How do you wash "new" concrete differently? What is "new?"

P

pwrick

New member
Hello Everybody,
As you might guess from my other questions, I've only been exterior washing for a few months (since November). I've got three jobs coming up that have concrete that is from 8 months to 2 years old. Do you consider that new enough to treat differently than normal? If so, how would you change my set-up/procedure to avoid damaging the concrete? Thanks!

My current set-up is:
8gpm/3,000 psi cold water machine
200 feet of hose
Whisper Wash Classic surface cleaner with 4 nozzles (20025)
I now pre-treat with a mix of bleach and Dragon Juice
 
It can take up to a year for concrete to cure. You would not use pressure on anything less than a year unless you can do a test spot and verify you won't be stripping the cream off. Two years old should be fine.


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I'm looking at submitting a bid to wash a newly built store and parking lot. The concrete and asphalt are young. Will a pretreat with SH house mix with Dragon Juice and a rinse be appropriate, and then post treat with just a SH mix? How might that affect the adjacent asphalt (which I will be rinsing also). There is a lot of development going on around here, so I guess cleaning new concrete is not going to be unusual for a while.

What kind of expectations do you guys set with the customer? It seems that cleaning concrete, even if it is new, won't produce the same effect as the normal procedure.

IMG_20160610_185314.jpgIMG_20160610_185325.jpgIMG_20160610_194149.jpg
 
I submitted that bid a couple of weeks ago (new construction), and the contractor said they were delaying the wash until they got more work done (they did have a lot of sod to lay down). Anyway, I went to the site yesterday to check in, and saw that they had done a quick wash of the sidewalk that is right in front and to the side of the store. I also saw the following:
IMG_20160623_214517.jpgIMG_20160629_132419.jpgIMG_20160629_132535.jpgIMG_20160629_132639.jpgIMG_20160629_132932.jpg

Surface cleaner gone mad? Chems from sidewalk cleaning left on the asphalt? Not exactly sure what to think here. That close up shot of the swirl marks is indentation from the surface cleaner into the asphalt Maybe most of the surface cleaner "trail" will rinse away? Is that damage (last 3 pictures) to the asphalt from chems that were used to wash the concrete sidewalk? If you were the contractor, would you be concerned about any of this (I'm learning that contractors don't seem to want a bang up job like the property owners do).

Also, I was wondering if $0.034/sf to rinse construction dirt/mud off of asphalt parking lot (200,000 sf), $0.20/sf to wash concrete sidewalks/pavers/stairs (very dirty, but not moldy/algae, 3000 sf) and $0.40/linear foot to wash curb/gutters (3000 sf) is completely out of line. I know folks hate the pricing questions (not without good reason), so maybe a better way to ask is how much time does it take you to do those jobs (would help me benchmark my timeliness also)? Thanks.

Edit: the above prices include containment of the wash water and relocating it to the landscape.
Edit2: that concrete damage in pic#4 wasn't there before either.
 
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