Power Washing Floor with Drywall

[BarnBuiltBeaters]

Hoping you all may be able to help me here.

What would be my best way to Power Wash my garage floor in preparation for epoxying the floors with drywall hung on the walls?

When I plan to do this, my drywall ill have been mudded, sanded, primed, and painted prior. I am worried about the bottom edge near the floor soaking up water. I had left approx 1" spacing around the bottom edge incase the garage ever has minor standing water. Should I tape large sheets of Plastic around the shop?

Here is the my current space:


Thank you

 

[nadogail]

Your paint and caution should be enough to protect the drywall. Be very careful about how you point the nozzle of your pressure washer.
Maybe you could add a cove base that is well sealed with caulk.

 

[rancherbill]

I'm not an epoxy expert.

I had mine done by a company, they did not wash. They ground off the top surface with grinders to get rid of the oil and **** that had penetrated the top of the concrete. My floor did not looked stained or oily to my eyes.

I looked at the pics again and you have 'hot tire' marks which is a rubber stain on your floor a pressure washer will not take off this contamination.

 

[240sxguy]

You're going to have splashback on the ceiling too I bet.

 

[mepstein]

I would tape plastic and make sure it goes under the bottom edge of the drywall.

I used a pressure washer to clean my concrete floor. It did a great job but it does spray everywhere. I had concrete dust residue on all the walls. They were bare studs so not a problem but don’t think that you will be able to keep the walls dry. It won’t happen. Tape plastic up at least 4-5’ high and make sure the lower edge is really covered up.
wear eye & ear protection,

 

[mike93lx]

I would definitely put plastic on the walls.

If you use a rotating surface cleaner, it will help control a lot of the spray and I'd have someone following me with a shop vac

 

[wssix99]

A professional would bead blast the slab, vaccum the dust up, and not use water.

Power washing is not going to get up oils and other things that would be your biggest barrier to quality. If you are doing this yourself, I would look at renting something that would lightly grind the floor instead of using water.

 

[Dodge]

Get a surface cleaner attachment for your pressure washer if you still think you want to pressure wash first. You will hardly even get your shoes wet. They work great. OOPS!! Just completely read the post above about the surface cleaner. They work great for cleaning the outside concrete too.

 

[FredWanaker]

I've done this many times and being careful is mostly all you need. That said, prep of that floor is going to be a lot more than power washing.

 

[BarnBuiltBeaters]

I think before I buy anything I am going to just try a regular high pressure nozzle and see how much water sprays all over. If it is too much I will resort to buying the surface cleaner which is a great idea! I will end up taping plastic along the bottom edge of the drywall for extra caution.



To all who commented I am aware this will need much more then just power washing but the water was what I am worried about. I plan to degrease and power wash a few different times, acid etch, power wash, then start with the epoxy process.

The “hot tire marks” was from me moving the truck back and forth a to shimmy it over into the corner. I had just wheeled it through the wet yard so the marks are water and not rubber. However, I can see how some of you thought that!



Thank you for all the help!

 

[K'ledgeBldr]

After 30+yrs of building, my pressure washing sub would do all the flatwork with a wand (before surface cleaners were a thing). Any water/junk that got splashed up on the walls was just sprayed off. They just didn’t get close enough to damage the drywall. It was all good after it was dry. Never had any problems.

 

[MarlynOC]

Skip the wand. Look for a Whirlaway, some have a water pickup vacuum as well.

 

[ace10]

Everything is gonna get wet. This stuff might help a bit.

3M ScotchBlue 4 ft. x 90 ft. Clear Pre-Taped Painter's Plastic Sheeting PTD2093EL-48 - The Home Depot

Get crisp, clean lines on your next painting project by selecting this wonderful ScotchBlue Clear PreTaped Painters Plastic Sheet.

www.homedepot.com

 

[Sumboodie]

Just curious, how many lights do you have?

 

[Metal-Marc]

Next time you hang sheetrock, make sure it's staggered.

