Dirty floor prep for paint HELP needed

[Hellcat666]

So i just started renting this garage that used to be this guys shop. the floor is pretty gross on the side where the lift was all greas stained looking and just grimey from years of him being a slobe and never cleaning it, the rest of the floor isnt so bad i will try to post pics tomorrow. my problem is i want to paint or expoxy or do something to the floor to make it not look like ass but have no access to a hose there. the house that is on the property is being rebuilt and i tryed to hose outside but they must have the water shut off. Anyone have any suggjestions on how to go about cleaning/painting it. My idea was to go there with a bunch of 5 gallon things of water, putting some cleaner down, scrubbing and scrapeing the crap, rinsing as best i can with the buckets and squegeeing/brooming the water out. but im open to suggjestions from anyone who maybe has had to deal with something like this befor. Thanks in advance!

[Edger]

If you can get a long handle scraper with a replaceable sharp blade to scrape the floor first that might save a lot of time. Broom up and put it in the bin.

Next get some solvent degreaser and swish it around with a fine bristle broom, preferably soft bristle nylon like a house broom, don't press hard, just agitate the muck until most of it is dissolved.

You must have a wet vac. Vacuum up the waste then immediately put down another type of heavy duty cleaner either strong alkaline degreaser or citrus degreaser and use it very concentrated. Make sure the floor is wet, but not flooded, no need to waste any.

Agitate it in until you can see clean concrete through it using the soft bristle broom so you can get it into all the fine cracks. Gently keep agitating for up to 20 mins if necessary.

Vacuum up and spread water with the broom agitating it again and vacuum up.

For the final rinse make sure everything is clean, no contamination from dirty areas. Rinse and vacuum as above.

If there are no shiny smooth areas when you are finished and it has thoroughly dried go ahead and coat. If there are any shiny areas they will require acid etching, vacuum removal and a rinse + vacuum.

[Hellcat666]

thanks for the reply edger im going to try that.

[Hellcat666]

just to give an update, i scraped and scrubbed at the floor for an entire weekend, decided it was to much work for human hands. i rented a walk behind machine ( floor keeper) u add degreaser to it and it has a big ass brush that puts down the solutiong scrubs it then its got a vacuum behind it with a squeegie to suck up all the water. it worked really well i did kept going over the floor for two days straight and it got like 85% of the crap up, only spots it left a little where the parts of the floor that have grooves and chips in them, im waiting a few days for the floor to dry then guna attempt to paint it. if it doesnt stick oh well i did wat i could haha!

[Edger]

Good luck, it might work OK. I would have gotten a heavy duty alkaline degreaser and used it very strong on those chips and grooves. Keep soaking for 5 hrs without drying and then it might just wash out.

[Hellcat666]

so i went to lowes and picked up some cans of that cheap 30$ seal krete epoxy garage floor paint. i have to say i couldnt be happier. i put on one coat let it dry for 20 hours, put on a second coat and was going to go for a third but it looks great after the second so im leaving it. the stuff is pretty hardcore and laid out very nice. at 30 buks a can for a place i am renting i couldnt go wrong. thanks again edgar for the advice, il post some pics soon.

[Edger]

Would be good to see.

[Hellcat666]

here is a befor of the floor. you can see in the close up picture on the left is the actual concrete, the right is built up with grease id say a good 70% of the floor was like this when i started

[Hellcat666]

here is it after the 2nd coat of paint, again for the price of the paint, how well it laid out and the fact that i dont own the garage and im just renting it, i couldnt have asked for better results.

[Edger]

Hey Hellcat, that is a good job considering where you started and how much it cost. I can see the big divots in the floor after coating too. Lots of deep dirt traps for you. The good part is that the only parts that are subject to wear are the high spots!

[ptaylor2000]

You proved once again that preparation is 90% of the job. Let us know how well the Epoxy Seal holds up.