We cleaned the sidewalks for a property manager last week which had a lot of gum. We popped it off with our hot water unit, but I still noticed some of the gum left a stain or a shadow behind after it dried. Is there anything that could be applied to help reduce these stains before or after PW?
Also, is it better to pop the gum after you’ve surface cleaned the sidewalks or before?
never done it before. just bouncing a few ideas off of you. i would pop them off first, then clean. maybe itll help get the residue off. when i clean carpets i use a solvent to soften it up before i pick at it or extract it. maybe you can try some oil flo.
i would probably pop them all off, then follow up with oilflo in a solvent resistant spray bottle, then surface clean
what tip do you use to pop off the gum? 5 degree?
Clean first, pop gum while you’re rinsing. Bleach will help with gum shadows.
And then after that, repeated cleanings will help even more. Shadows happen.
Right, you won’t ever eliminate shadows but you can make it look a lot better.
Either of you try a Slovent like oil flo? You guys are the experts with sidewalks, but I can get it completely out of any fabric. Although the sidewalk is porous, I would think I could get it off of any hard surface too.
Don’t take this the wrong way, I’m not doubting anyone’s ability. Just asking questions
I’ve done a lot of residential driveways and sidewalks, but this was my first attempt with a commercial manager, so dealing with a lot of gum was a new experience.
We cleaned first with the surface cleaner then popped it off with the wand, and while the property manager was happy with the results, I was still a bit worried about the stains some of the gum left fearing that he’d call us out on it.
I used 10% SH on the concrete, but that didn’t seem to help with the left over shadowing. I only have a 4gpm machine. Does 8gpm and letting the SH sit longer help any?
Thanks
The House Wash mix may help if allowed to dwell longer but I have not seen any evidence that our 8 gpm gets gum up any cleaner than our old 4 gpm did.
I really believe that concrete restoration is beyond the scope of most commercial concrete cleaning.
Please keep in mind that we wield a pressure cleaning wand, not a magic wand.
If a manager was really that worried about concrete minutia, it should be no problem signing them up for seven day service.
Spot on, Tim!
