RS on stained concrete

[big mike 14]

Hi all,

Well, I got a call back to clean some RS that was dripped on some stamped, and dyed concrete. It's an older patio with a green hue, and a satin sheen to it. Unfortunately, the guy didn't call me back to look at it until 4 days after it was stained, so the oils set in a bit. Now I've been at this for some time, and I tried the usual removal methods (spirits and degreaser). It took the stain out no problem, but left a clean area that is larger than the drip areas. This guy is pretty anal about "his beautiful patio", and is unhappy with my cleaning effort. I told him that the entire patio is showing oxidation, and my cleaning removed this from that area.

He wants to call his concrete guy and get his opinion, and asked that I adjust my price on the deck refinish to pay for that guy to clean it. I told him no-way, and that I clean more concrete in a week than his guy ever cleaned, so I would fix it myself. I'm thinking I'll just go over and surface clean the whole thing and remove the oxidation and even the appearance out. Should work, but am I setting myself up for more BS? I told him to let the sun work on the clean spot for a week or so, and see how it looks after that. This guy is a neighbor (couple of blocks over), so I won't have to travel too far. Any precautions cleaning this stuff? Sorry no pics yet...

[MMI Enterprises 289]

Overcleaning kinda sucks hu? Sounds like he just trying to take advantage of a mistake...trick is to mask and tarp everything so the idiots are not tempted in first place. The smallest of spot cleaning can stand out and off they go with exagerations of damage or fault without recognizing their own dirt. Sometimes if ya spot blot immedietly the clean won't show.

Precautions on stained crete are to not remove the sealer or stain but it sounds ya already went abit harsh. Could take the position that if it had been sealed properly to begin with the rs would not have soaked in...lol, j/k.. ya got to eat the cleaning. But hey ya could maybe sell him on a sealing job.

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Offer to gently clean the whole thing. That's about the best you can do. If you didn't harm a coating, well, cleaning is not damage. But, he can argue that it is not in as good a condition as it was before.....

Beth

[Celeste 341]

Could take the position that if it had been sealed properly to begin with the rs would not have soaked in...lol, j/k.. ya got to eat the cleaning. But hey ya could maybe sell him on a sealing job.

Actually, that was my first thought - if that sealer had been intact, it (the RS) would have simply sat up on top and been easily wiped off. Most concrete sealers should have been perfectly fine with a SH cleaning, but using a solvent was probably too much. IF the spot, when wet, goes BACK to the color of the rest of the patio, spot seal it lightly - if not, the sealer needs to be redone anyway. Even concrete sealers need maintenance and you may be providing one for less than you should be getting on this one!