In northern climates, cities and counties spread lots of salt on roads to melt the snow and reduce accidents. The salt gets on our cars and makes a mess of our cars causing them to rust and deteriorate. When we place our car in the garage, the snow and salt mixture melts. It drips onto the concrete floor seeping into cracks in the concrete. When the saltwater evaporates it leaves a white powder called efflorescence. This is a very common occurrence. Especially in northern climates where a great deal of salt and sand mixtures are used to keep the roads from becoming too icy. Many people wonder what this white powder on my concrete garage floor is.
When the snow and salt mixture melts, it coats the floor with a salty brine. The concrete will absorb this brew like a paper towel, readily soaking up all of the moisture including the salt. When the water evaporates at the salt is left behind. It sits on the surface of your garage floor as well as in the cracks in the concrete. It is just fine crystals of salt.
How to Clean Efflorescence White Powder on my Concrete Garage Floor
Washing the white powder with water does not work. This will cause the salt to be absorbed by the water and driven into the concrete. When the floor dries again the efflorescence will come back.
Even if you try to wash the floor several times the efflorescence or salt crystals will come back each time after the water dries. The best way to get rid of this fine powder is to use a fine broom and brush up the powder into small piles. Sweep the powder into a pile, scoop it up and place it in the garbage. You may need to sweep several times before it all is gone.
Some consumers will use an electric blower to blow all of the dust and all of the salt, this salt mix together out of the garage and into the street. This just adds to the dust floating around in the air which eventually falls to the ground, on your shrubs, grass, and even your car. My preference is to sweep it up with a broom as mentioned before and scoop it into the plastic garbage bag.