Hard Water Stains on Pavers

[Christopher]

Hello Guys, Here are some pictures of some pavers that have hard water stains on them and I tried a lot of chemicals from EacoChem, Prosoco and some local stuff including Muriatic (you can see the clean spot but it did not clean any other spots there so maybe that area was not too hard to clean).

They want to get the pavers cleaned and then sealed with the understanding that they will need to be cleaned and re-sealed yearly.

The hard water stains at the fountain will not happen anymore since the water supply there is off from now on.

The landscaping still has water so that is still an issue but I mentioned to them about getting a water softener and that might help with the stain problem after everything is cleaned.

I am wondering if anyone has cleaned hard water stains like these before and how you did it and what you used.

I have not done many paver jobs so this is still very new to me.

Thank You.

 

[Christopher]

More pictures of the pavers:

 

[Grime Busters LLC]

If they used chlorine in the water feature, you have a combination of hard water deposits and evaporated SH. I did one at a medical center several months ago, even straight muratic acid just giggled at the deposits. We ended up using angle grinders and 1/2" chuck wire brushes to remove 95% of the deposits, then muratic at 3 to 1 to resolve the remaining haze.

You think this project is a nightmare, check out this project which I've been doing experiments on for almost a month:

 

[Christopher]

Those are some bad pavers!

How fast were you doing with the wire wheels on the angle grinders? 1sq.ft. per 5 minutes?

I am trying to figure out the best way to get these cleaned.

When you were done, were there a lot of marks on the pavers from the wire wheels?

Were they the twisted wire wire wheels or the regular wire wheels?

Thank You.

 

[Grime Busters LLC]

Those are some bad pavers!

How fast were you doing with the wire wheels on the angle grinders? 1sq.ft. per 5 minutes?

I am trying to figure out the best way to get these cleaned.

When you were done, were there a lot of marks on the pavers from the wire wheels?

Were they the twisted wire wire wheels or the regular wire wheels?

Thank You.

Good luck to you Chris. Was great talking with you. Feel free to contact me at anytime.

 

[Carolina Prowash]

Have you tried EacoChem Calcite presoak or the Ef-fortless?

 

[El Flojo]

Has anyone tried any tile cleaning acids? like ...... Been a loooong day cant think of the names but they have worked for water marks on old saltillo tile (outdoor) but just a thought for you guys.

 

[Christopher]

Have you tried EacoChem Calcite presoak or the Ef-fortless?

Sure did along with Vanatrol, Sure Klean 600, NMD-80, SafeRestore, GSR, and some others that I can't remember the names right this minute.

It will be a good job if I can get them clean.

 

[Tomdurbin]

Have you tried paint stripper? If that does not work I would brush blast the area. You will need to use a dry type of sandblaster. It almost looks like sealer popping off the pavers. Try a small area with bix or any other industrial grade stripper. Put it on with a brush so it goes on thick. You should see the surface start to bubble. Then use your hot water at at least 180. Build the temperature before you hit the surface. Otherwise forget grinders. Either buy or rent a dry sandblaster and brush blast the area. You should get at least 2.00 or more per square foot to sandblast. If you buy a sandblaster you can expense it to this job. Then you can sandblast pools, brick, trailer frames etc... I have a couple of used sandblasters and we could train you how to use them. You would move superfast with a sandblaster as you just want to quickly go over the area. If you don't want to invest in this type of equipment. Find someone in your area that rents or does sandblasting. Most masonry contractors have this type of equipment. Then get a price from them mark it up and sub it out. I am going to have a show with Ron in the spring and will be offereing sandblasting training if enough show interest.

 

[Tomdurbin]

One other thing you could try is CBC-22. It is HF. But nothing and I mean nothing cleans brick like CBC-22. You can get this product from CHEM-EX Steve Belak 708-430-5544. This would be the last thing I would try but in my opinion you will have to brush blast the area. Steve will most likely send you a quart to try. Tell him Tom Durbin sent you. Ask him to send a tube of calcium gluconate. If you have to buy the calcium gluconate buy t its 7.00 and is one of the only things that help with HF burns. But most importantly don't get that shizz on your skin.

 

[tomtucson]

Chris, how did the products work - somewhat, not at all, which was worst to best? The gsr has fluoride salts - sodium bifluoride I think. My one tip is to apply and then cover with plastic, I have had success on some tough areas where uncovered the chem would not do the job at all but covered and allowed to 'marinate' it did work. I would lift the plastic and test if the deposits had softened or dissolved and if not apply some fresh chem. There is a product klenstone that has taken off some tough fountain deposits, its similar to gsr I think.

Question - are products with sodium bifluoride or fluoride salts a safer form of HF? Do the release HF when used?

 

[810f250]

Great thread, Jim C I saw the videos, they were well documented. Tom D, Tom C, and others thanks for the input.