I have pressure washed the walkway of a store front and had little success with brightening the concrete. I have done research to find out what cleaner to use to remove the stains and am coming up with the conclusion that [B]Oxalic Acid [/B]is what I should be using. Has anyone else used this agent and if so how did it work? Any other ideas out there for removing such stains?
what type of stain is it?
Oxalic Acid is one of the ingredients in CC 550. You have two options, use an emulsifier to break up the organics and then power wash them away, or use an acid to remove the stains by dissolving some of the concrete trapping the stains.
I think CC550 is a mixture of hydrochloric and hydrofloric acid, not oxalic.
Oxalic will whiten concrete. It will also remove rust stains. It will not remove red clay stains as well as muratic acid though. Oxalic will not remove tar either. Your best bet for that is a hot water rig and a quality degreaser.
Isn’t it easy to etch concrete with muriatic if one is not experienced/careful?
Me, myself, and I, ask, how good is that stuff for the ground ??? That is why I hate PW, chemicals that do clean great or correct, are no good for the environment. I figured if I got caught they would use me as a example. Hate to bring that up but be careful out there.
Yep, you sure can.
You can etch it, stain it, burn the cream…
All kinds of good stuff.
But it’s awesome for red clay stains if you know what you’re doing. It helps to have two machines running.
The cleaners are usually not as bad for the environment as what you’re using the cleaners to remove. Think about oil. I would imagine the oil is far worse to the environment then the degreaser.
You can always add a waste water capture system to reclaim and treat all the runoff water.
