Acid For Concrete Floor

For many years it was a standard method of concrete preparation used by nearly all industrial commercial and institutional floor coating installers depending on the floor size and system to be installed.

Acid for concrete floor.

It should be handled with extreme care. We too used quart spray bottles. Muriatic acid available in a variety of colors penetrates concrete and reacts to the lime deposits coloring the surface and giving a unique mottled swirly finish. Acid washing also known as acid etching prepares a concrete surface to accept a sealer.

When acid staining concrete it s extremely important to clean the concrete very well before doing anything else. I started by scraping any dried drywall mud and paint off the floor. Aesthetically concrete floors are a good match for homes with a modern or industrial style and are less suitable for classic vintage home styles. You roughen such a floor by etching it with muriatic acid.

Many acid etching projects are carried out to prepare a concrete floor for the application of a synthetic epoxy or sealant. It also reduces the surface alkalinity of the concrete that can cause some paints to adhere poorly. You can also use acid in weaker concentrations to remove white mineral deposits efflorescence and heavy grime. A polished and acid stained concrete floor will likely look out of place in a classic colonial style home for example but fit quite nicely into a contemporary style home.

Muriatic acid is diluted hydrochloric acid. Your floors look great. No two acid stained floors will be the same. Then i used a vacuum to remove all of the dust dirt and debris.

Acid washing is dangerous for people plants and metal objects especially indoors where fumes can concentrate. Then in a bucket i mixed some soap and water and mopped the entire floor. My husband and i did our whole downstairs of our strawbale house with acid stain on our concrete floors. If this steely neutral isn t your style you can update your patio basement floor or concrete countertop in a range of eye catching colors using acid stain technology.

The acid in the stain lightly etches the surface allowing the metallic salts to penetrate more easily. But everything can be done by even a beginning diyer. They work by penetrating the surface and reacting chemically with the hydrated lime calcium hydroxide in the concrete. Most acid stainsare a mixture of water hydrochloric acid and acid soluble metallic salts.

Metallic acid salts and. Acid etching is the process of applying hydrochloric muriatic or buffered phosphoric acid to a slab then rinsing it off with water. These sorts of products give the concrete a professional looking sheen and also resist water grease oil and other common spills making the floor easy to maintain.