Is your decorative concrete floor looking drab and unattractive? Sealed and polished concrete looks great initially, but it accumulates dirt and stains over time and requires cleaning. Find out how to clean a painted concrete floor and keep it looking its best.
Concrete flooring was once exclusively for an outdoor patio or garage floor. These days, painted concrete floors are popular inside the home as a sophisticated alternative to other materials. Its durability makes it ideal for everything from bars and restaurants to kitchen floors and countertops.
Vinyl, laminate, and linoleum are typical floor types in kitchens and bathrooms, but concrete is becoming an indoor option. However, concrete is a porous material that absorbs stains readily, especially if it’s unsealed concrete. Even sealed concrete suffers from staining.
Concrete soaks up liquid spills and stains quickly, and the longer they sit, the harder they are to remove. Therefore, cleaning the concrete floor with the proper solution and technique is essential.
- Ways to Clean Painted Concrete Floors
- What to Know Before Cleaning a Painted Concrete Floor
- How to Clean a Painted Concrete Floor
- How to Wash Sealed Cement Floors
- Removing Stubborn Stains From Painted Concrete Flooring
- How Often Should You Clean Painted Concrete Floors?
- What’s the Difference Between Sealed and Unsealed Concrete?
- Tips for Maintaining Painted Concrete Floors
Ways to Clean Painted Concrete Floors
Cleaning concrete doesn’t have to be a chore. Discover ways to clean a decorative concrete floor to remove everyday dirt and stubborn stains, whether they are sealed, polished, painted, or stained concrete.
What to Know Before Cleaning a Painted Concrete Floor
There are a few things to be aware of before cleaning a painted concrete floor. For example, is it painted, stained, or polished concrete? If you did not apply the floor coating yourself, you might be unsure whether it’s concrete stain, paint, or polish.
Staining or painting concrete adds color to the space, matching the style of the rest of the room. Polished concrete has a dry-to-glossy finish that resembles granite, marble, or polished stone. Sealed concrete has a coating of acrylic resins or urethane, making it stain-resistant and nonporous.
How to Clean a Painted Concrete Floor
While you’re eager to get stains off a painted cement floor, it’s always best to dry-clean it beforehand. Sweeping and vacuuming removes loose sand and dust and prevents scratches when washing the floor.
Concrete Floor Dry Cleaning
Move as much of the furniture out of the space as possible and clear any rugs from the floor. Use a dust mop, broom, or vacuum to remove the surface grit and debris. Begin at one side of the room and clean the edges, corners, and center until you reach the opposite side.
How to Wash Sealed Cement Floors
Concrete flooring attracts just as much dirt as other floors. Yet, what works to clean a linoleum floor doesn’t always clean concrete. Learn how to wash sealed cement floors to remove everyday grime.
Washing sealed cement floors is simple. Fill a bucket with about two gallons of warm water and add two teaspoons of detergent. Dunk a clean sponge into the mix and wring out the excess liquid. Clean the corners, edges, and hard-to-reach floor areas with the sponge.
To clean the rest of the floor, dunk a mop into the soapy water, wring it out, and use a back-and-forth motion to clean the entire floor. Once the concrete is clean, rinse the sponge and mop with clean water, mop the floor again, and let it air dry completely.
Removing Stubborn Stains From Painted Concrete Flooring
While you may use Pine Sol or another floor cleaner to wash a standard kitchen floor, it’s better to use an all-purpose cleaner on concrete paint. The cleaner is strong enough to remove stains and safe for painted concrete, as long as you dilute it with water.
Mix the all-purpose cleaner with warm water in a bucket according to the product’s directions. Get a microfiber mop slightly damp and clean the flooring from one side to the other. Avoid cleaning painted concrete with a wet mop, which may cause the floor paint to break down and peel.
Dump out the cleaning solution and fill the bucket with water. Dunk the mop into the clean water, wring it out to ensure it’s damp, and use it to rinse cleaning residue off the floor. Allow the concrete floor to air dry thoroughly before replacing rugs and furniture.
How Often Should You Clean Painted Concrete Floors?
Cleaning a painted concrete floor takes time and effort, and we’d rather not do it more than necessary. How often does concrete flooring need cleaning? Learn when to clean painted concrete floors for optimal results.
Concrete Floor Care
Sweep, dry mop, or vacuum indoor concrete floors daily or as needed, depending on traffic. Remove a rust stain or other stains as soon as you notice them, and clean the entire floor once every two weeks.
If it’s a garage or basement floor where dirt accumulates faster, prepare to clean it weekly. If you have outdoor patio concrete, plan to power wash or deep clean it yearly to remove dirt, pollen, and stains.
What’s the Difference Between Sealed and Unsealed Concrete?
Understanding the differences between sealed cement floors and unsealed floors is helpful before grabbing a mop and bucket. These two concrete types have subtle differences in their surface.
Sealed vs Unsealed Concrete
Unsealed concrete is common in patios, exterior walkways, and some garages. You pour concrete without additional treatment, and the surface is naturally porous. Unfortunately, unsealed concrete is more prone to developing stains.
A sealed concrete floor has a surface coating that protects it from staining. The floor coat may consist of urethanes, penetrating silicates, epoxies, or acrylic resins, making the material nonporous.
Tips for Maintaining Painted Concrete Floors
While it’s relatively simple to remove stains from freshly stained wood floors and painted concrete, it’s better to avoid the stains in the first place. Discover how to care for your painted concrete flooring to ensure it stays clean and stands the test of time.
Concrete Floor Maintenance
Knowing how to wash sealed cement floors and wash painted hardwood floors is the first step in floor maintenance. Yet, it’s equally important to care for them daily.
Sweep and mop the concrete flooring regularly, and always let it air dry completely before allowing house members to walk on it. Treat a concrete stain promptly with soapy water or the appropriate stain remover.
Don’t drag heavy furniture across the flooring. Instead, place felt pads beneath the table and chair legs or position an area rug under the furniture. Always leave dirty shoes at the door to keep mud, sand, and grit from tracking across the concrete floors.
Never use chlorine bleach or other harsh cleaners to clean concrete floor, especially if it has a paint coating. These cleaners contain chemicals that may cause discoloration, meaning you’ll have to paint concrete floors more often.
Painted concrete has a unique appeal with its durability and strength. Nonetheless, a concrete floor requires special cleaners and methods to maintain its appearance. Luckily, a vacuum and broom remove loose dirt, and soapy water cleans concrete stains.
We hope you enjoyed learning how to clean a painted concrete floor. We’d love it if you’d share our tips for cleaning painted concrete floors with your family and friends who have concrete flooring on Pinterest and Facebook.