How to remove wood stains from polished concrete slab?

Question

I left some wood out on our BBQ polished concrete table about 3-4 days ago. It got rained on and I removed the wood a day later but it left quite a lot of stains on the concrete. I saw on a previous post a Bunnings team member suggested CLR 750ml Oil And Grease Remover and Intergrain 1L UltraPrep Tannin And Oil Remover. Would this work any differently on a polished concrete slab? It was sealed by the builders who laid it would I need to reseal after using those product?

Many Thanks,

JackT

MitchellMc · Answer

Hi @JackT,

If it turns out the table wasn't sealed, then yes, Intergrain UltraPrep would be the product I'd try first. It's specifically designed to remove tannin stains from timber, which is most likely what has transferred from the wet wood onto the concrete. I'd give that a go before trying an oil and grease remover, as this doesn't appear to be an oily stain.

As with any cleaner, I'd recommend testing it on a small, inconspicuous area first and following the manufacturer's instructions.

Once you've removed as much of the staining as possible, I'd definitely recommend applying a quality concrete sealer. It will make the surface much more resistant to this type of staining in the future and make general cleaning much easier.

Please let us know how you get on, and hopefully the builders can also confirm whether the slab was sealed originally.

Mitchell

JackT · Answer

Hey @EricL thank you for your quick response. I spoke to my parents, who had the benchtop installed. They thought it was sealed; however, due to the staining and me looking over the photos, it seems like it wasn't. I will be sure to contact the builders to see if they did seal it.

Just to be clear if the table was not sealed, would those products I mentioned above work on unsealed concrete to remove those wet wood stains?

Also thanks @Dave-1 for your effort.

Dave-1 · Answer

Good Afternoon @JackT

I am afraid I dont have any experience or ideas with this :/Tho will follow along to file how you go :)

Dave