Etching A Concrete Floor With Muratic Acid

It is inexpensive and a dangerous chemical that can damage almost anything it comes in contact with.

Etching a concrete floor with muratic acid.

Use only plastic or acid resistant containers for mixing and applying acid. The easiest dilution to remember is 1 cup of acid to 1 gallon of water. Muriatic hydrochloric acid is. Acid etching is the process of applying hydrochloric muriatic or buffered phosphoric acid to a slab then rinsing it off with water.

Muriatic acid must be diluted with water before use. Muriatic acid acts like liquid sandpaper by roughening the surface of the concrete. It also reduces the surface alkalinity of the concrete that can cause some paints to adhere poorly. Muriactic acid is one of the most dangerous chemicals you can buy for home use and it can damage nearly everything it touches.

Acids that can be used to etch the concrete are muriatic sulfamic phosphoric or citric. The good thing is that there are safer alternatives that are just as effective available in the market today. Check with the wastewater management agency in your community to see if there are restrictions on disposal of acid solutions in the drainage system in your locale. The object of etching the concrete with muriatic acid and water is to have the liquid come into contact with the substrate.

You roughen such a floor by etching it with muriatic acid. Use muriatic acid or another acid etching material such as klean strip green muriatic acid a safer muriatic acid or hydro etch 1000 which is a modified phosphoric acid which is not as harmful as traditional muriatic acids. Always add the acid to the water never the other way around or you can cause a heat reaction which can make the solution burp up out of the container. Acid washing is dangerous for people plants and metal objects especially indoors where fumes can concentrate.

If you need a stronger solution mix 1 part acid to 10 parts water. For many years it was a standard method of concrete preparation used by nearly all industrial commercial and institutional floor coating installers depending on the floor size and system to be installed. Acid washing also known as acid etching prepares a concrete surface to accept a sealer. Some homeowners shy away from acid etching of their concrete floors for fear of the harmful effects of using and handling muriatic acid the main component of acid etch flooring.

A smooth concrete floor must be roughened before paint will stick to it. You can also use acid in weaker concentrations to remove white mineral deposits efflorescence and heavy grime. If the substrate is sealed with a paint the liquid cannot reach the intended target.