 

[Adaylate]

A surface cleaner will almost eliminate water splash on the wall. Make sure you have a large enough pressure washer to run the surface cleaner. Match the required psi. I have a 13 hp pressure washer to run my (commercial) SC . ....works great!
Good luck!

 

[rancherbill]

I forgot to mention, the guy v-grooved all the minute cracks and fill them with a concrete grout prior to grinding. Stuff will seep out of the cracks over time.

 

[78SC4X4]

You could do a lot of nice stuff to that truck for the cost of the epoxy!

 

[PoorUB]

IMO, A pressure washer is fine for the first time through, then after that acid etch and rinse with a garden hose, then a good degreaser and rinse with a garden hose. You don't need the pressure washer every time to wash down.

What works well is a floor buffer with a nylon-grit brush. It doesn't fling water all over and it will wear paint and drywall mud off the floor quickly.

 

[MOwens]

Do yourself a favor and use a floor scrubber with a black scrubbing pad and a little dawn dish soap instead of power washing. It will work just as well and will be a lot less of a mess to clean up. You can rent one at most rental places. I bought a viper 20” floor machine and I use it all the time and have even used it on a few friends shops before we sealed their floors and it has worked great every time. https://www.cleanfreak.com/equipment/floor/scrubbers/walk-behind/17-inch-electric-auto-scrubber.html

 

[gunguy]

Do you have J channel on the bottom edge? If not, do you have room to add it? J channel will help protect it, especially if it's the raw edge. Won't make it waterproof but will help to make the edge water resistant and to help prevent damage and crumbling. Just some added insurance.

Jim

 

[BarnBuiltBeaters]

Thank you so much to all the replys!

Curious as to why I should have hung the drywall staggered. This was my first time really ever hanging drywall. I saw some videos of staggering it after I had a good chunk done and figured my next project I will do it that way.

How many lights? I think it was around 48 lights if I remember correctly. 3 different switches. Dimmable and connected to smart switches. I wanted to make sure it was bright enough and it sure is. It is perfectly even lighting. everyone comments on it too but anyone who has been in my shop says how nice it is!

I think I do have enough room for J channel, this may be worth looking into. As far as renting a grinding machine it is difficult as I do not own a larger vehicle to get it home! A truck with an engine is on my bucket list! Also new to the area without any friends so no one to ask either! I will look into renting both the machine and the truck to get it home. I would like to do it right once. Sure easier to do it right once rather than twice along with moving everything out of the shop once i move my stuff in!

 

[CDPLUCKER]

I just finished doing this this weekend

i used a cheap ryobi surface cleaner and it worked really well getting all kinds of dirt and spilled paint off the floor, and it is less effort than sweeping, surface came out very clean ! however it did leave 1 1/2" stripe next to the wall that it would not reach. and this area had lots of overspray from the walls and need to be removed, i used the standard nozzle on the wand, and was careful . it worked very well ! no damage save for a few little accidents that damaged the paper a bit. ( all coverd by the baseboard going in soon. what little water that got on the drywall dried out with no damage whatsoever. my drywas was painted though with semi gloss latex, I would not do it with bare drywall though . be careful but go ahead it wont hurt anything,

now i have to wait till it warms up enough to get the paint down !

 

[yeldogt]

I have one of those rotary head for my power-washer -- they work very well and for $80 bucks you can use it for other areas. I go over all my walks and drive every couple of years with it.

Really cuts down on the mess and amount of water needed -- get another person with a shop vac to follow you around

 

[rancherbill]

Please watch this video and see what went wrong with the previous epoxy floor. On his channel he has a ton of videos.

Prepping CORRECTLY is the key. His other videos tell you how to get a great job.

.

If it's not done right you'll end up doing it again.

 

[BarnBuiltBeaters]

thank you for leaving that video. I will be sure to study it. Basically I get one chance at this as I will not be redoing it even if it starts to peel up. I plan on doing the best job I can. Also this isn't a garage, it is a workshop. So tires wont continuously be going over it peeling it up as much/ wear and tear. That being said, it is a workshop so itll see some good use! I cant wait!