Craig

Not asking for help and married the wrong woman. Thanks

Blue non-marking smooth Goodyear Neptune-double wire.

Lol...vinegar. It works for light powdery eff but not for a job like this. Eacochem has great products. The process that Celest is describing may be your best bet and you might have to redo the process several times to get all of it off. In heavy calc eff places apply a little more product and scrubbing with a stiff brush may help. You will need to keep the brick wet at all times. Never let it dry out. And be steady with your pressure washing to try to keep the cleaning even. You'll figure it out. Here's one job I did thats similar to yours. http://www.thegrimescene.com/forums/flatwork-buildings/3200-pics-calcified-efflorescence-restoration.html?highlight=pics+calcified email me at swpwscraig@yahoo.com for more details if you have any questions.

I have yellow book- in my iphone

If the white things "feel like powder," they would not feel at all. Instead it would crumble and become smooth and chalky in your fingertips. It would also come right off. You might even be able to blow it off. There are two forms of eff. 1) Powdery. 2) Calcified. Powdery eff is pretty easy to remove. Its more difficult to keep it from coming back. Calcified eff is extremely difficult to remove and in my opinion should only be done by a professional. Thats where you can run into a problem. Not many I would consider to be professionals in the art of eff removal. Every situation is a little different and requires a little different technique. A lot of damage can be done very quickly if you don't know exactly what you're doing. Not to mention the possibility of burning the brick. My question to you: How long did it take this white stuff to get where it is, and how long has it been there? Are the bricks new or old? Has the white stuff suddenly appeared over the last couple of weeks, months or years? Has the brick been sealed? If so, when? Even without those questions being answered I'll tell you my initial opinion on what is going on and it's pretty simple. It may be calcified efflorescence, but it usually doesn't look like that. Calcified eff would also take a few years to get to look like what you have. Doesn't really fit the profile but I wouldn't exclude it. In my opining, it looks like the bricks had moisture in them and sealer was applied prematurely. The moisture wicking out from the brick will not be able to evaporate and will turn the sealer white. The amount of whiteness depends on how much moisture is trying to get out. The more moisture = more white. If this is the case all you will have to do is find out what type of remover to use on the sealer. It will need to be taken off, let the brick dry thoroughly and then reapply the sealer.

I also have used the Aldon sealers with good success. Here is a look at a brick restoration job I did a few years back and sealed with Aldon. It still looks great today. http://www.thegrimescene.com/forums/flatwork-buildings/3200-pics-calcified-efflorescence-restoration.html I also like everything sold by the Tara Group! (V-Seal etc.)

I also think that moisture was in the rock when it was sealed. It doesn't look like efflor to me. If I were there to do the work I would strip that particular rock, let it dry for a couple of days and then reseal it. Sometimes if you seal a substrate when there is moisture in it it will look chalky. The other thing that strikes me is that it appears that the chalky substance is only on the one piece of flag. It could have been more wet than the others when it was put down. If it was efflorescense you could broom it off. Can you do this? Is it powdery? If you put water on it does it temporarily disappear? If not, chances are it is milky from the sealer. It should be stripped and resealed. There are two types of efflor- 1. Powdery and 2. Calcified. You can do a search on them if you'd like to know more about them. I think your solution should be pretty simple. Find what will strip the sealer, let it dry and seal.

do you know how much square feet you can do in an hour on a large commercial job? have you done any big reclaim jobs what the rig yet? I am wondering how many feet you can do before having to empty out wastewater and filters. What an impressive unit. Congratulations!

use good chems, hot water. As Alan said, one or both tips may be worn. You can mount a pressure gauge on your machine so you know when your tips are worn (pressure drops).

I don't think you're going to get it even if you try to pressure wash it... almost impossible unless your technique is picture perfect... and judging by the picture... So, I would try the brushing technique in a small section and go that route. Rinse LIGHTLY and from a distance.

