AFTER Drywall Cleanup–Swept and Vacuumed
The drywall and paint process made a big mess on the concrete. Although they vacuumed and swept, and they put paper on the floor before sanding and painting, the whole floor has ground in drywall dust on it.
I contacted a couple of concrete sealing companies to find out if they could clean and re-seal it. The bid we got back was $2000 just for cleaning. Seemed we should try cleaning on our own for $2000.
It was mopped twice, once with plain water and once with the Zep floor cleaner added to the water. I had read that steaming will clean ground in dirt so I used my little steamer to clean off part of the floor. It took off some spots but it dried with surface dust still showing. I realized I should have wiped it after I steamed while it was still wet. Steamers loosen dirt but don’t pick it up.
Steam cleaned
Then I tried buying a carpet/floor cleaning machine. I put it together and cleaned a portion of the same kitchen floor but it also dried with some white spots and didn’t seem like it added much to the previous mopping job. So I returned the cleaner. Buying it, reading the instructions, putting it together, then trying it, taking it apart, cleaning all the components and putting them all back in the box to return was pretty time consuming too.
Trying a floor cleaning machine
I tried to use my little steamer again but the heater would not turn on! I think the steamer worked well to clean out the cracks and some of the gooey spots from before they did the drywall but apparently mine was at the end of its life.
Dave is doing the mopping and we thought a scrub brush might help. After another pass on hands and knees with the brush the floor is finally looking clean. I think it still needs steaming in some places so I ran out to Harbor Freight to replace my steamer.
AFTER Brush Scrubbing
All the floors need to be mopped, probably twice, then scrubbed with a brush, then steamed in the worst places and finally have the new floor coating put on. I feel a bit bad that Dave is having to do the scrubbing but my body is not up to it right now.