Cleaning the concrete before staining.

The most important part of staining concrete is the prep work. The prep work is the most time consuming part of any concrete staining job. If you are pulling up carpet in your house some things to expect to find under the carpet is:

• carpet glue
• paint
• chips in the concrete
• cracks in the concrete 

Some tools that you will need for cleaning the concrete is:

• scrapers
• shop-vac
• mop & bucket
• floor machine
• black scrubbing pads

The first step is to start scraping the paint off the concrete around the walls. This is best achieved by using a small handle 4" scraper, the long handle scrapers are easier for your back, but you cannot put as much force on them as the short handle scrapers. 

After you have scraped along the walls, you can begin to scrape the carpet glue. Carpet glue is one of the hardest things to get off the concrete. You might have to use a solvent to help loosen the glue up. Be sure you have gotten all the glue by splashing water onto the concrete floors and checking to see if any more shows up. 

Once you are done scraping, you can begin to use the floor machine with the black scrubbing pads to get all the residue and anything else left behind on the concrete. Begin by pouring some water on the concrete in a small section then start the floor machine and go over the concrete in a controlled manner. Be sure not to let the water dry on the concrete floors. Use the shop vac to get the dirty water up.

Again, the most important part in having beautiful stained concrete floors is doing a good job in the prep work. The concrete stain is transparent and will show any left behind paint or glue that was left on the concrete floors.

Next post will talk about how to patch chips in the concrete and repair cracks. Stay tuned!



Thanks for reading,

Michael
MVL Concrete