First off I have a 5.5 gpm at 3500 running a 20" BE surface cleaner two nozzle. This driveway took about an hour and a half wash and rinse. 1800 square feet. I used my 40 degree tips.
I seem to be faster using 40 degree tips vs 25 degree. Is this normal?
The driveway in the pic I went over twice. side to side then up and down the drive.
Thanks for any input. Also being my first post, I have researched and used the magnifying glass.
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Looks good. So what’s your question?
By using 40 degree tips vs 25. I am gaining speed. Is this normal or am I sacrificing quality of clean? I am pre and post treating.
Not really if you’re having to go over it two ways. Next time you do a drive, do 1/2 like you did this one, then switch tips to 25s, walk a little slower and just make one pass. It’ll be quicker. If you’re post treating with 3% mix or stronger, probably can walk fairly decent pace.
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Thanks I will try that. I switched from 25 to 40 because it seemed like it was leaving worse “clean” streaks down the path I traveled. It is kinda in the pic.
Is that just the nature of the beast with a surface cleaner?
I have went back to jobs a week or more later and they are not near as noticeable as when freshly cleaned.
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Are you pretreating first? I only ask because the driveway is dry aside from where you cleaned
Yes. I broke that one into 4 squares and my first one in pic was to see how fast it Could be done and when to pretreat the next area. I don’t usually pre treat entire drive at once. But, my pre and post treatment are with ds out of 5 gallon mix.
Watch my driveway cleaning video. It’s kind of long but you’ll learn some stuff.
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I will take another look at it. Proclean exteriors onYouTube. Your housewash with 8.5 gpm got me interested in bigger machines. I was looking into 4x4 after that I had to get the best I could at the moment 5.5. Thanks for your insight
That driveway is pretty funky. I would have hit it with a stronger mix pre treat first. That would also cut your cleaning time down considerably
I will try stronger with longer dwell soon. Idk if you have used 5.5 @35. But what sq.ft. per hour is normal?
It’s been a while my first machine was 4.8@3000 but that was many year ago . I would guess an hour isn’t unreadable on a driveway that size and that dirty. But I can tell you a pretreatment of roof strength mix would cut that in half on dirty concrete. It will also reduce and likely eliminate those lines your seeing
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The longer your drive stays wet, the easier it’ll come off. So on little drives like that, wet the whole thing and then as you rinse different sections just keep the rest of it wet. Think soaking a dirty dish in cold water. Not as good as hot, but even 10-15 min really helps.
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I will say, I’m guilty of taking way to much time with my surface cleaner but I’m running about the same pace probably with my 5.5. I pre-treat with my normal house wash which is about 1%. Maybe I should consider a roof pump for nothing else but pre and post treating flat work.
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Just use an xjet if you dont have a need for 12v system. Thats the only time i use it, hate carrying bucket around.
I will hit with normall HW mix if driveway its bad. If you hit the whole thing the bottom of drive wont dry up due to water running down.
Driveways i have done this summer all seem to be about like the one you pictured, if not worse… not a lot of quick and easy ones. I have been adding a healthy dose of degreaser on top of stronger mix and it seems to help (atleast in my head it does).
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That’s a good point a scoop of caustic soda beads in you mix really helps on nasty concrete. . Just make sure it stays on the concrete and off everything else like paint
Thanks for the suggestions. I definitely try all of them except xjet or roof for now. When I upgrade my trailer set up soon I’m planning on adding a roof pump. I have a micro trailer now 4’x7’. But a good trailer for what I need. I am going to be building up with machine and hoses etc mounted above other equipment.
@SurfaceMedic what tips do you use?
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From this site and from Racer’s videos for sure, I have learned that post treatment is the key to speed up and give the best job possible. I used to go over things twice in different directions. Now I walk at a little faster pace and hit it once. Then Post treat around 4%
Here is a pool deck I did the other day. One pass
Post treat 4% and 30 minutes later
Post treat saves a lot of time and gives a really nice job. If you don’t have a roof pump it can be done with a pump up sprayer. I still do that on small drives and sidewalks
Joe
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I did a drive last week where I put down a 6% SH mix with 2 gallons of a very caustic fleet soap just to see the results. Put down…20 minutes later put down another coat. Did the drive first then washed house. Driveway was dried and did a light rinse and kaboom looked great. No surface cleaning. I did use about $80 in chems though
Hydroxide does wonders on concrete
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