FLOOR ACID SAFE ETCHING KIT

High concentrate acid etching kit contains everything you need to properly prep your concrete garage floors, decks, porches or other concrete surfaces.

A proper etching & neutralizing is a must for epoxy coating concrete with ArmorGarage garage floor epoxy or Renew It. If doing a new concrete garage floor or if your concrete is really dirty you need to do a second etch to get the floor properly cleaned and the pores opened up. New concrete has lots of curing residues that need to be burned out and most new floors are power trowel rather smooth, a second etch will ensure that the pores are opened and the slab has a profile the epoxy can adhere to.

Once neutralized no harmful residues are in the concrete that may affect the permanent bonding characteristics of the coating. Mix with 4 gallons water, sprinkle evenly over wet concrete surface and scrub in with stiff bristle shop broom, let sit 5-10 minutes, sprinkle TSP powder evenly over surface while wet, scrub in and rinse well. Let surface dry for 48 hrs minimum.

Kit includes 1 lb of high performance TSP powder, 1 gallon acid etching solution Includes stiff brush and gloves. Treats about 500-600 sq ft. This kit will ensure your floor is cleaned, the pores are opened and the concrete is neutralized to the proper PH.

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Always apply etch to a wet floor. Always do the floor in sections so as to prevent the etch solution from drying on parts of the floor. Rinse off any surface dirt and debris rpior to starting the etching process, if you can power wast the floor even better. Add one gallon of acid etch to 3 gallons of water and mix. Pour into a sprinkler can for easy and neat distribution. Apply half to the wet floor scrub in well with brush, let sit 5 minutes, sprinkle approximately 1/2 lb TSP per 250 square feet, brush in let sit 1 minute rinse floor. Make sure to rinse any TSP solution that might have splashed over to the other half of the floor. Now repeat the above process for the second half of the floor. Make sure to rinse the floor very well. Your floor should have tiny open pores, feel rough to the touch and have no dirty spots. If not etch a second time. If you have a newly poured floor (within 1 year old) you must etch twice to make sure we open the pores and clean out all the curing residues.

It is critically important that your concrete slab is perfectly clean and the pores opened up. The slab should look like new concrete with no black or dark spots. When you kneel down and look closely at the concrete you should also see tiny pin holes in it. When you rub your hand over the concrete it should feel like 150 grit sandpaper. This etch kit includes one gallon of etch and all the accessories.

Multiple etchings may be necessary to get a dirty floor clean. If the floor is extremely dirty with stubborn stains it's best to diamond grind. You can rent floor grinders now from Home Depot. After you grind you will need to rinse the floor off so it's a good time to acid etch and neutralize with the TSP powder.

If you are renting a commercial grinder from an industrial tool rental place get the largest grinder you can use. Insist on new bits of at least 20 grit or so. Otherwise you will be there for a long time grinding with worn out bits or a small dinky machine. If a Vac accessory is available for the machine, get it. There will be a lot of dust when you grind and Shop Vacs will not work, they will clog up in two minutes. Even with a good Vac system you most likely will still have to wash the floor to get rid of all the dust. Apply some duct tape to the floor and see if any concrete dust is stuck to the bottom of it when you pull it up. Dust on the tape is not clean enough, no dust or a minuscule amount means you're good to go.