I was working on a new home on the front porch (stamped concrete about 3 weeks old) and was cutting and ripping a bunch of cherry for a project inside the home. At the end of the day I packed up the tools and went home without cleaning up the sawdust. (I know, I know…) Anyway it rained over night and the cherry stained the concrete – bad in 2 places and mildly over a wider area. The concrete only has the finish (no sealer)
Anyone with experience as to remove the stain .. tried power wash today, mild soap, but may have to move to heavy artillery tommorrow… whatever that may be….. any help greatly appreciated…… J
First we get good- then we get fast !
Replies
muriatic acid flush good w water after
Thaks for the info- did you dilute the acid and at what rate? DId you have a similar experience? Any "scarring" on the concrete from the acid?
P.S. This house is probably $ 1.5 M, so I want to be careful- VERY careful......First we get good- then we get fast !
You're a little too late for very careful._______________________________________________________________
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You might try oxalic acid, often sold as a wood bleach. Will be gentler than muratic, and may "bleach" the stain.
Also, it's worth a shot at plain old chlorine bleach.
Of course, try a small "inconspicuous" area first, with any of these.
Doesn't that stamped concrete also have dye in the concrete and surface harder/color additives.
I will be REAL CARE about using any acid on it, specially muractic.
You might want to try these sites.
http://www.decorative-concrete.net/forum/index.php
http://www.concretenetwork.com/concrete/maintaining/cleaning.htm
Both of them have lots of information, just picked the part that quickly looked like they might help.
Also I try and contract the company that did these and find out what product that they used so that you can contact those producers for tech support.
Thanks fo rthe info- it will be a good resouce fo rthe next time..... NOT !!First we get good- then we get fast !
And in the future you are going to do WHAT when working over any finish floor material???
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Well thanks all for the help. We tried using plain old Javex this morning along with a stiff brush and power washer. We let the Javex sit undiluted on the stain for about 5 minutes and then used the brush. The staining was 99% removed after this process. Good power wash and now we wait for tommorrow morning to see final result. Any minor additional staining will be tackled in the morning.
Then I went to see the owner and apologized for the "brain fart" - he is quite a fellow- and we both agreed that life experiences are quite clear in the rear view mirror. It is funny to see the number of people who said they knew that would happen -AFTER THE FACT (me too !!)
By the way- he had paid me up to date even though we had this outstanding issue... I had been trimming there off and on since Jan and I will post pix in the photo gallery as it is quite a unique home....
First we get good- then we get fast !
What a great client you have.
Yeah- I went to see the final cleanup this morning and all is good. There is a slight stain in 1 area ('bout 1 ft square) where the owner asked if I could put a 2nd wash on it but he wasn't too worried- his exact words were" Mother Nature will take care of it anyway" He was pleased with the outcome of the Javex treatment (so was I, so was I...!)
This kind of situation proves things about people- what their outlook on life is, how they view and respond to success,( this $ 1.5 m is his retirement home!) how they interact with "regular" folks- it was a real pleasure to have met this man and wife and to have done work for them...First we get good- then we get fast !
Boy if I didn't hear that a lot in the last couple of days....... (including my DW !!!) It's funny how we learn different things as we go along in life, isn't it ? Part of our routine NOW is to insure that cleanup is properly done as well (I know, I know..)
JFirst we get good- then we get fast !