Above is good idea. I used to do that but only problem is that if you barely touch the tennis ball it pops out. REMEDY- tie a string through the ball and attach it to the handle. The other thing I got tired of using this technique is that you can't grip the gun very well. It's better than not doing anything at all though.

VERY SIMPLE REMEDY Get yourself a long piece of velcrow. Lowes and HD make a type that is long and thin, with the ability to tear them off in sections every 8" or so. If you wrap it in a circle around the trigger and handle when it's pulled.... then just slide it up to the crotch of the handle to release the trigger. Make the loop loose enough that you can slide it up and down easily. Pulling triggers is for beginners...

If you are going to use Muriatic Acid on ANYTHING and you don't know what to charge, I don't feel you should be doing it PERIOD. Brick especially is more porous than concrete (generally) and using Hydrochoric acid (muriatic) takes a lot of getting used to, as well as what to neutralize it with, how much to use, recovering the neutralized acids and correct pressure washing after you are done. If your machinery is not adjusted properly and you don't wash it correctly you can leave nice surface cleaner marks. There are ways to do acid washing correctly and you can produce some amazing results with proper care and technique, but my feeling is that if you unfamiliar with that kind of work... stay away. With that said, if you ARE familiar and know what you are doing... Acid washing brick, stone, masonry, concrete coatings etc. CAN be done. You usually want to seal the substrate after washing. V-Seal offers a number of sealers that work great. House washing across the nation generally goes from .75-$1.50 per linear foot for one story, 1.50-2.50 for two stories and so on. Acid washing runs from .75/ft-$2.00/ft. Good luck.

Tony................. ........................on the money.

We charge .50-.75 per foot.

i think it was from dultmeier but I'm not positive. I'll have to look into it.

Alan, The barell rusted out from the inside.. especially on the upper area around the rim. I've changed brushes a couple of times, but I've noticed that over time the engine seems to lose power. I can get a new motor for like 25 bucks.

What's up, Alan. As you know you are the one who set mine up initially.. and it had worked great. It lasted for about two years before I finally had to replace it. Thank you~! Since then, I have put 4 more together and currently I have three that are working. The heads wear out but replacements are pretty easy to put in. Actually, the 55 gallon barrell wears out faster than the heads do. I need to purchase a stainless steel one next time and I'm thinking about lining the inside of the rest of them with a polyurethane. As far as power and versatility they are great. I have them mounted on my trailer whereas I can take them off as needed. for large inside jobs I can take them off, wheel the drum and generator inside and do work ANYWHERE with recovery.

If you seriously go that long between trigger pulls then get a remote to turn off the rig. You'll save gas AND water.

We change the hose when it breaks. I have used the in-the-field repair kits and they don't last very long. Our residential/new construction rig gets about a month before we need to replace hoses. The short life span is due to hoses constantly being pulled on dry concrete driveways, patios, etc. Our commercial flatwork rig can get up to 6-8 months before replacing hoses. The asphalt is a much softer surface and doesnt have so much friction on the hoses. Also, most of the time the concrete is wet when they are being drug on them.

you need to know exactly what you're doing with Muriatic (HCL), otherwise it's best to use a less dangerous chemical. we've been doing acid washing for over two years now.. in the beginning stages I got sick pretty bad, even using a mask.

Barry, thanks for the PM. I called the number but it was the wrong # for the H/0.

Sorry, not for Residential unless there was a significant amount of work- Is it just a wash? Do you know how big the house is?

We are in the initial stages of organizing a crime watch for our community. I live in a development with approx. 100 homes. I think the best way to keep everyone in touch with each other and what is happening (along with "Block Captains etc,) would be to put our community online. Similar to the BBS I am thinking that we can organize our development into street names as Forums and use threads to keep our information on topics. Does anyone have input or done this before? What would be the cost to put our community online and keep it maintained? Any organizational information would be helpful. Thanks.

I think that if you just steam cleaned it, that would be enough.