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Stesso

Acid Etch the Floor

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Applying Epoxy. First step acid etching the concrete. Part 1.

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What happens here

Begin by spraying muriatic acid on the concrete floor to acid etch the surface. The goal is to create a well-etched, rough profile, which is essential for the epoxy to bond effectively to the concrete. The concentration of the muriatic acid should be adjusted based on the initial smoothness of the floor: use 100% muriatic acid for very smooth floors that require significant etching, and a mixture of about 70% muriatic acid with 30% water for floors that are already somewhat rough. The acid will visibly etch the floor, often turning areas yellow where it is actively working. Use a plastic household weed sprayer, such as an RL Flowmaster model with plastic nozzles, for even application.

Goal: Create a rough concrete profile for proper epoxy bonding

Tools and materials

  • 3M Charcoal Filter Mask 3M — Protecting respiratory system from acid fumes
  • Rubber Boots — Protecting feet and lower legs from acid splashes and contact. Ensure they go up pretty high for maximum protection
  • Muriatic Acid Startex — Acid etching the concrete surface
  • Water — Diluting muriatic acid for less aggressive etching on slightly rougher floors

What they say

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In this video, we're going to be prepping an epoxy floor to get it ready to put tile clad high solids epoxy on it. And we've been spraying the moratic acid on the floor to acid etch the floor. You want the floor to be acid etched well so it has a good profile and be rough enough for the epoxy to bond to the concrete. If the floor is too smooth, then the epoxy won't get a good bite to the concrete and there's a good chance that a car pulling into the garage could actually lift up and peel up the epoxy if the tires are too hot. And in order to spray this floor with Moratic acid, we use just a regular plastic weed household weed sprayer with just plastic nozzles. And I just use a RL Flowmaster weed sprayer, just lawn insect weed sprayer. And we'll be using, we have been using just moratic acid. And on this floor, and it typically takes me about a gallon of moratic acid to do a twocar garage. And I mix the moratic acid. If the floor is really, really smooth, I'll use it 100%. If the floor is fairly rough, a little bit rough, I'll mix about 70% moratic acid, 30% water. If it's, you know, this floor is really, really smooth and it's going to take a lot of etching to get it rough, I'll just use 100% moratic acid. And you can see we've sprayed this floor with Moratic acid. And it's still yellow where it's actually etching the floor. Once the floor is etched, we'll actually start washing all the moratic acid up towards the front of the garage. We don't want to wash it down the driveway. If you wash it down the driveway before it's diluted, you could actually etch and discolor the driveway. This is a brick paver driveway. So, we want to take and wash all the wall all the moratic acid up towards the front. And then we'll begin rinsing it down the driveway. And we got a water hose all set up and ready to go to do the rinsing. And then once it's rinsed, then we'll start power washing it with our power washer. items to have that are pretty important is while you're acid etching in an enclosed space with moratic acid, it's pretty hard to breathe and it's good to have a 3M charcoal filter mask and a set of rubber boots. Otherwise, if you get moratic acid on your shoes or clothing, it could actually eat holes in the shoes and clothing. So, good set of rubber boots that go up pretty high are pretty important.

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