Removing stains on painted concrete

[Mike Hughes]

I have to remove some stains from a painted concrete pool deck. The stains are mostly where the pool cover has been laying for months.

The pool is only a few years old, but the concrete was redone last spring when I was there to seal his cedar deck. It is patterned concrete, painted on the top and sealed.

These stains (see second row from the bottom in the picture) come off if I scrub it with mild soap and a brush..........so I'm pretty sure they'll come off. I just want to make sure I use the proper chemical, because I'm worried about damaging the sealer.

Suggestions?

 

[ron p]

looks like

a mild citrus based cleaner will work fine.
bucket/brush with simple green will work also.

 

[Mike Hughes]

I'm looking to do this with no agitation.......I dont have the time to rub everyone of these stains with a brush.........

 

[ron p]

ron p

mike, it look's like concrete overlay. They pour the cement, let it harden, then use diffrent colored overlays to make it look like it's not just a slab.
In the warmer states, some guy's start out doing pressure washing and move on to concrete overlay.
I looked into it. You can get jobs inside as well as outside and could be a godsend for us guy's with snow.
If it is overlay then it should stand-up to a surface cleaner and a limonlene type cleaner.

 

[Hotwaterwizard]

Has anyone tried this product? (I'm not advertizing!) Just saw the commercial on TV and thought it looked good.

Kaboom Stain Remover

 

[CompletelyClean]

Kaboom

John,

My wife bought some from Costco...she still likes the Krud Kutter from Home Depot better.

 

[Hotwaterwizard]

The commercial showed it getting rust stains out of concrete!

 

[Paul B.]

It seems expensive at $12 a quart ($38 per gallon).

Has anyone tried "The Works" - a phosphoric acid based cleaner it's only $2.49 per quart. Phosphoric acid based cleaners work well on rust stains.

Prosoco makes a very good product for rust it's called Ferrous Stain Remover and can be had for about $15 per gallon.


Regards,

 

[Paul B.]

Mike,

Can you find out who did the work and call them to see what the product was and see if they have a recommendation for cleaning.

Depending on what the stains are, a Sodium Hypochlorite solution may take care of the stains (besides, you're next to the pool anyway) a little SH will keep to pool clean anyway.
Again I would want to test before.

My truck looks like a chemical warehouse, with little bits of different chemicals for spot testing.

Sodium Hypochlorite
Simple Green
Crete Clean Plus
Krud Kutter
White Scum Remover
Goof Off
Sodium Metasillicate based cleaner
Potassium Hydroxide based cleaner
Sodium Hydroxide based cleaner
The Works
TSP
Gutter Zap
Ferrous Stain Remover
White Ox
Oxalic Acid
Citric Acid
Citralic Acid
Detergent 600
Glass De-Etch
Muriatic Acid
SuperKlean
D'limonene
Bacardi 151
Pain thinner
Xylene
Denatured Alcohol
Lacquer thinner
Jack Daniels
Mineral Spitits
Paint thinner
SafeStrip
MEK
HD-80
Bix Tuff-Job
Dad's
DeckStrip A&L
SuperStrip



Regards,

 

[Scott Stone]

I use the works for getting hard water spots off of cars. Great stuff, and convenient to get, They have it in the local grocery store.


Scott Stone

 

[Paul B.]

It works great on getting rust off of vinyl siding.

Regards,

 

[glabarta]

I believe the Jack Daniels and 151 are great for "liver spots". I prefer the clearer solution of Greygoose.

 

[Paul B.]

They are two of my multi-purpose chemicals.

- Major part of the First Aid kit: pain killer, muscle relaxer and disinfectant.
- A great team building media - people will share all kinds of information after a few onces are applied.
- They can fill in as substitute for propane in an emergency.
- Make great torches for aerial spotting when the crew gets lost.

 

[Mike Hughes]

On my third attempt, I will be completing this job tomorrow morning.....finally.

First attempt: Did not have an appropriate cleaner on board

Second attempt: Did a test patch of a citric cleaner and it got rid of some of the stains in question. Other parts of the staining were barely noticeable now that the pool cover has been off for over a week.

I could not wash it because of wind direction.........it was blowing right towards the deck that I had just put a second coat of sealer on. I was not willing to sacrifice the quality of the deck job, so decided another visit would be necessary.


Third attempt is tomorrow, and it better go off without a hitch..........because I'm sick of this job, and the homeowner.

Here's the deck for those of you that didnt see it on the other bbs.

 

[kmjt1021]

Mike are you saying that customers can be a pain? I never have that problem.

 

[Mike Hughes]

Did I say that??

Most aren't, but this guy really takes the cake. He's not out of line..........just really really picky. Hard to please.

He was really happy with the deck last week...........which was great...........it's rare to make him happy on the first try.

Did the pool today. I used the x-jet with the close range nozzle to apply a citrus cleaner to the surface, then I scrubbed the entire thing with a scrub brush (on a handle). I didn't want to take any chances...........just figured I'd go to extremes right off the bat. Rinsed it off and that was it. It came up pretty good..........."Annoying Man" , as I call him, was happy with it. (anyone remember that character from Saturday Night Live years ago?)