High Traffic Areas

[ASE Marc 14]

My partner and I started are pressure washing and sealing business up about six months ago and have been getting good results so far getting dirt, grim and even some oil stains off of concrete, however we would really like to expand into larger commercial jobs - cleaning concrete that has very high traffic volume wether it's walking or driving and is very dirty with ground in grim, old oil and grease stains ect.. and make it look brand new again or as close as possible. We used HD-80 on a "Wendy's" dumpster pad the other day and it worked extremely well. I was wondering if anyone has a mixture of chemicals that they use or know of, that could get me amazing results to clean these high traffic areas.

Also I was wondering if anyone out there does this type of work, for example - concrete in the front of restaurants and shopping centers, loading docks, drive thru's and dumpster pads?

Also what kind, if any sealent do you use? We are trying to specialize in cleaning and SEALING and are currently under the impression that Aquinil Plus 40 from "Chem Masters" is the best sealent to use on these commercial applications and have had good results with the gum not sticking to the concrete afterwards as long as the tempurture doesnt go above 80 degrees but the longest time we have to go by is three months because we are so new and dont know how long the sealent will work like this and how often we should tell the client that they should re-seal.

Thanks to anyone who can give us some input on this, we are eagerly learning everything we can about this business and couldn't do it without these forums, you guys are great!

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Welcome to TGS! Glad you found us.

I'm sure some of the flatwork guys will jump in!

:groovy2:

Beth

[Mike Williamson 198]

My partner and I started are pressure washing and sealing business up about six months ago and have been getting good results so far getting dirt, grim and even some oil stains off of concrete, however we would really like to expand into larger commercial jobs - cleaning concrete that has very high traffic volume wether it's walking or driving and is very dirty with ground in grim, old oil and grease stains ect.. and make it look brand new again or as close as possible. We used HD-80 on a "Wendy's" dumpster pad the other day and it worked extremely well. I was wondering if anyone has a mixture of chemicals that they use or know of, that could get me amazing results to clean these high traffic areas.

Also I was wondering if anyone out there does this type of work, for example - concrete in the front of restaurants and shopping centers, loading docks, drive thru's and dumpster pads?

Also what kind, if any sealent do you use? We are trying to specialize in cleaning and SEALING and are currently under the impression that Aquinil Plus 40 from "Chem Masters" is the best sealent to use on these commercial applications and have had good results with the gum not sticking to the concrete afterwards as long as the tempurture doesnt go above 80 degrees but the longest time we have to go by is three months because we are so new and dont know how long the sealent will work like this and how often we should tell the client that they should re-seal.

Thanks to anyone who can give us some input on this, we are eagerly learning everything we can about this business and couldn't do it without these forums, you guys are great!

What equipment are you running? Hot water is a must if you're going to do commercial flatwork. Also something I don't see mentioned much is pool chlorine or bleach...works amazing on food spills. I do a plaza there there is a Cold Stone, Starbucks, and Moe's grill (and another local restaurant). The degreaser doesn't touch the ice cream and other food spills or the cruddy water that leaks out of the garbage bags the employees drag across the plaza to the rear dumpsters...but spraying them with a 2-3% mix of bleach before cleaning gets it all up. Bleach won't touch grease, but as you've already found, that's what degreaser is for!

[ASE Marc 14]

I'm using a hot water pressure washe(3500 psi, 6gpm) - also do you have a return system I was just recently reading through a forum where someone mentioned that epa regulation says that you cant have any water runoff wether there are chemicals involved or not, how often do you clean that plaza and do you ever seal the concrete afterwards?

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Hi Marc,

Welcome to the bbs, please follow this link to the signature rules. http://www.thegrimescene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4143

Your machine will do you fine in commercial cleaning, and sodium hydroxide chems, such as the HD-80 you mentioned will also do a fine job. Another good chemcial to use is a sodium metasilicate based one.

If you do not already have one, a surface cleaner will make things go much faster, as well as being able to transport water.

