On Sun, 28 Apr 2013 12:53:42 -0400, Frank
wrote:

I had access and use of hydrochloric acid in the lab but had bought the
gallon when I moved into my new house and wanted to paint the basement
floor. I wanted to clean and etch the concrete with the muriatic acid.

I've always heard the muriatic acid WAS used to etch concrete slabs
for paint or epoxy coatings.

I was just given (10 days ago) a two part epoxy floor coating (Behr).
Enough to do the single garage. Watching a videos I see they use the
two packets (white powder crystals) of Citric Acid Anhydrous to etch
the floor and scrub it. This breaks the seal if you have one.

One that acts almost like muriactic acid is a tile and grout cleaner I
have used. Sulfamic Acid crystals (treat the same as muriatic - add
to water - not the reverse). I spilled a drop on an paver and the
spot looked like a new paver.

I'm not a chemist. Care to comment on each?