Well, one of my employees was pressure washing a 5 month old driveway. 4000 psi pressure washer. He was using the thinnest nozzle setting and sprayed the concrete. This concrete looks new, and now it has these scribble looking marks in it. The homeowner is pissed. Any way to remove or cover up this? FYI, we didn’t do the concrete.
Pressure washer marks on new driveway
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benzbuggie
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Well, one of my employees was pressure washing a 5 month old driveway. 4000 psi pressure washer. He was using the thinnest nozzle setting and sprayed the concrete. This concrete looks new, and now it has these scribble looking marks in it. The homeowner is pissed. Any way to remove or cover up this? FYI, we didn’t do the concrete.
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Why would you let him use that tip and that much pressure.
An electric pressure washer will do most of what you need and do much less damage.
New concrete would probably clean up with a stiff broom and some gentle cleaner, or low pressure.
I feel for you. That's a big oops.
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An electric pressure washer will do most of what you need and do much less damage.
New concrete would probably clean up with a stiff broom and some gentle cleaner, or low pressure.
I feel for you. That's a big oops.
Sent from my SM-N975U using Tapatalk
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4,322 Posts
Two possibilities...
Let time take care of it
or
Wash the entire drive
Let time take care of it
or
Wash the entire drive
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4,322 Posts
It's not carved.
How so? You think those are chalkmarks?
While the impressions may be relatively superficial, they're still definite damage to the surface that wouldn't be there otherwise. Telling the HO to wait a year or three and it'll be fine is a total copout, true or not.
They fade rather quickly.
-or- deep clean the entire thing.
-or- do a light grind/polish on the whole thing. This might remove the broom finish that gives it its non slip texture, so it might have to be added
I would try all of the above before tearing up a driveway over a few scratch marks. Personally.
-or- deep clean the entire thing.
-or- do a light grind/polish on the whole thing. This might remove the broom finish that gives it its non slip texture, so it might have to be added
I would try all of the above before tearing up a driveway over a few scratch marks. Personally.
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Silly me, but it could be simply the dust caused by cutting the joints and settled on the surface got washed out by the stream of water? If so, a powered brush would remove the rest of the dust.
But what do I know? I'm just a dumb electrician.
But what do I know? I'm just a dumb electrician.
Lekturshin
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Leckturshun. Git er write!
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A brush and some TSP
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That is a boneheaded move, those marks are not going to go away or be disguised as they are basically etched into the concrete. No harm now in using a wider tip and seeing if you can wash those two sections and “wash out” those marks, doubtful.
Another option is to use one of those high pressure oscillating tips and try to wash out those marks. You really can not make this worse.
Final option is to rent a concrete grinder and grind those two sections until the marks are gone, but then that will grind off the broom finish too.
Replacement my be the easiest option if the power washer can not fix it and only one the homeowner is happy with.
If I was the homeowner I would be pissed too.
Another option is to use one of those high pressure oscillating tips and try to wash out those marks. You really can not make this worse.
Final option is to rent a concrete grinder and grind those two sections until the marks are gone, but then that will grind off the broom finish too.
Replacement my be the easiest option if the power washer can not fix it and only one the homeowner is happy with.
If I was the homeowner I would be pissed too.
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This is correct … you basically need to lightly grind the entire driveway to a consistent finish.
In the future, this is the easiest and quickest way to clean large flat surfaces.
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It might be. It’s like the pressure washer removed the top millimeter layer of concrete where it was pressure washed
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I will guarantee it is.
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