Question on acid etching the garage floor???

[DStewart]

If I acid etch the garage floor and clean it out with water, should I worry about the acid etch/water run off going on to the driveway? There really is no other way to rinse than straight out the garage doors onto the driveway, right?

 

[GearHead_1]

Yes, you should be concerned but not overly concerned. Wet the heck out of the driveway before your application and then dilute, dilute, dilute the muratic acid before you push it towards the driveway.

 

[Luckydevil]

Be very careful if the runoff goes into the street also. I'm not sure what the exact effect would be on paint if a car drove though the runoff, but I wouldn't want to risk it.

 

[04 Navi]

Just wet things down well first. When I did my garage I set up a sprinkler to keep the grass and driveway wet. No damage at all. Good luck.

 

[Uncle Buck]

If you do not wet the driveway prior to etching, your driveway will look like mine! Big white streaks where the acid washed out of my garage and into the driveway! Still there, and that was done in 1998!

 

[krooser]

My buddy Sean etched my floor and used a phosphoric acid product made for floors.

He didn't wet down anything (including the 1/3 of the floor that we didn't paint)...I would have...but there wasn't any problem. No whitening of the other floor or driveway... guess it depends on how strong of a solution you use.

Sean mixed the acid about 3 to 1....we etched it twice...

 

[DStewart]

Is what i was thinking is that I would rinse into the garage and then out and down the driveway.

When you rinse do you use a steady stream of water, like straight out of a hose or do you use a pressure washer?

 

[Luckydevil]

When I rinsed I used a steady stream of water from the hose and one of those big nylon bristle push brooms with the squeegee along the edge to move the water out.

 

[Hammerdown]

Make sure to thoroughly rinse the floor- too much water is not enough. Use a slurry of baking soda and water and poor it at the edge of your garage door. The baking soda will neutralize the remaining acid as it is washed away.

 

[UCUDANT]

Hello a newbee here. I think the sprinkler and baking soda ideas are pretty smart. I was just going to try to keep my driveway wet. So a phosphoric acid product made for floors mixed to about 1 part water to 3 parts acid (or vice versa?) will help prep the floor but be less likey to streak the driveway?

A friend hooked me up with 15 gallons of industrial NEOGARD 7442 Urethane tan. I have until 5 Dec to learn and get this done. Thanks to all this site is cool