I’m having red marks left by my surface cleaner on newly poured(2mos) concrete. I have a 4gpm/4k machine and I turned it down to not score anything. The concrete seems weak and has already been damaged by contractors during construction, so maybe something is off with the concrete mix. 
. I’ve tried groundskeeper, that’s it. Any info is appreciated. TIA
Heck of a first post. I hope you have good insurance. This is why you don’t pressure wash new concrete.
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here
General rule on this forum:
Less than 2 years old, no surface cleaner, just clean with chems and no pressure water
That is why you see your surface cleaner marks and the grey water is the cream that came off the concrete.
Maybe they will let you paint it/coat it.
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Just to clarify, it doesn’t appear damaged. There is kind of a lot of damage from things being dragged across it and this doesn’t look like that. If it’s damage, do you mean the top layer of cement was blasted off? And If so, why is it red?
I’m not arguing it’s damaged or not, I’m just exhausting all questions before I move forward.
The whitest part of the drive is where the cream is still on the concrete. When concrete is poured, they semi level it with rakes/hoes, screed it, float it, then trowel it, which brings the fines to the surface. Newer concrete is whitish/light grey unless they tinted it. Once the cream/fines start to wear out it appears a more dull/darker grey. Eventually, enough wear will cause the aggregate to be exposed. I don’t know what state you live in and what they mix their concrete with in your area, so the color might be reflective of whatever they mix it with. When it is wet, the damage will look slightly different then when dry. This picture shows SC marks (the round rings) all over. The other lines on it look like someone blasted it with a nozzle or drug something heavy across it.
It looks like they broom finished it and put a picture frame around it. That edge should be the whitest/lightest color and you can see it is gone in most of the picture. To do this they broom finish it then take a tool that has a curved edge on it. The curved edge goes along the form and the flat area faces inside the form. You just have to be careful not to dip it and leave marks. I’ve done concrete work but I am no mason. I hire masons to help me when I pour, I won’t pay them to form or tie rebar.
If they used different batches (although it doesn’t look like a big pour) there might be some discoloration from that. If they used calcium, there is a possibility of some discoloration from that as well.
Just one guys .02 based off a picture. I have the time to respond, most of the other posters on here are probably busy as anything. I banged my knee up and my season is probably over. Orthopedic appt on Friday.
Concrete hardens over time, it is relatively soft when first done.
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Define ‘turn it down’, throttling back the machine or replace the tips? What was your PSI?
Yes, I throttled the machine down.
Tell us a bit about yourself and your equipment set up. How long you’ve been doing this, how many drives you’ve done before (if any) etc.
Why’d you choose Groundskeeper for your cleaner? How did you apply it, at what strength, and what were you trying to remove?
What nozzles are under your surface cleaner? What surface cleaner did you use?
When you say you turned it down, what did you turn it down from and what did you turn it down to?
Paint us a better picture of what’s going on behind the scenes. All we see is a photo of a driveway that has been ruined by a surface cleaner.
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It’s not the end of the world. This is year number 3 for me and I’m still learning every day. I’d rather learn what works from the pros on this forum than from my own mistakes in the field. I never touched anything for the first time without seeing what the search bar pulled up. It’s not always gospel but always well worth a look. It’s not just new concrete, every driveway is 100% unique. I have a ball valve that runs into my surface cleaner. I turn it all the way off, engage the trigger on the surface cleaner & slowly open the ball valve to look at the runoff. 98% of the time I can run it wide open but I’ll drag it around when that’s not the case. You’re better off using too little pressure & than using too much. At the end of the day, it’s all gonna work out.
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It’s ok guys, thanks for the info. I’ll figure it out and let you know. Thanks.
Hopefully a little recliner therapy will take care of it.
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Thanks, but probably not. I’ve had issues with it before with strains and the fluid filling my knee like a football, but this is different. Lateral movement causes pain, I can deal with discomfort. I had to cancel deck jobs cause I cant do ladder work. I’m not trying to have a pity party or anything, people can’t walk, I just have pain and swelling. This is just a side hustle for me as I am retired, I could cancel the whole season and be ok.
