So I got a call from a guy who owns the building where an automotive repair shop used to be. He wants all of the floors cleaned and I can’t even imagine what it will take to get them to look even remotely presentable. I know it will take hot water and a ton of degreaser but have any of you guys ever tackled something like this? I set his expectations incredibly low to begin with and I’m getting ready to provide him with a quote so long as I can reassure myself that it’s even possible.
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It’ll clean. How does it drain? Where does it drain? You may need to get some oil socks if it’s going to public drain or sewer.
You may need to do it twice, but from pics doesn’t look all that bad. Going to be a few places you may need to do some brush scrubbing.
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Did not see any drains. Was originally a warehouse but converted to automotive repair shop. I’ve seen you guys talk about the sludge pump…Assuming that I just need to relocate the dirty water out of the shop area, would that be a good option for this job? Just never worked with hot water or degreasers yet so I’m asking a lot of questions to try and understand the difficulty of what I’m getting myself into.
R202 or EBC.
Pretreat and postreat with 4% SH.
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There’s just over 6,300sf like this, most is two wide open areas but a couple of smaller rooms also. How much time or man hours do you think it would take to complete for someone not familiar with oil removal? Trying to get a gauge on pricing a project like this.
you need to squirt some water in there and see where it flows, otherwise you’ll be pushing a lot of water out with big squeegees. Sludge pump works best if 1" or more deep. But where will you pump it too. You’ve got to trap or reclaim that mess.
You’re going to need something like Butyl with sodium hydroxide in it. Russ at Southside has a good product. Or you can use EBC and then come back over the worse spots with some hydroxide product. But you’re going to need about 165 deg heat, kitty little on standing oil, grind it in, let sit for a day or 2, sweep up and dispose of.
I’d probably be in the $1200-1500 range just based on pics
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What’s the SH going to do? No mildew or algae there. Would be like using on a dumpster pad.
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EBC brother!
I did a 35 year old transmission shop that was up for lease… And the new renter was gonna paint the floor and do something totally different. It had soo much oil!!! You could slip just by walking on it… I EBC’d it… 3 days later they where doing an epoxy finish on it!
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What strength did you use? Did you DS or direct apply?
Straight!! It was tooo bad for me to even bother diluting
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Wonder how much I will need to order… thinking maybe 10 gallons?
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10 gallons would be a save bet. I used up 3 gallon it was like 1,600 sqft…
You have to let it sit for 15-20 minutes… Let it work in
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See this post -
I use it a lot. It’s my go-to degreaser but Have never mixed it stronger than 50-50 in a pump up, even on some nasty dumpster pads. But I’m telling you, just buy some purple power or other hydroxide based product and try both on a different sections and see which works best for you on the job. No one product works the best on every job.
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Try some chemicals from a local place. My local pw dealer/repair shop had some rebranded degreaser called 911. I swear it works better then anything I’ve ordered or bought elsewhere and it’s only $12 per gallon. I’m pretty sure they have it mixed by a local chemical company. I worked for a environmental company many years ago who did the same thing and sold the heck out of it. Just something to think about.
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Thanks @Racer I will grab a few different kinds and see what works best. Need to build up my arsenal anyway.
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I would first figure out your plan to remove the water and chemical once youve brought it in. This may dictate your method. If the water stands, your renting a floor scrubber. Squeegees stink.
I would suggest using zep industrial purple along with ebc in a side by side comparison. Zep will be much cheaper compared to ebc at 50/50 mix. USE RESPIRATOR, GLOVES, MASK!
Get your plans down with your sample areas. Be sure of this before you quote.
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