Wednesday, August 29, 2012

Removing Rust Stains from a Concrete Walkway

These annoying rust stains on the entry sidewalk at our summer cottage having been on my to-do list for a while.

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The stains were caused by a steel sleeve that is embedded in the concrete beneath the iron posts. Because the cap on the bottom of the post is not completely flat due to the slope, rain water runs underneath and the steel sleeve rusts. That problem has been solved by running a bead of clear caulk around the bottom of the cap. Now to clean the rust stain. I had read a post on another blog about how the rust removal product CLR did not work. I decided that I needed to give it a try any way.

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A close up shot shows how dark the stains were.

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I purchased my bottle of CLR and poured a little on each stain and allowed it to work. Some how, it goes straight to the stain and starts to sizzle on the rust. After it stopped sizzling, I rinsed it with the hose then reapplied until the stains were gone.

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Since I am impatient, after a few minutes, I did gently scrub just a little with a wire brush. When I did that, I could see the rust coming off. The whole project took less than 30 minutes. I should have done it a long time ago!

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I was very pleased with the results.

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Now I can check that off my list!

I’ll be linking to Tips, Tidbits and Tutorials at Stone Gable.

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4 comments:

Yvonne @ StoneGable said...

Pat, great tip! We have a couple of rust stains on the concrete by your cellar door. I'm trying this!
Thanks for joining TUTOIRAL TIPS AND TIDBITS! Very helpful!

The Checkered Apple said...

Thanks for sharing this tip! I have my own rust spots on my patio here and there and now I know how to remove them!

Liz @ Quirky Vistas said...

Thanks so much for showing this. I have some huge rust stains on my patio and I hate to buy a product if I'm not sure it's going to work. Great to see you got such results!
Liz

Unknown said...

Yes I have also some huge rust stains on near the ladder. I want to remove this but i was confused about that. but here I get the idea about clearing concrete rust stains . Thanks for the information.