Craig

HERE IS YOUR ANSWER: This is a job in a food court area of a strip mall. The entire 13,500' of concrete had calcium, calcium carbonate, efflorescence and mineral stains. At first, just like Ron had posted, the concrete looks like salted concrete. It actually looked like a pretty poor salted concrete job and the concrete had been over watered for years. What we had to do was strip the calcium off to expose the concrete and create a surface that was profiled and porous to accept a polyurethane top coating. The concrete had over 60 above-ground planters, many palm trees and bushes on both sides that all got water every day. After we spent 3 nights (from 7PM to 7AM) stripping the concrete, we put in a moisture barrier in the concrete and then applied a very strong colored polyurethane. Within a week of our application, the coating failed... and failed miserably. It was popping and flaking everywhere. Then the investigation began...They got experts, we got experts... They had attorneys, we had attorneys... HERE IS WHAT WE ALL NEED TO BE AWARE OF, especially if we are applying coatings or sealing concrete. What appeared to be salted concrete were actually "pop-outs" from small little aggregates that weren't screened for and filtered out at the quarry. When moisture contacts these little rocks, the rocks breakdown and release what is known as "silica gel." Silica gel can rise up through the concrete and "pop" the concrete out resulting in small holes. These holes are only small if there is not a coating or something on the top layer of concrete that prevents them from coming up. When a coating is applied in areas with alkali-aggregates and moisture is present, disaster happens. The more solid and adhered the coating is, the more violent and destructive the pop-outs are. Silica-gel reactions can have pressures coming up through the concrete with 1000's of pounds of pressure behind them. After this job and after I had gained my reputation back as more of a concrete "expert" I got more and more phone calls to help people out in similar situations. I have personally seen alkali-silica reactions create pop-outs that are the size of small paper plates. Did you notice that the "hard water staining" is stained evenly? This is an indication something is wrong. Hard water staining is rarely stained that evenly because the water mainly stays in low areas. The concrete was stained evenly because the alkali silica rising up through the capillaries in the concrete were all close enough together that it turned the concrete black very evenly. Then look at the little holes (alkali-aggregate pop outs). Around most of them (if you ever have this in person) you can feel a very slippery fluid. This is the silica gel. It feels oily and slippery. So in a sense, this concrete had hard water stains on top and hard water stains under the surface of the concrete too. So, after a year of meetings, conference calls and research on my part, this job turned into a 33 Billion dollar a year company tearing out and replacing all of the concrete. We evaluated over half a dozen core samples, ph tests, hydrostatic testing and more. We had essentially "won" our case and learned a BIG lesson in concrete. They call this "Concrete Cancer."

Incorrect. Not a salted finish- thank you for your guess and that was the answer I was looking for. I'll explain below and that is the reason I posted this picture is because concrete exists like this and we all need to keep it in the back of our minds and it is something everyone should be aware of. What time are you coming by? I live right off the 10 and Washington- about a half mile down the road. You should stop by and I'll give you some product to try...and dinner somewhere? - - - Updated - - -

What are all of those little holes in the concrete?

Joined! Thanks.

Chris and Mick, Both are good answers but there are more things to notice than just that. What kind of finish does the concrete surface have? Troweled? Salted? Sanded? Any ideas? If any of you do concrete coatings you might have a better idea or have run across this in the past. This is going to be good education for everyone.

I am neither Republican nor Democrat, but I do believe in working hard and creatively pursuing endeavors that lead to the betterment of our society. I stand for open markets, creating jobs, giving back and supporting the U.S. Constitution. I'm posting this for the perspective, not to be political or in favor of either party. I got a chuckle out of it. The $50 Lesson Recently, while I was working in the flower beds in the front yard, my neighbors stopped to chat as they returned home from walking their dog. During our friendly conversation, I asked their 12 year old daughter what she wanted to be when she grows up. She said she wanted to be President someday. Both of her parents - liberal Democrats - were standing there, so I asked her, "If you were President what would be the first thing you would do?" She replied, "I'd give food and houses to all the homeless people." Her parents beamed with pride! "Wow...what a worthy goal!" I said. "But you don't have to wait until you're President to do that!" I told her. "What do you mean?" she replied. So I told her, "You can come over to my house and mow the lawn, pull weeds, and trim my hedge, and I'll pay you $50. Then you can go over to the grocery store where the homeless guy hangs out, and you can give him the $50 to use toward food and a new house." She thought that over for a few seconds, then she looked me straight in the eye and asked, "Why doesn't the homeless guy come over and do the work, and you can just pay him the $50?" I said, "Welcome to the Republican Party." Her parents aren't speaking to me.

