Hangar floors exist at two ends of the same spectrum: the sublime dream of shiny gray epoxy under a bright fluorescent glare or the dingy reality of unloved, ashless-dispersant-stained concrete. Turning the latter into the former can be done, albeit at great expense and effort.
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But there might be something in between, thanks to a new product called ReKrete, a waterless cleaner designed to eliminate oil staining from concrete floors. At $30 for a 10-pound tub, it’s a lot cheaper than $250 worth of epoxy. But does it work?
To find out, we tried the stuff on our messy Cub hangar floor, where the airplane always pukes out a little oil after each flight. ReKrete is a benign, powder material about the consistency of fine talc. It looks and feels a lot like the concrete it’s supposed to treat because if, in fact, contains some Portland cement, but not enough to turn into a lump in the tub is exposed to moisture.
Dayna Harp, whose Harp Creek LLC sells ReKrete, told us the material is made of surfactants and bio-enzymes that, in contact with oil, breaks down the hydrocarbon chains and consumes the oil, leaving behind a whitish stain that slowly disappears.
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You use it like a powdered floor sweeping compound. Just spread it on the stained area—or the entire floor—sweep it around a bit and then sweep it up. You’ll immediately notice white staining where the oil spots are, which evidently indicates the enzymes are going to work.
We got moderately good results with the first application, but also noticed that the stains seem to recede with time, even though we didn’t try a second application. We did hit the stains with a wire brush to work the material into the concrete.
A couple of caveats: Don’t use ReKrete if the wind is blowing into the hangar; it’s a fine granule material and is easily picked up by even light breezes.
Second, if you have expansion cuts in your concrete surface, you’ll want a vacuum cleaner handy because ReKrete fills these seams and you can’t extract it with a broom. Last, move the airplane out of the hangar to keep the dust from getting into wheel bearings or other sensitive parts.
ReKrete is sold in 10-pound tubs for $30, 20 pounds for $57 and 30 pounds for $82. Ten pounds will treat a small T-hangar floor at least once, if not twice. Contact Harp Creek at www.harpcreek.com or 614-598-1814.
