If you want to clean your concrete, there are a few things to keep in mind. You should use a pressure washer or other high-pressure water source to remove stains such as oil and grease. When using a pressure washer, be careful not to damage the sealer on your driveway by putting too much pressure on it.
A strong enough power washer will blast most types of sealer off of concrete with ease. The trick is to make sure to pressure wash the entire surface area. For more sturdy sealers, it may take a few passes with the pressure washer to get it completely removed.
An effective pressure wash cleans the pores of your concrete. Make sure to apply concrete sealer after pressure washing.
Yes, because a pressure washer is 30-80 times stronger than your hose, it can cause damage if used improperly. If your concrete becomes etched during the pressure wash, you should stop before causing further damage and reduce the pressure.
We recommend Ameripolish® Rejuvenating Floor Cleaner. This product is designed for polished concrete floors and will increase stain resistance when used regularly. If this product is unavailable, we suggest using natural soap, such as Dr. Bronner's castile soap when mopping your floor.
'Too much pressure washing can wear away the patio and leave it looking tired and worn,' cautions designer and garden specialist Beril Yilmaz from Garden Furniture Sales. 'It can also damage the sealant used to protect the patio if used too often.
You should never attempt to clean your sealed or polished concrete floors with ammonia, bleach, citrus cleaners, pine based cleaners, vinegar or any highly acidic substance. These are not pH neutral, and could break down or dull the sealant on your concrete flooring.
The other benefit to sealing concrete is improved cleaning and maintenance. Sealers prevent spills and debris from staining the surface and make it much easier to clean.
Routine dust mopping, sweeping, vacuuming, etc. This will help remove any dust, dirt, grit, etc., which can dull the appearance of the concrete sealer if left on the surface. Routine damp-mopping with a commercially available, MILD cleaner.
For some reason, this idea that vinegar will remove concrete sealer has become one of the more pervasive myths about concrete, and it is just that: a myth. That's because almost all concrete sealants are made to be resistant to acid, which vinegar is. As if that wasn't enough, vinegar can actually damage concrete.
Start by removing any visible peeling and flaking and use a solvent based stripper such as Xylene to remove the previous sealer. (If concrete was dyed or stained, using Xylene can damage or change the color of the concrete.) Pressure wash the surface and allow concrete to completely dry.
Concrete cleaning calls for powerful pressure washers featuring high pressure levels of 3000 PSI. However, if you will be using the power cleaner to maintain a range of surfaces in addition to concrete, choose one with adjustable pressure levels and set it to about 3000 PSI when you need to clean concrete.
The basic rule of thumb is every 3-5 years. For film-forming sealants, you will be able to notice when the physical barrier is showing signs of wear. For non-film-forming sealants, you will begin to see a significant color change of pavers during a rain when the sealant is wearing thin.
For the best long term care of your patio use a jet wash (on a wide fan setting) to blast away the top layer of dirt combined with a strong alkaline cleaner scrubbed into the stone to remove the ingrained dirt. Once clean and dry seal the stone with an impregnating sealer to make cleaning easier in future.
It is on the surface 'indefinitely', though it can get worn off with vehicular or foot traffic. Even when the sealer coating has worn an element of the sealer will still remain as it will have soaked in to the concrete, which will continue to help reduce dusting.
Neutral pH neutral cleaners are ideal for cleaning sealed concrete surfaces free from embedded dirt and deep stains. They can also be used on unsealed indoor or outdoor concrete surfaces that only require a mild cleaning. Alkaline concrete cleaners have powerful degreasing capabilities.
Soda blasting, a less aggressive mechanical method, has become more widely used in recent years to remove sealers and coatings successfully. Soda blasting utilizes special high-pressure blasting equipment with commercial-grade baking soda granules as the blasting medium.
Acrylic Concrete Sealers: Acrylic sealers last 1-3 years before they need to be re-coated. Epoxy Coatings: Epoxy coatings last 5-10 years before they need to be re-coated. Urethane Coatings: Urethane coatings last 5-10 years before they need to be re-coated.
Sealing your concrete isn't really a labor-intensive, nor costly, job. By sealing your concrete every 2-5 years, as recommended by experts, you should keep your floor in good shape, preventing cracks, pitting, and additional damage.
If you have cracks in your concrete, sealing won't do anything for those. You'll expend money and effort on something that you might rather replace before too much longer. Sealers fade. The seal on your concrete will fade over time, especially in high-traffic areas.