This is coquina. Its like an underwater type coral material. Seems very porous and brittle. She wants me to clean this pillar. Not a full house wash, im only flat surface. Im was planning to hit it with a 3% mix, let it dwell, then soft rinse it with water through a soap tip. Can anybody tell me if this is the correct approach or if 3% is hot enough?
You need to learn to do test spots instead of relying on information from strangers on the internet.
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I thought this site was about sharing information, learning, exploring new things. No?? But yeah I’ll test spot it. Thanks.
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I’d never even heard of coquina until this thread (zero results in the search bar). Looks like something you will only find on rich people’s houses. Perfect criteria for asking a question! Strangers or not, I’ve learned more from this site than anywhere else & I’m grateful it’s here as a resource. Test spots are always a great idea but an opinion from someone with experience is golden.
I guess its a florida thing. Not a rich neighborhood. Its very brittle on the outer surface. Ill be careful with it and soft wash it. Yeah great site. I’ve been living on here. Lol.
Who said it wasn’t? Taking five minutes to do a test spot would give you all the answers you need without having to rely on information from others. What happens when you get bad information on here (Yes, it happens. Quite a lot, too.) and you tear something up? What are you going to tell your customer? “Well, this person on the internet whom I’ve never met said this should definitely work. No, I’ve never tested it myself but that’s what they said.” This site is an excellent resource to learn things in theory. Then you must take those theories and put them into practice.
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I’d think twice about cleaning it.
Certain stone can react with cleaning solutions and you can permanently ruin the stone.
Who was it over the summer that discolored the stone they were cleaning and turned it a different color? Yikes. That was a nightmare.
Another guy went with a strong mix on stone and bleached out the color. He lit it up…and ruined it.
Do you have insurance? I definitely wouldn’t touch it without having insurance. Imagine the cost to replace it.
Not trying to knock you at all but new guys get into trouble quite a bit by thinking they can treat any surface the same. Same pressure. Same chems. But you don’t know what you don’t know.
The fact that no search results come up on this site for coquina…that alone would make me pause, rethink it and at least start doing a lot of googling.
I will. Thank you.
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@Historic may have worked with it before?
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Great thought, @jwils !
I found a pw company who had a video of it. Used a hot mix and of course a low pressure rinse. The guy did a great job on it. It was a decorative stone barrier down by the water. Lots of it is shell that is naturally fused together. Very brittle.
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I saw that video as well.
Looks like coquina has the same composition as limestone, which we have a lot of here in Louisville, so basically calcium carbonate. The guys on here showed me the method, hot-ish mix, low pressure rinse and limestone at least might require a neutralizer to prevent discoloration.
So I know this a newbie question but I have to ask. What is a hot mix. I assume it is a mix with a high sh% but want to make sure I’m on the same page.
Im gonna clean it, just not sure about the neutralizer. I wanted to pick up some anyway. But the directions for neutralizer start with 5000 gallons of water based on
parts per million so I would have no idea how much to mix in a 2 gallon bucket for down streaming. Not very much at all im sure.
4% and up.
Oxalic is typically the SH neutralizer. You don’t downstream it, applied with a pump-up after a thorough water rinse. I’m new-ish though so let the veteran washers on here elaborate.
Thanks man.
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