remedy for this? Etch there again?

Side note.. don't get this stuff on your hands.

 

[Mlynch]

It depends on what the concrete looked like before etching on weather it will change appearance!

if the concrete is painted the etching will not help... is it large areas or just some paint spills/spatter?

An alkaline product (like a degreeser) will work where the water repelling is happening... you are using an acid. Two different ends of the ph scale.

Don't rush into coating because prep is key and you def have some issues to rectify first.

 

[DatacomGuy]

It depends on what the concrete looked like before etching on weather it will change appearance!

if the concrete is painted the etching will not help... is it large areas or just some paint spills/spatter?

An alkaline product (like a degreeser) will work where the water repelling is happening... you are using an acid. Two different ends of the ph scale.

Don't rush into coating because prep is key and you def have some issues to rectify first.

Any other pointers?

Any alkaline products that you recommend?

The paint is just a few splatters.

The concrete is a year old, never been parked on. Garage was basically a storage unit for the past year; we're the first owners of this new house.

 

[Mlynch]

i wouldn't worry too muchabout the spatter...

as far as an alkaline product try going to your local big box store... home depot lowes and they should have a cleaning chemical section. look for a degreaser wash the floor with it and rinse well afterwards.

Make sure those spots that repelled water are cleaned well and gone this is the most worrisome thing you mentioned...

let the floor dry out very well before prceeding with the coating.

Did the etching do its job? Probably... as long as the pours of the concrete are not open. (i.e. not shiny and water easily penetrates) then you should get decent adhesion. If you wanna be absolutely sure get a janitorial low speed (buffer) with a sanding disk and go to town on the concrete If thats too much trouble you could probably get away with what you have now

Hope this helps good luck and there are some other threads in here about prep that you may wanna search for if you wanna do some more reading