Mix about one-third cup powdered laundry detergent in a gallon of warm water, and scrub with a nylon-bristle brush. After cleaning your garage floor, always rinse with your power jet wand. The power jet wand is perfect for this job because the powerful stream will make rinsing quick and easy.
Although there is a myriad of ways you can clean a garage floor, the best technique uses a good degreaser and a stiff-bristled brush. This is all you need to work away the toughest of outdoor stains and marks, cleaning experts concur.
Bronner's castile soap is our favorite non-specialized product for surface cleaning indoor concrete floors. Dr. Bronner's is a nearly pH-neutral cleaner that comes in a variety of natural scents. Because the soap is concentrated, a few drops in a gallon of water is plenty.
Grab some Dawn dish soap from under your sink and get a bucket of hot water, boiling if you're able to. Mix the Dawn and hot water together and pour it on the spot. Grab a brush and scrub it into the stain, after minutes the stain should start to disappear.
Pressure washers can penetrate concrete pores and wash out the dirt and grease. Fill the pressure washer soap reservoir with driveway and concrete cleaner, then apply it to the entire surface using a pressure setting of around 3,000 psi. Then rinse it with water.
Alkaline cleaners are great for lifting oil stains, grease stains, and other petroleum-based stains from concrete. It's an added benefit that you can use it with a pressure washer, making the job that much easier. For an eco-friendly cleaner, we recommend Oil Eater cleaner degreaser (US$15.74, Amazon).
Vinegar or baking soda: These natural cleaners work well to clean cement patios with stubborn charcoal or rust spots. Mix equal parts vinegar and water, scrub the patio with the mixture, then give it a good rinse. If stains don't dissolve, try undiluted vinegar.
Don't: Never use everyday floor cleaning products, such as Pine-Sol; always select a pH-neutral cleaner. Never use products such as ammonia, vinegar, bleach, muriatic acid, or other harsh cleaners on concrete floors.
However, a summer-long onslaught of spider webs, oil stains, and dried leaves can turn any garage into a grease-caked dirt haven. To restore your garage floor to its previous glory, all you need is a good quality pressure washer, some degreaser detergent, and a little know-how.
Use a detergent such as Dawn or Ajax dishwashing liquid mixed with water to brighten a concrete patio that hasn't been cleaned in a while. Use a detergent such as Dawn or Ajax dishwashing liquid mixed with water to brighten a concrete patio that hasn't been cleaned in a while.
Vinegar and Baking Soda
Simply fill a spray bottle with equal parts water and vinegar (or water and baking soda), and add a little bit of liquid dish detergent. Spray the mixture on your concrete surface and let it sit for about 30 minutes. Then scrub and rinse your concrete.
In fact, vinegar removes mold from concrete better than bleach. Bleach will only remove the top layer of mold, causing the mold to return.
Use Dish Soap and Water
Ordinary household dish soap as a degreaser is extremely useful for cleaning up oily, grimy concrete stains while avoiding the use of harmful chemicals. Start with two gallons of warm water and a mere two teaspoons of dish soap in a standard bucket.
As a gentler cleaner, bleach can't harm concrete's durable material. Aside from being an effective cleaner and stain remover, it also acts as a disinfectant to the concrete surface.
You can use Simple Green Oxy Solve Concrete and Driveway Cleaner to clean a concrete patio with or without a pressure washer. It removes oil, grease, grime and most stains and discolorations. Its biodegradable formula is safe for lawns and pets.
The process is fairly straightforward, but it does require plenty of physical labor and time. You must clean and patch the surface, grind it smooth with several passes of a concrete grinder, buff it to bring out the shine, and apply a sealer to protect your work.
A simple way to keep your garage floor clean is to make the sweeping and mopping with a good degreaser a regular occurrence. If you do it at least one time per month your garage floor should stay in good shape and remain clean the vast majority of the year.
Vinegar has a pH level about 2.5, making it ideal for cleaning dirty surfaces. A small amount of dish soap or Sal Suds may also be combined with vinegar to help lift dirt and grime on floor surfaces. (Never combine castile soap with vinegar.) White distilled vinegar is best to use when making a floor cleaner.