A garage is one part of your home that receives any type of item and dirt. Could be your car, the motorcycle, lawnmower, drawing tools, building tools, or excess paint, among many other things. However, despite all this, rarely do people plan for its cleaning — after all, it is a garage.
Remember that different stains on the garage floor might require different cleaning products and tactics for it to sparkle clean. That being said, here is an ultimate guideline on how to clean your garage floor.
Step 1: Prepare the Garage for Cleaning
You cannot jump into cleaning a garage floor that hasn’t been cleaned for a while without tidying up first.
In this case, begin by clearing everything inside the garage. Maybe you have a small garage or a large garage in which you have your RV stored and cleaned for travel.
To keep things simple, start with large items and then the small ones for easy manoeuvring. If your garage has shelves, you can leave the items there intact if you have no plan to wash them and they won’t interfere with your floor cleaning.
If you have drywall in your garage, and you are afraid it might get damaged by water during cleaning, you need to cover it up, at least 3 feet from the floor going up. You can use a tarp for this task. If you don’t, mold might start growing later on, and this is not only unappealing but also dangerous for your health.
Finally, remove all the debris and dust on the floor to avoid distractions during the actual cleaning. A broom is enough to handle this task. You are now ready to start cleaning your garage floor.
Step 2: Get the Cleaning Products and Equipment before the Scrubbing
Concrete tends to be absorbent, and over the years, it may have become extremely stained with dirt among and different kinds of stains. In this case, you need the best garage floor cleaning products and tools. It will make your work a lot easier.
Pressure Washer
One of the equipment used as a garage floor cleaner is the pressure washer. It is perfect for cleaning up concrete. For easy cleaning, you will need to use a garage floor degreaser. You do not need to buy this machine; instead, rent it from a local equipment rental near you.
Before using it, it is essential to soak the floor with cleaning solutions for about 15 minutes and then wash sections after sections in the garage.
A pressure washer is the best garage floor cleaner as long as it is used in the right way. If you do not know how to use it, ask the person renting it out to you for proper guidance.
Otherwise, if you are not careful with it, you might scratch the surface of the floor with the water action which tends to be quite abrasive.
Floor Buffer
A great alternative of a pressure washer is a floor buffer, which is used together with a scrubbing head for the concrete. Again, you can rent this one out as well.
Now, if you didn’t know how to clean a concrete garage floor, at least you have an idea, mainly if you rely on the directions given by those renting the machines to you.
The best cleaner degreaser for the garage floor is one which is highly concentrated primarily for the concrete surfaces. However, there are extremely versatile all purpose cleaners such as Quick Job’s True All Purpose Concentrate which will get the job done.
Mix the cleaning solution with warm water, divide your garage into sections, and pour the soapy solution on one of the sections before you start scrubbing.
Once one section is complete, rinse it before the solution dries up. You can power wash the garage floor again using the same machine on that section before moving forward to ensure that even stubborn dirt gets scrubbed out.
Once the floor is arid, inspect to identify any tough stains such as grease, oil, or paint stains. If you do spot any, here is guidance on how to clean them up.
Step 3: How to Remove Grease and Oil Stains From Your Garage Floor
Spotting a grease or oil stain on your concrete garage floor is no surprise because of the equipment that’s there, including your car and lawnmower, which can leak these fluids.
The best way to deal with this is by wiping it off once it happens rather than waiting until it’s too late. Use sawdust or cat litter, and it will absorb the grease before you scrub it off with a nylon-bristle brush and the laundry detergent solution. However, if you didn’t remove it right away, there is still hope.
If after scrubbing the entire garage, the stain remains, all you need is a degreaser whereby you apply it on the stain, rub it a little, and then let it sit for a few minutes before scrubbing thoroughly.
As you do this, be careful to avoid contaminating the dry areas. Repeat the procedure until the stain is all gone.
Step 4: How to Remove Rust Stains
Sometimes the tools you leave on the garage floor such as screwdrivers or hammers will cause a mess once they start rusting. First of all, stop leaving these tools on the floor to avoid having to clean such stubborn stains.
Unfortunately, these stains cannot be avoided entirely because a metal bucket or a wheelbarrow might be the real cause. Now, to remove these stains after scrubbing the garage floor, pour some white vinegar or freshly squeezed lemon juice on the rust stain. Additionally, you can use Quick Job’s True All Purpose Cleaner to remove these rust stains as well.
Let it sit for about 10 minutes and then wash using the nylon-bristle brush before rinsing it off. Repeat this procedure until the stain is all gone.
Step 5: How to Remove Paint Stains
Paint stains are the hardest to remove despite having the best garage floor cleaner. This does not mean that it is not doable.
Start by scraping the loose paint from the garage floor using a putty knife and then sweep it off.
You might need to buy a commercial paint stripper whereby you leave it sitting on the paint stain for a few hours before scrubbing the floor again. Quick Job’s True All Purpose Concentrate is great for removing paint stains as well.
Make sure you wear gloves, and the garage is sufficiently ventilated when using this solution. You can never go wrong with this one.
The Bottom Line
Your garage is most likely a large part of your home and should not be neglected when it comes to deep cleaning your house.
If you are not sure on how to clean cement garage floor or which garage floor cleaner will work for you best, ask for help from equipment renters and from Quick Job.
We hope this guide provides you with the garage floor cleaning tips you need to ensure that you have the best garage on the block.
