What’s the best method for cleaning concrete?
Scott T asked:
I have some stains on my porch that just look nasty. One of them is rust but I’m not sure what the others are. What would be the easiest way to get my porch looking like new again?
4 Responses to “What’s the best method for cleaning concrete?”
CLR it.
go rent a pressure washer . spray concrete with bleach and then pressure wash
CLR or bleach will not usually be effective for heavy-duty jobs such as cleaning concrete. Sand-blasting can work well – just rent a blaster for a couple of hours or a day. You can also get special attachments for your power drill that act as a medium-strength abrasive tool which will do the job without causing grooves in your porch.
There are also lots of chemical solutions – the most popular concrete and grout cleaners on the market contain phosphoric acid. This acid will, under most circumstances, do as good a job as muriatic acid (which you should NOT consider using – it’s just too dangerous for any but trained professionals!)… but with considerably less danger. Phosphoric acid cleaners also contain chemicals which emulsify oils to help the acid work more effectively and safely increase its cleaning properties.
Trisodium phosphate is a heavy-duty cleaning product that can be used to clean masonry surfaces that are going to be left uncoated. TSP does not etch or neutralize the surface alkalinity, so surface testing for pH should be done before coating TSP-cleaned masonry. Howevewer, check your local bylaws first – due to environmental concerns of phosphate pollution, TSP cannot be legally used in some areas.
I agree with the answer of using a pressure washer. But what you don’t want to use is a chemical that will wash into the grass and kill it like bleach. CLR(from another answer) is a bio degradable chemical that will not kill your grass. In many cases, with a pressure washer no chemicals are needed.
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