Very Greasy Floor

[slim53]

Hey Guys,

I recently got my first garage that was setup pretty well when I bought it (heat, a/c, full attic, copper airlines and several drops, etc..). My problem is the guy before me ran a mechanic's shop out of it. With that came the left over grease...a lot of it. I'd like to put a floor covering down as I'll be painting once things are moved in (automotive). I realize prep is everything and the search only came up with threads about smaller spots. Mine has a well worn in grease pool about 4' x 10'. Don't get me going on the smaller ones. Also, at 30' x 33', I'll need quite a bit. Anyone have experience with grease this bad?

Slim

 

[Printer Mike]

I suggest, first, cleaning it with oil absorber(looks like kitty liter). Work it in real good with a block of wood. I'm not sure what to use after that.....

 

[dawg]

couple cans of brake cleaner will clean it up fast and easy.
I did that on my floor and it was a real mess oil and grease soaked.
cleaned upp real nice with no peeling of the new floor.

 

[menz300]

I think what you need is something to get down into the pores of the concrete and try and pull as much of the oil out as you can. There are a couple products for this I can't think of off top of my head but will look for them later. The more you get the floor cleaned into the pores the better your finish coating will bond to the floor.

 

[rsanter]

orange hand cleaner and brush it in real well and wash it off once it gets kind of dry. that will get any of the fresher stuff off and will even pull some of the not so old stuff out of the pores.
a pressure washer will help as it will push some of the junk out of the pores as well

bob

 

[slim53]

Here's the worst of it.

 

[67pete300]

In talking with the contractor who did my floor, he mentioned a microbial treatment that eats the oil and works it's way into to the slab to get rid of deep stains. Ultimately that was not needed in my case because most of the staining came off with grinding.

I don't know what this stuff is called, but somebody here should.

 

['the epoxy floor guy']

In jobs like this we have completed, the biggest problems are

#1 Adhesion,

and #2 shadowing, where the darker floor will 'shadow' through the new floor and look like a 'new' stain.

I would suggest cleaning it with a degreaser product.

Then using a diamond grinder GRIND the area ONLY.

We have an adhesion promoter that will really help in this situation add it at DOUBLE the normal rate. and COAT ONLY the stained areas, FORGO the chips for now and just get the stained areas sealed and bonded down.

After a couple weeks you will know if the area is stuck down good. THEN prep the rest of the floor, UP TO THE 'patch'.

then coat the entire floor OVER your patch and the rest of the floor.

THIS will give you the BEST Finished Product.

YOU WILL NEED to slightly sand the surface of the 'patch' area to make sure your new coat will adhere. just a quick 'roughing' up will do with a 80 grit sandpaper.

 

[slim53]

In talking with the contractor who did my floor, he mentioned a microbial treatment that eats the oil and works it's way into to the slab to get rid of deep stains. Ultimately that was not needed in my case because most of the staining came off with grinding.

I don't know what this stuff is called, but somebody here should.

In jobs like this we have completed, the biggest problems are

#1 Adhesion,

and #2 shadowing, where the darker floor will 'shadow' through the new floor and look like a 'new' stain.

I would suggest cleaning it with a degreaser product.

Then using a diamond grinder GRIND the area ONLY.

We have an adhesion promoter that will really help in this situation add it at DOUBLE the normal rate. and COAT ONLY the stained areas, FORGO the chips for now and just get the stained areas sealed and bonded down.

After a couple weeks you will know if the area is stuck down good. THEN prep the rest of the floor, UP TO THE 'patch'.

then coat the entire floor OVER your patch and the rest of the floor.

THIS will give you the BEST Finished Product.

YOU WILL NEED to slightly sand the surface of the 'patch' area to make sure your new coat will adhere. just a quick 'roughing' up will do with a 80 grit sandpaper.

Thanks for help. Is there any negatives to using microbials? It really sounds like I got my work cut out for me...


Slim

 

[Vinko]

+1 I've used degreaser (Purple Zep from HD) on some tough stains but nothing perhaps as bad as what you have, if it's really in the concrete and been there for a long time.

 

[slim53]

I would suggest cleaning it with a degreaser product.

Then using a diamond grinder GRIND the area ONLY.

We have an adhesion promoter that will really help in this situation add it at DOUBLE the normal rate. and COAT ONLY the stained areas, FORGO the chips for now and just get the stained areas sealed and bonded down.

After a couple weeks you will know if the area is stuck down good. THEN prep the rest of the floor, UP TO THE 'patch'.

