Need help. Can't clean fine particles off garage floor!

[skuba]

Hi all. In the process of cleaning the garage floor, water ended up breaking down some white particles from the foundation wall and I can't get rid of it. It's some material the GC applied to foundation wall years ago, could be just paint, or something else.
I have tried hosing it out, sweeping, and damp microfiber mopping, and there is always some left. Now you can see my shoe prints as well. I haven't tried a proper bristles mop cause I don't have it now, but not sure it would help either.
Any advice?
Thank you

 

[no704]

Floor sweeping compound is what you seek!

 

[The Cobbler]

or sawdust , wet with water to make it a good moist consistency . spread around & sweep up

 

[skuba]

Floor sweeping compound is what you seek!

Isn’t that sometimes with sand, wouldn’t potentially make a bigger mass?

The material is not fine in the sense of being light and raising. It can’t even get picked by vacuum max suction. So it’s fine but heavy it seems.

 

[Shiftless]

Based on those pictures, my guess is that you are dealing with the breakdown of calcimine paint. It was popular for cheap paint to cover masonry or plaster ceilings back in the middle 50’s. The stucco portion of our house was painted with that stuff and then quickly repainted with charcoal black latex paint by the flippers that owned the house briefly 2 owners ago. The latex paint was peeling off in huge sheets…like more than one square foot at a time.

I got my hands on a very powerful pressure washer and blew the old white ”paint” off of the stucco and then let it dry for a week. Then primed with a specialty oil based primer with fibers. That was 40 years ago and I have had no trouble since. Not a single square inch of peeling.

To get the residue off of your floor, I would try an acid wash on part of it as a test. Follow the directions. If it IS calcimine paint, the acid will react with the chalk which is calcium carbonate and chemically change it. Just rinse away.

 

[skuba]

Based on those pictures, my guess is that you are dealing with the breakdown of calcimine paint. It was popular for cheap paint to cover masonry or plaster ceilings back in the middle 50’s. The stucco portion of our house was painted with that stuff and then quickly repainted with charcoal black latex paint by the flippers that owned the house briefly 2 owners ago. The latex paint was peeling off in huge sheets…like more than one square foot at a time.

I got my hands on a very powerful pressure washer and blew the old white ”paint” off of the stucco and then let it dry for a week. Then primed with a specialty oil based primer with fibers. That was 40 years ago and I have had no trouble since. Not a single square inch of peeling.

To get the residue off of your floor, I would try an acid wash on part of it as a test. Follow the directions. If it IS calcimine paint, the acid will react with the chalk which is calcium carbonate and chemically change it. Just rinse away.

Thanks for responding. it’s possible. Now that I look at pictures from when I bought the house, the foundation was already painted.

Do you think a strong cleaner might be able to break it down, is that the thinking? You think formula 88 could work? Thanks

 

[Shiftless]

Concrete cleaner is what you want. I think all of them are acidic.

 

[Leaflessshadetree]

Try scrubbing with TSP (trisodium phosphate). Follow with plenty of rinsing.

 

[Shiftless]

I think acid will work the best. If you are too worried about the dangers, try something else to see if it works. I found this article written for non technical people. It is a generally good how-to guide.

https://www.hunker.com/12000949/how-to-use-muriatic-acid-to-clean-concrete

 

[skuba]

The idea to use something acidic is to try to dissolve this powder on the floor? Cause it's not a stay that I am trying to remove, and sometime the go of harsh cleaners are to remove stains.

 

[skuba]

By the way, in case this is relevant. When I got the concrete slab redone I covered with HD40 and burnished.

 

[Shiftless]

The idea to use something acidic is to try to dissolve this powder on the floor? Cause it's not a stay that I am trying to remove, and sometime the go of harsh cleaners are to remove stains.

Right. Not a stain to attack with Simple Green or TSP or similar. If the wire dust is indeed broken down calcimine paint, since chalk is CACO3, the diluted HCL will attack that and let you wash it away with water. Do you have a pressure washer?

Run a test spot first. Hydrochloride acid is commonly used to lower the pH of swimming pools. Do you know a guy with a pool? When diluting acid make sure to add acid to water and never pour water on top of strong acid.

Or you can just buy a small container of hydrochloric acid aka Muriatic acid at the hardware store. It is not expensive stuff.

 

[rancherbill]

water and brush / rub, and wet vac with a squeege. Do it several times.

 

[Hank11]

Try citric acid first before anything stronger. Easy to find in most groceries. If it works find a cheaper supply of bulk. Its not expensive.

 

[skuba]

Right. Not a stain to attack with Simple Green or TSP or similar. If the wire dust is indeed broken down calcimine paint, since chalk is CACO3, the diluted HCL will attack that and let you wash it away with water. Do you have a pressure washer?

Run a test spot first. Hydrochloride acid is commonly used to lower the pH of swimming pools. Do you know a guy with a pool? When diluting acid make sure to add acid to water and never pour water on top of strong acid.

Or you can just buy a small container of hydrochloric acid aka Muriatic acid at the hardware store. It is not expensive stuff.

Have a 1600psi greenworks but motor is running and not increasing the pressure. Something is off unfortunately.

I will try some kind of acid. See if works.

 

[no704]

Isn’t that sometimes with sand, wouldn’t potentially make a bigger mass?

The material is not fine in the sense of being light and raising. It can’t even get picked by vacuum max suction. So it’s fine but heavy it seems.

Not sand in my experience, usually some type of fiber, reminds me of pencil shavings. But it has something kind of sticky mixed in with it.

 

[Damon L.]

Have a 1600psi greenworks but motor is running and not increasing the pressure.

If there is a screen at the garden hose connection, remove it and check for debris. Took me a while to figure that one out on mine.