Just wandering what the best degreaser is on the market, I tried getting out this oil stain on a driveway a few days ago and I did get some out I’m really still not happy with it. Just wandering if there’s tip or trick anyone would suggest. I run a hot water system did 3 passes over it, each time blooming and letting it sit for 10 or so minutes.
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I would use EBC. What did you use? Besides heat?
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Cully, you can only get concrete just so clean. The problem is concrete is very porous, oil will find the path of least resistance through gravity and be pulled into the pores of the concrete. So the oil is now under the surface of the concrete where it’s almost impossible to clean. There (in most cases) will always be a “shadow” where an oil spot once was…Just Nature Of The Beast.
No degreaser in the world will make it look like new.
Sodium Hydroxide / Butyl (hope I spelled that right) based degreaser, let dwell, hit it with hot water and keep going.
I know and it depends how long it’s had to sit there and penetrate I just wanted to get more out for the customer. Also there appeared to be a white haze over some of the driveway which was there before and upon cleaning appeared to brig it out more. The customer said to not worry but I’d like to go back and give it a light acid. The haze appears to be efflorescence.
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Cdubbs I’m in Aus so we have different Chems to you guys over in the states but it’s called glencore its alkaline based with butyl additive.
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Would anyone recommend making there own degreaser with caustic and a surfactant? And would it damage concrete surfaces as I’m new and experimenting still trying to find what works and what doesn’t.
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I would do exactly whatever GuyB says…He knows his stuff
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Cully, I really like your commitment to doing a good job, but also you have to keep in mind “Time Is Money” charge appropriately. Efflorescence removal is a whole other ball game. If the customer didn’t call you to for that, I wouldn’t worry about it either.
Pictures would really help.
Cully being “New” you should stick to buying degreaser. Yes there are some that make their own, but they know what they’re doing. Mixing chems can be very dangerous if you’re not experienced. Mix it wrong and you could hurt yourself at worst, and damage concrete at least.
Nice Job. Cool trailer too!
Honestly I don’t think I did a good job, cleaned of most of the dirt and grime but the oil stain is still really present and I didn’t see the efflorescence til I drove past in the afternoon and it had all dried. Do you think I should go back and acid it and at least remove the efflorescence for them although I did not menchion it in the quote only talked about trying to remove as much of the stain as I could.
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Might be dried chems from not getting a good rinse.
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What I see is rust…or is it? I’m sure depending on what side of the world we live in…All Concrete Is Not The Same.
In the U.S. most (if not all) concrete is mixed with sand, white sand (could be wrong, I only clean it). In Australia there may be a mixture of red sand or if concrete pour was on top of red sand or dirt, it could be bleeding through the concrete…or it was just mixed that way.
Seriously I don’t see efflorescence…I see concrete. Almost looks like an aggregate type driveway…But it does look very porous, if so you’ll just spin your wheels trying to remove that spot.
When cleaning concrete make sure you’re up front with customers…You may or may not be able to remove a stain, it will look better, it won’t look like new. Set customer expectations from “Get-Go”. As you learn you will realize to put your own expectations in check…or go out of business by spending more time on a problem you can’t fix…Just saying.
Yes Guy it could be irrigation rust, just hard telling from pics. What I see is colored aggregate with left over soap dried. Hard to say 6000 miles away. Lol
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Could be Chris. I noticed the neighbors driveways look the same too.
Where’s the rust? If you look close you can see a white haze.
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Noticed that also. Could be the color of the poor. Code for the neighbor hood. Who knows.
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The first two pics are before I washed it last two are after. The haze was present before and still after so it can’t be the Chems I used I think maybe the chemicals I used might of brought the haze out more or at least just cleaned the dirt of it which makes it appear more visible. Or I could just be being to fussy.
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Would you recommend a light acid when I come across this again? Would that remove the rust? As i don’t have the eye for it as yet what would you recommend?
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