What happened here?

[Minuteman]

I was called out to a ladies house that had a stain on her drive. When I got there I found out that another guy had tried to get the stain out but could not. I used a 12:1 concrete cleaner soln from Northern and deck brushed it. Nothing. The drive was concrete but not all smooth. It had a border of smooth concrete but the inside of each panel was rough in one direction. It looked very pourous. I washed down the drive and set up my pressure washer. I poured a more concentrated soln. on teh stains, scrubed and then hit it with a 45 degree at 2.5 gpm 280 psi. As soon as I started to move the chemical I noticed that wherever the chemical was - was now orange. The more I looked at the rest of the drive the more i noticed that every little scratch went through the top layer of the concrete and exposed the orange concrete below. It appears as though the top layer of the concrete was just a very thin layer of white. This is a new subdivision and she is one of four that have moved in on her street. Her homeowners association was on her case to get the stain removed. Now they are going to be going crazy over these larger orange stains.

Is there a way to repair this - new concrete layer, solid color spray sealer...

 

[mtngoat]

Looks like somebody through some saw dust on a oil spill?
What ya think guys? Hard to tell from picture what it is.
I have chemicals that will fix it. Give me a call.
Goat.

 

[Squirtgun]

Did you only spot clean the driveway?

It looks as though you only spot treated the stains.Then what ever you pulled up with the chems leeched out further on the concrete.

I would clean the entire driveway and apply oxalic acid to see if the stains and the rest brighten up.If recleaning and oxalic don't work you will haveto think about a MILD acid bath(muratic)to try and even everything out.

do some small test spots first before you make things any worse.Acid staning the concrete may be an option if you can't fix the problem.

 

[mtngoat]

Muratic acid is evil stuff. Where good rubber gloves and eye protection when handling it.If your not familiar with it talk to someone local who is. They can give you the dos and donts. Goat

 

[Ron Musgraves]

Tim Cotter,

You’re a great guy; remember no advertisements in these sections. Use e-mail private message or direct to them to your advertisement some other way. (Not in the post in this section.)


Min,

I sure would like to have your first name. I can tell you what this is. I cannot guarantee this will come up. If I had the original stain I may have been able too.

I think and I say think, it was rust. Someone aggressively tried to remove the rust with acid. They used it wrong and it made the concrete absorb the rust making it a permanent stain. It could have been removed prior much easier.

You have several stains, one is transmission fluid. The one to the left is that rust from the battery and that why the stain is deep. If it was from the radiator it would be easier to remove. I have no clue on the scratch. The transmission stain can be improved.


[COLOR=Green]Beware of someone selling you camouflage chemicals. Powders that cover stains and make them look like they have disappeared. [/COLOR]

 

[Minuteman]

Ken Santell - AKA Tronman

The stain was supposed to be an oil stain. When I first saw it I could not believe the neighborhood association was griping. I tried a 12:1 concrete cleaner from Northern (hydrochloric). It did not even phase it. I wetted down the drive and applied it straight from the bottle and then pressure washed immediately. That is when the bigger stain appeared wherever I poured the chem.