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My basement floor has been made amazingly gross (thank you, cats) and I'd like to get it really clean. Is there an option other than scrubbing on hands and knees? Are there cleaning solutions that work well on concrete? Do I have to worry about damaging the floor? There's no drain anywhere.

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  • I know you can nowadays easily get environmentally friendly, safe (concrete, siding, etc) cleaners from the 2 big-box DIY stores here in the US. – Mike Perry Jul 11 '11 at 22:07
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Is this a finished concrete floor or raw slab? If slab, I'd suggest low-power pressure wash...maybe even start with just the garden-hose attachment. Add a bit of soap.

The real challenge, however, is that you have no drains. I can't think of an easy way to get around that short of power wash a bit, shop vac it up, and then constantly repeat until the shop vac is full, then empty that into a sink and repeat.

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  • A driveway squeegee (like this -- basically a big squeegee on a broom handle) in combination with the shop vac will make this job much easier. – gregmac Jul 12 '11 at 18:09
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    A Shop-vac pump vac (has a built in water pump) may make it easier to remove the water from basement to outside or a drain in an upper floor. Here is a link at walmart.com walmart.com/ip/Shop-Vac-Wet-Dry-Pump-Vacuum-10-Gallon/2194732 – RSMoser Jul 12 '11 at 21:16
  • It's a raw slab. – nmichaels Jul 13 '11 at 15:29
  • Since I didn't have a shop vac handy, I used a carpet shampooer to suck up the water. It was basically this though. – nmichaels Nov 3 '11 at 14:18
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You could use acid with water and a hard brush, but be really sure to have forced ventilation and the proper mask and safety gear.

I used this to clean decorative stones in my garden.

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