Pool Deck- is it concrete? colored concrete? salted concrete? sealed concrete? concrete coating? If it's just concrete clean it with your normal concrete cleaner- TSP, Sodium Hyd, Potassium Hyd, Sodium Metasilicate... doesn't matter. If it's sealed with an acrylic, epoxy, poly or anything else, you can still use what you normally use to clean concrete, just cut it down to about 25-30% of the strength of your normal cleaning solution so it won't hurt the sealer. Also, using warm water is OK but nothing above 110-120 degrees. You don't want to strip the sealer off. Also, is there anything in particular you're cleaning it for? Pool decks are known for mold, slippery surfaces, calcium deposits, hard water stains, rust from pool chairs, oil from sunbathers etc.

This really has nothing to do with power washing, other than our company did help the Marriott with their new renovation. I personally worked at the Marriott Desert Springs as a Manager years ago, before I began my career as a power washing contractor.. turned manufacturer/distributor (we still work hard in the field though!). Just a cool tidbit- both my wife and I are in the video. It's a new promotional video being aired on a tv show to showcase the best our area has to offer. The first clip is me driving the new Jag and my wife steps out...walk inside. We are in/out of the video thereafter and in the Gondola. See if you can find Waldo lol. Check it out and if you are ever in my area give us a ring and check out the desertdining.tv website. We do some trade with local resorts and would love to meet and help accomodate you.

I have used many machines over the years. 8GPM is the largest we've owned. You might be ok with 10, but my 8 GPM machine seems pretty weak when two guys are using it. I primarily use it now with bigger surface cleaners and can rip through concrete. It's usually kind of a PITA when two guys are using one machine too... and one guy might need to use cold water while the other needs hot. I'd also stick to using two separate machines. If one goes down, you have the other. You don't have pressure spikes as you do with two-gun operation. You can choose your temperature. It's easier to keep hoses separated. For us it just made more sense.

Citric acid's your best shot.. non hazardous and I agree with John and James.

To me it looks like phosphoric acid burn. What kind of tile surface is it.. meaning like a glazed tile or more like an aggregate or porous surface? I can't tell from the pictures. If you had a nice clean close-up I could probably tell you what's going on. If it is scaly and you can chip it off by putting a knife underneath a layer it might be Calcium or Calcite from hard water.

I agree. Everyone has different needs, expectations and purpose. I believe that in order for someone to feel as though he is "successful" he would ultimately feel joy in whatever dealings he is doing. Money is one measurement of success.. love for what you do, taking joy in creating and always trying to reach for a happier place and treating people well is another.

Not done yet, opinions and thoughts appreciated for those of you who have sites up and running. Home Page Thanks, Craig

Can you please PM me the info for the Wakefield guy. I have some very specific questions to ask and need info ASAP. Thanks Craig

Do you have experience in ASR, AAR and DPS's that can control it? I have a strip mall.. 13,000' with some of the worst ASR I've ever seen. I'm looking for a product that can control it enough to atleast put down an acrylic. I'm not having much luck and may have to just go with an acid stain or a DPS. The reactions have created pop-outs and the concrete looks like it's been salted due to the defect. Thanks Craig

Anyone here use the product, "SafeRestore" by Eacochem? If you have, what have you used it on and what kind of results have you gotten? Did you cut it? Processes? Thanks. I've used it on several different projects, including a 24,000 sq. ft. pool deck restoration. It worked pretty well. I'd like to see some other uses and personal opinions. Thanks

Operating a one-rig, 2-Man crew, what are most of you averaging per month? What was your all-time best?

They are from a 15 degree tip, formed about 3-5" away from the concrete. The concrete has a weak surface layer for whatever reason (too much water in the mix, poor troweling job, too much fly-ash or maybe the concrete hydrated to quickly). Obviously the contractor is inexperienced- no surface cleaner was used and I doubt if he used chems. This could be fixed a couple of ways depending on how much money ya'll wanted to make.

? Have you found the "search" button? You can search and find out just about anything you want to know before posting a question that could take up a 450 page book.

or you can try vseal.com

The rougher the surface is, the more plasticiser migration (tire marks, oil trasfer, asphalt transfer etc.) will take place. Every post above is correct. A simple solution for her (or you) would be to to spray or roll on a topical sealer that will fill the pores of the concrete and allow less migration to happen. The smoother the surface is, the less this will happen. You're not going to eliminate it 100% but cleaning the marks off is simple. Also, depending on the sealer, you can control future mineral staining, oil, gas, grease stains etc. I'd recommend to call V-Seal and ask for Jay. Their sealers are the best. Craig.

Hello everyone, I just wanted to let you know that my former company name of "Southwest Power Washing" is no longer in existance. My new company, "Enviroclean Power Washing" is getting ready to roll! Just letting you know... Craig

Good to be able to be seen again! ha

Please do not feel sorry at ALL! I am very happily divorced!! :) We all make mistakes and are a little naive at times. I'm so happy to finally be able to get things going again! I have spent the last 3 years TRYING to get divorced.. so simple to get into, so hard to get out of. All I can say is, Europeans and Americans are very, very different. If anything is due, a "Congratulations!" would be appropriate.. LOL Thanks Craig