During the winter in northern states and in Canada, your car will be covered in snow and ice. There will be a buildup in the wheel wells on your car of slush. It is a mixture of snow, sand and salt which among other things eats away at your car. But also melts in your garage and lands on the floor. As the water evaporates your left with a mix of sand and salt deposits in a white powder like form. This white stuff is efflorescence. Efflorescence deposits on your garage floor do not look great. It can cause damage to any tools etc. that may be in your garage. This is salt after all and salt corrodes any exposed metal.
How to Get Rid of Efflorescence Garage Floor Deposits?
Washing the floor will help remove some of the material, however there is still a great deal that will be in the concrete and will also be in the cracks in your floor. Once your floor dries, the salts will reappear. The best approach is to use a brush with stiff fibers and sweep up all of the loose material and discard it in the garbage.
You may need to do this several times to remove all of the material on the floor. If you have a leaf blower, this tool can get rid of almost all of the grit and salt left on the floor. Move your car and any other items that might obstruct the removal of the dust. I would move your car onto the street since there will be lots of dust in the air and you do not want it landing on your car.
Start at the furthest point away from the garage door and blow all of the dust out the door onto the driveway and then onto the street or your lawn. This method does not cost anything and will get rid of any fine particles of sand and salt that is left after first sweeping the garage floor with a broom.
There are lots of products on the market that advertised to deal with efflorescence garage floor removal, however this is the easiest and the least expensive method.