Hi y’all,
I’ve been lurking on here for awhile now, but am finally being driven from the shadows by a diy that I began a week ago.
I live in a first floor apartment in Sydney, built approx 1975-80. I’ve just pulled up the gross, manky carpet in the empty bedroom in favour of the concrete underneath. My aim is to seal/finish/paint/overlay the concrete in this room as a trial and if it’s (mostly) successful , I’ll get rid of ALL the gross, manky carpet (seriously, it’s yuuuuck).
Removing the carpet was the easy part as no adhesive had been used. However, I have a few concerns about the state of the concrete and am unsure of what next my steps should be!
SO FAR:
I believe the concrete is unsealed, as it’s rough, porous and absorbs water. I did a simple MVT test (see picture of coles bag duct taped to floor) and waited 3 days but there were no signs of condensation and the area that had been taped off wasn’t a darker colour. However there is a dark patch in the middle of the floor that is definitely moisture and it was there when I removed the carpet.
After repeated cleans, there were other darker areas like this as well although they’ve since dried out. I held the wet/dry vac over the main darker part for 30 seconds and it left a circle of lighter (drier) concrete when I removed it. (See pictures).
CLEANING PROCESS:
I used Clean n Easy Concrete & Driveway Cleaner (1L to 10L water) with a coarse broom and scrubbing brush and have done 2 passes with this (after letting it sit a while). I then used a metal scraper to remove as much of the paint, dirt and dark lumps of concrete as I could.
I mopped the floor with fresh water, used a wet vac to soak up the excess and have had a pedestal fan blowing on the floor (& the window open) for several hours. I just checked and it seems to be dry in there, except for that original dark spot 🤨
CURRENT STATUS...
I don’t want to keep using water in there in case I’m making things worse, plus I think the remaining paint would come off quite well with a Josco Abrasive Nylon Cup Brush or similar drill attachment (suggestions very welcome!)
REMAINING TASKS
- Fill tack holes, divots and low spots with Builders Quickset Concrete & sand (once set)
- scrape & smooth back dark, hard, raised patches of concrete (not sure what these are called, but pic in gallery)
- remove paint and stains with Joyco drill brush attachment
- hand sand entire surface so it’s smooth, uniform and ready for either sealing/paint/polish/top layer.
I haven’t decided coz I don’t know what I’ll be working with yet! 🤷♀️
Just before writing this, I was deep in the archives of the Hive-mind that is Bunnings Workshop 😃I figure I should take care of this concrete creature before jumping headfirst in to a kitchen reno, right? But WOW everyone! So many amazing diy’s here!!
Regardless of how my con-creature turns out, I’m looking forward to learning some stuff!!
Peace 🛠
