Wow, I step away for a few hours to do some fence repair and staining and you guys go to town. First, thanks to all who responded. Innocent brings up a valid point if water based paint is considered HAZMAT (I’m sure he’s right, I just don’t know but I will) then this is not something I can do since I do not have reclamation capability. To answer some of the other questions that have been raised, it is water based paint and it is a cement street. I tested it when I looked at it by putting some water on it and hitting it with a scrub brush. It immediately started to break down so I know I can remove it but that may not matter.
Dam up the storm drain. Buy a cheap sump pump and pump the water into the grass. If water evaporates before reaching drain you are good also.
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call the city get their advice…
I like raggin bystander when i can…
see you break that paint up it goes up in the AIR and that is a NO NO can’t do that
not just the fluids…
2.5 million homes around here don’t even have curbs.draiins … they out in the county spreads
Easy answer, if you’re determined to do it, see what you can buy a 1/2 way decent reclaim system for. I see them advertised with low hours sometimes in the $2k range. Viola! That’s your quote. You spend a day working for a new reclaim system. I’d do that.
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Am I missing something here? Didn’t this paint DRY on the street? On what planet is dry paint a hazardous material? Do I need a special endorsement to carry a painted piece of wood in my truck? Heck, the truck itself has dry paint all over it. In fact, the approved way you get rid of paint is by drying it out and throwing it in the garbage. Once the solvent is gone, it’s just a hunk of acrylic.
I hate to contradict Innocentbystander and he’ll probably completely school me now. But I just don’t get it. That legal mumbo-jumbo is about shipping liquid paint.
BTW, if you are going to do it, do it ASAP. Your little test on fresh paint might make it seem easy, but after 3 weeks of oxidative cross linking, you might be in for a bad surprise. Many people don’t realize that paint continues to cure for weeks even after it is dry. Fully cured paint is MUCH harder to remove than fresh paint.
You understand that the paint won’t be dry when it becomes a liquid? I don’t really care what he does. He didn’t know and asked. A lot on here that claim to be contractors are clueless about basic chemisty, much less the law. Spend a few days reading all of the CWA. You will see why I walk away from a lot of stuff. No worth the headache and liabilty. Pour a glass of water on the hood of your truck and lick the paint. Not bad right? Pour a cup of airplane stripper on the hood and lick the paint.
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I think some of these guys may have done the stripper thing already.
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Lol. Some of them mean well. Some are just rocks in the noggin dumb. You gotta come back @Tim4
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I tried the stripper thing… couldn’t cut it and now I’m pressure washing
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Last I heard, he was hitting it with some water and a scrub brush. That would just yield a bunch of dry paint flakes floating around in some water. I missed the part about the airplane stripper. In that case we are on the same page.
This is like the telephone game…I never said anything about this except what to charge and once the CWA was brought up that I needed to look into it. I also said I hit it with water and a scrub brush. I just wanted to see what if any reaction there was, it created a milky liquid. By wetting it I might be releasing some of whatever they are concerned about (looks like there is a potential for mercury). As stated before I appreciate the input. I’m taking it all on board and learning from most of it.
My be the best idea so far. I have a trash pump I use for watering out of stock ponds on the ranch that would be perfect for that application. There are only two drains on the entire street.
Good find.
Heck. Next time all is if green apples are better than red and come back in two days lol
This thread really could/should have been complete after the first (@Innocentbystander) response. Why worry to death about something you should just walk away from?
Let it go, do 10 easier, higher profit jobs while some ignorant redneck is removing the paint from the road.
its hard to wallk away from MONEY…
somebody is going to get it
There isn’t a painter in the country that doesn’t violate this every day. It’s beyond comical. Oh well, I have to go stain a little over 5000 sq ft of fence today 
. That’s money!
Fortunately for the painters they don’t have pressure washing orgs owned by vendors giving bmp’s to cities in order to sell reclaim equipment to contractors. I don’t agree with the CWA but I’m not going to circumvent it. Not worth the repercussions.
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