I don't suppose you recommend any particular degreaser? Waiting 2 weeks?!! Uhg... That *****. I might have to skip the floor for the winter as I'm kinda in a time crunch.

Slim

 

[johnaydan]

Hi Slim,

Here are three articles which may be useful for you....

http://www.ehow.com/how_9136_remove...ce=yahoo&utm_medium=ssp&utm_campaign=yssp_art
http://www.winsol.com/G-Force.htm
http://www.advanage.com/tips.htm

Hope This will help you....

 

[slim53]

That Windsol looks very promising. I just get nervous about ordering things online like that. My biggest concern right now is I have to paint a few cars this winter and need to remove as much grease as I can from the garage. Grease and paint are not a good combo...

Slim

 

[warrent]

If you contact a local janitorial supply and ask for an emulsion degreaser. These will brake down the grease and oil. Around $16.00 a gallon. You may have to let it set overnight but just power wash off and should take most of the grease away.

 

[WolverineCoatings]

Hi,

It sounds like you need a few things:

1) OraniClean 935 to effectively degrease...
2) OilEater Micobes to eat the remaining oil...
3) Propper Prep and BondTite 1101

Our BondTite 1101 was used to coat the old Square D facility in Monroe, NC. The building was turned into a drinking cup manufacturing facility which means it had to be clean enough for the FDA. The floor was COMPLETELY saturated with oil and cutting fluid. One suggestion that i would avoid is putting brake fluid down to clean it! DON'T DO THAT! Anyway, the contractor that did the first 55,000 square feet of the Square D building did not do a good job of prep (the owner instructed him that getting it coated for inspection was more important that the coating lasting... go figure...). Anyway, he degreased some... then shotblasted... then applied BondTite 1101 over the floor that still contained oil. The next day he came in to find the BondTite 1101 cured with oil floating on top of the BondTite 1101. The BondTite 1101 displaced the oil and bonded to the concrete. The floor has been in trouble free service for a few years now. So, BondTite 1101 worked very well in this circumstance.

You don't ever want to have to do your garage twice... SO... do it once... do it right... use products that work!

For more information contact Fred at AlphaGarage.com or start your own project post on our forums at http://www.wolverinecoatings.com.

 

[slim53]

I can't find anywhere that sells micro-whatever stuff to eat the oil. I went to the hardware store and the guy told me to use gas and floor dry?!! I had limited time today so I wandered into HD and bought some ZEP Purple. It took the top layer off pretty good, but you can see the floor is still dark from the oil and when you rinse the floor, there's an oil residue on top.

Where do I get OilEater Micobes? I believe my floor seriously needs it. I won't have time to coat it before winter so I at least want to tackle the oil issue.

Slim

 

[yhprum]

I have used pour-n-restore which worked OK for me available at ACE hardware.
http://www.pour-n-restore.com/

One thing I have noticed on the driveway, (where I had a bad auto transmission leak for a long time) the stain came back much lighter after a few months. I think it is the oil returning to the top of the concrete. Another application will probably do it.
Steve

 

[FFPL]

I won't have time to coat it before winter ...

I see this comment a lot on this forum. It seems that many products require a reasonable (>55F) temp to apply but I did my wolverine floor in January in MA. And it gets pretty cold here. As long as the floor temp is ~40F it works out fine. There was some elongation in the setting but I was still able to do recoats within 24hrs.

 

[slim53]

I see this comment a lot on this forum. It seems that many products require a reasonable (>55F) temp to apply but I did my wolverine floor in January in MA. And it gets pretty cold here. As long as the floor temp is ~40F it works out fine. There was some elongation in the setting but I was still able to do recoats within 24hrs.

That's good to know...

 

[WolverineCoatings]

See Fred at AlphaGarage...

 

[sthole]

something you can try. pour mineral spirits on the stained area. be liberal. then throw portland cement on top of it (1/8 to 1/4")and let it sit for a couple of days. then sweep the mixture and see what is still left. you may need to do this a couple of times. the portland cement is like a sponge and ***** everything up including any mineral spirits residue. clean with a strong cleaner or alcohol. i have done this on garage floors and drive ways and it works well. work quickly if you use alcohol. best of luck.

 

[M. MYERS]

Did like sthole but I used lacquer thinner and oil sweep and covered it up with visqueen for a day. Uncovered it the next day and swept up the oil sweep and let it air out. Came clean enough to prime over and then coat, no trouble after 2 years. Use caution and at your own risk when you use the lacqure thinner, make sure if you have any source of flame put it out.

mel