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dekester

Prepping very old basement concrete floors for stain

deke
15 years ago

Okay, I decided I want to stain my basement floor. Here is the issue - it is 100 years old and not a pretty site. No leaks, but just down right dirty and old. I don't think it has been clean for 99 years and six months. I have read about surface prepping with various washes and cleaners and etching, but all talk about power washing and a hose to rinse the daylights out of it. Well, this is my basement and it does not have a drain in the floor. How the heck can I best prep, wash and rinse enough without flooding my basement? If I were to hose it down, would it be okay to shop vac up the water? What about all those acids and other chemicals in the prep solutions? I don't really want to sacrifice a shop vac.

Meanwhile I accidentally slopped about some stucko base coat while I was putting it on the walls and that sure stuck to the dirty floor with no problem! :-)