Concord NC: Oil Stain Treatment Insight
McNeil Pressure Washing was called out to Concord, NC recently to clean up an oil spill at a past customer's home. We previously pressure washed the house sidings, soft washed the roof and power washed the driveway.
I am writing this short article for a bit of clarity in hopes of helping our future clients understand the process of addressing oil stains on concrete, and why the price varies so much.
So upon arriving at the house in Concord, we met with the customer and addressed the staining on the driveway, which appeared to be oil and possibly transmission fluid. There were also a few rust spots. The car had stopped running a few months prior and they recently sold it to a junkyard. Now, our customer thought she would pay a similar price ($110) that she paid earlier in the year when we pressure washed her driveway but there were two things working against that.
First, inflation is continuing to affect many industries including ours. Cost of basic supplies and chemicals have increased and we must increase our prices a bit to keep up with that and remain a sustainable business to the public.
Secondly, when we power wash driveways, we usually are only addressing mold, algae and/or dirt buildup that has the driveway discolored. We use one main chemical, along with pressure, to clean that type of growth. The chemicals used to treat oil stains, rust, etc usually cost about twelve times more than the chemical needed for a basic driveway cleaning.
Also, for a standard pressure washing of the driveway, no scrubbing with a brush is necessary. Just pre-treat, pressure wash and then possibly a post treatment. However, with an oil stain treatment, there are many variables. Depending on the age of concrete, age of oil stains, saturation level, how the concrete cured etc will determine both the method and the result of an oil stain treatment. I explained all this to her, which helped her understand pricing a bit better. We never want to give off the impression that we nickel and dime, so we are happy to explain things when necessary.
With this particular situation, we had to treat the oil stain with a particular chemical 24 hours before we applied any pressure. We then returned the next day and treated the spot again and then agitated the spot with a deck brush for about 20 minutes. After that, we applied the pressure washer to the entire driveway (otherwise, the spots that were treated would be significantly brighter than the rest of the driveway). After all of this the oil spots were significantly lighter. The black and brown spots had disappeared. We then applied a separate chemical and agitated the spot another 10 minutes and applied the pressure washer again to that particular spot. Once we finished, the spot had only shadowing left behind, which is normal. In most instances, the spot does not completely disappear for many reasons.
I am hopeful that this information is helpful to those reading, so that you may understand both the process of addressing various stains on concrete as well as pricing. As always, hit the “schedule a free quote” button at the top of the page to inquire about service.