As far as recovery, you have heard right. There are many threads here on the bbs that relate directly at that.

Do searches for water recovery, water reclaim, & recycled water. you will find plenty of reading to keep you busy quite a while.

Also I was wondering if anyone out there does this type of work, for example - concrete in the front of restaurants and shopping centers, loading docks, drive thru's and dumpster pads?

I clean all of these types, but do not offer sealing.

[ASE Marc 14]

Just Curious, why don't you offer sealing? do u think it is to expensive to be worth it

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Just Curious, why don't you offer sealing? do u think it is to expensive to be worth it

The sealers that I have seen did not impress me. They do not last very long, & cost to much for the time that they do last, also the dry/cure time for foot/vehicle traffic in commercial areas is a major concern.

[ASE Marc 14]

We have been mainly using a sealer called Aquanil Plus 40 bu ChemMasters, I'm sure youve heard of it. It says 12hrs curing before heavy traffic. We do a bunch of Wendy's in the area and found that if we get done at about 4am the sealer is ready to be walked on by 8am. It is however pricey, so we have to charge more, but we have noticed like i mentioned earlier that gum doesnt stick to it if its not too hot outside and gum comes off so incredibly easy if it does stick but we have no idea how long the sealent will hold up like this, do have any idea? We are new and only have the products so called garuntee to go by. Also we used the HD-80 on a dumpster pad the other night for the first time because the store was getting there asphalt redone the next day, in case it streaked. Also used a citralic neutralizer. The concrete looked amazing afterwards, but despite all are attempts to rinse, rinse, rinse the asphalt it still streaked it. You say that you do all this type of work - what exactly do you use at the front of doors and walkways where the dirt is so ground in that pressure washing alone just doesnt even come close to getting it off? Obviously the HD-80 works great but because of the side effects we cant use it around asphalt.

[One Tough Pressure 580]

I use sodium hydroxide cleaners around asphal;t all the time and do not have any streaking problems, as I either recover the water or make sure that it is highly diluted before it runs across the asphalt.

[Integrity Curb Appeal 64]

We have been mainly using a sealer called Aquanil Plus 40 bu ChemMasters, I'm sure youve heard of it. It says 12hrs curing before heavy traffic. We do a bunch of Wendy's in the area and found that if we get done at about 4am the sealer is ready to be walked on by 8am. It is however pricey, so we have to charge more, but we have noticed like i mentioned earlier that gum doesnt stick to it if its not too hot outside and gum comes off so incredibly easy if it does stick but we have no idea how long the sealent will hold up like this, do have any idea? We are new and only have the products so called garuntee to go by. Also we used the HD-80 on a dumpster pad the other night for the first time because the store was getting there asphalt redone the next day, in case it streaked. Also used a citralic neutralizer. The concrete looked amazing afterwards, but despite all are attempts to rinse, rinse, rinse the asphalt it still streaked it. You say that you do all this type of work - what exactly do you use at the front of doors and walkways where the dirt is so ground in that pressure washing alone just doesnt even come close to getting it off? Obviously the HD-80 works great but because of the side effects we cant use it around asphalt.

I know this doesnt answer your question but john has a mix for concrete that is giving him good results in another thread. I though you may like it as a reference for dumpster pads, as they typically have irrigation rust stains.

http://forums.thegrimescene.com/showthread.php?t=7725

As for your question above;

A simple restaurant grade indoor outdoor degreaser like Kay Titan, (ask your Wendy's contact) works quite well with little to no peripheral contamination effects. Its about $8.00 a gallon and made for low perimeter impact because high school kid's are the main users of it. It is an alkaline detergent and I use it often as I am in the restaurant business as well as PW business. 15 minutes dwell at full strength with no evap on entry door pads, dilute 4 to 1 on lightly soiled sidewalks and hit it with a surface cleaner, and follow with oxalic 6-8 oz per gallon to brighten (No more than12 oz per gallon as it will be difficult enough to mix over 8oz.