Hey guys, shout out to all that have been helping me directly and indirectly through my startup, couldn’t have done it without this community. My heart is with you all.
New job request from a high end referral is the biggest driveway I’ve even seen. To keep things short, customer retired from building custom homes, his wife is encouraging him to outsource so they can enjoy life, and there is 4k sqft of an 8k sqft job of new concrete that he wants sealed. Primary concern oil penetration. Driveways is full of tire marks, acorn stains, and dirt. He declined cure and seal at the time of pour because he was thinking he would seal himself. Concrete job is half assed and we spent 2 hours chewing the ■■■■ and evaluating their job amongst other life aspects.
I’ll figure out pricing myself and give a lot of leeway to the massive amount of sqft. Half the driveway is done and he doesn’t know if they will finish the other half before winter. My concern is treating everything, should I start with a low dose of oxalic to see what removes the acorns before having to treat the entire slab? Plan is DE per Craig for the tire marks. At the end of the day if I need to treat 4k sqft with multiple chemicals, I will, just need some help on insites if I should expect to do that up-front.
Tons of tire marks. Black circle was apparently totally from a bag of mulch, so maybe from the dye? Acorns stains galore. Divot is from a leaf that the installer said sorry we can’t reach it once homeowner pointed it out
95% of the time in my area, housewash mix will get rid of leaf and acorn stains. Not sure where you got the oxalic idea from but that’ll get you in trouble on new concrete if you don’t know how to use it.
Interesting, I’ve never been able to get 100% of heavy acorns stains with sh alone. The mulch circle is on an end, so thinking treat that whole slab piece with Groundskeeper 20:1 and evaluate the lightening effect. If it didnt lighten much, and the stain removed, spot treat the acorns stains. Tire marks are light and cover most of the slab and sidewalk has lots of muddy footprints, so planning double eagle 10:1. Flush with 12v and 2 tbsp / gallon baking soda to neutralize before sealing the next day. The driveway alone is 3 different pours and has color variation between the pours plus some small circles discoloration throught a section rhat looks like a curing issue where the water drains through the driveway. Driveway isn’t perfect and the customer realizes, I am just conscientious of adding any additional color variations.
If it would be better to use a little pressure, 500 psi or so, I do have craigs surface cleaner pressure regulator do-hickey, so i can dial it in to whatever with 24"SC. Can add a little heat too.
Oh also, if it helps, he also stated that in our area they stopped reinforcing with rebar or metal grids and have gone to a blend of concrete that has fiberglass strands in it, so maybe that makes it stand up to more pressure sooner? He said the concrete company, which is a very large local company, told him to pressure wash the tire marks off. I told him no pressure for 2 years.
looks like 50/50 in a pump sprayer for the acorn stains, downstream or x-jet the rest of the concrete & I bet that bag of mulch stain comes off with your rinse
3.5 months for the newest section. On the morning of one of the pours, the client came out that morning and asked why they were pouring with thunderstorms coming in. They said it would be fine. Area was hit with major hail. Customer and friends drank beer in the garage while they watched them tear it out lol.
Thanks guys, I was always under the impression that the tannins required ox for full treatment, but I guess that’s for tannins in wood. I just tried straight 12.5% on an acorn stains in my driveway and it came right out quickly with a little scrubbing. Guess I’ve just been needing a stronger sh treatment and/or dwell time for the acorns the whole time.
