Surface cleaner rings

[Martin C]

Recently pressured washed a customers tarmac drive, when it dried out circles were present from the FSC, any ideas please on how to rectify this problem?

 

[Pjj]

This isn’t a simple one to answer but the points below might explain why it’s like it .
1 . Gone to fast with the fsc, low flow rate , and uneven coverage with the fsc.
2 . Tarmac is always a nightmare for this it looks fine when wet but as it dries looks like your results , it’s a very course surface and holds the dirt in the holes you think it’s clean but the dirt settles in the holes , it needs a real high flow of water to remove it .
3. Always go in lines with the fsc not all over the place , and over lap by 50% on each pass this will help reduce the effect you have got .
4 . Experience and practice will reduce this but tarmac is the worst surface to try and clean in my opinion, we don’t do driveways of any size in tarmac because of these issues .
5. I would re do it go over it slowly using plenty of water and then give it a thorough rinse using the lance .

 

[Martin C]

This isn’t a simple one to answer but the points below might explain why it’s like it .
1 . gone to fast with the fsc, low flow rate , and uneven coverage with the fsc.
2 . Tarmac is always a nightmare fir this it looks fine when wet but as it dries looks like your results , it’s a very course surface and holds the dirt in the holes you think it’s clean but the dirt settles in the holes , it needs a real high flow of water to remove it .
3. Always go in lines with the fsc not all over the place , and over lap by 50% on each pass this will help reduce the effect you have got .
4 . Experience and practice will reduce this but tarmac is the worst surface to try and clean in my opinion, we don’t do driveways of any size in tarmac because of these issues .
5. I would re do it go over it slowly using plenty of water and then give it a thorough rinse using the lance .

Many thanks pjj, must admit I did turn the power down whilst cleaning it, but I’ve noted all your points & will offer her a free re clean & try the above steps you mention. I was thinking of sealing it & also adding colour back to it to cover the swirls.

 

[ched999uk]

Many thanks pjj, must admit I did turn the power down whilst cleaning it, but I’ve noted all your points & will offer her a free re clean & try the above steps you mention. I was thinking of sealing it & also adding colour back to it to cover the swirls.

If you seal it or re colour it before you have all the dirt out the sealant won't stick to the tarmac.

 

[Pjj]

Many thanks pjj, must admit I did turn the power down whilst cleaning it, but I’ve noted all your points & will offer her a free re clean & try the above steps you mention. I was thinking of sealing it & also adding colour back to it to cover the swirls.

Yes you don’t want to much pressure as tarmac is easily damaged but need lots of water to rinse , we use a vario nozzle for rinsing loads of water and you can vary the pressure from the lance very easily .

 

[Pjj]

Many thanks pjj, must admit I did turn the power down whilst cleaning it, but I’ve noted all your points & will offer her a free re clean & try the above steps you mention. I was thinking of sealing it & also adding colour back to it to cover the swirls.

All tarmac over time fades that’s just the nature of the product , I have seen some good results with ones that have been painted to brighten them up but make sure it’s clean and dry before applying paint or it can come off and look an awful mess and a nightmare to put right ???

 

[Martin C]

All tarmac over time fades that’s just the nature of the product , I have seen some good results with ones that have been painted to brighten them up but make sure it’s clean and dry before applying paint or it can come off and look an awful mess and a nightmare to put right ???

Ok, this surface is only a year old, reason she wanted it cleaned was because the gardener had a go with a pressure washer & left lines in areas, I was confident the surface cleaner would remove those lines & leave a decent finish, unfortunately I’ve now left circles ? obviously if I re clean it & it dries stripy I’ll have to use a sealer & colourer to make it look good again. I did actually rinse it down well with the x jet vario gun.

 

[K in Kent]

Ok, this surface is only a year old, reason she wanted it cleaned was because the gardener had a go with a pressure washer & left lines in areas, I was confident the surface cleaner would remove those lines & leave a decent finish, unfortunately I’ve now left circles ? obviously if I re clean it & it dries stripy I’ll have to use a sealer & colourer to make it look good again. I did actually rinse it down well with the x jet vario gun.

I wouldn't recommend sealing it then applying a restorer because the sealant will act as a barrier.
Use an all in one product that restores and seals - like this one

I'm only using it as an example and don't know anything about sealing tarmac. I do quite a bit of driveway/patio/ block paving sealing but don't get involved with tarmac so don't know any specific products to recommend. It's a subject you'll need to look into it and take your chances because you can't always rely on things working as advertised..

2 rypess of driveway worth avoiding in future for cleaning and sealing are tarmac and pattern imprinted concrete.

 

[K in Kent]

This isn’t a simple one to answer but the points below might explain why it’s like it .
1 . gone to fast with the fsc, low flow rate , and uneven coverage with the fsc.
2 . Tarmac is always a nightmare fir this it looks fine when wet but as it dries looks like your results , it’s a very course surface and holds the dirt in the holes you think it’s clean but the dirt settles in the holes , it needs a real high flow of water to remove it .
3. Always go in lines with the fsc not all over the place , and over lap by 50% on each pass this will help reduce the effect you have got .
4 . Experience and practice will reduce this but tarmac is the worst surface to try and clean in my opinion, we don’t do driveways of any size in tarmac because of these issues .
5. I would re do it go over it slowly using plenty of water and then give it a thorough rinse using the lance .

Quality advice as ever!

 

[Martin C]

I wouldn't recommend sealing it then applying a restorer because the sealant will act as a barrier.
Use an all in one product that restores and seals - like this one

I'm only using it as an example and don't know anything about sealing tarmac. I do quite a bit of driveway/patio/ block paving sealing but don't get involved with tarmac so don't know any specific products to recommend. It's a subject you'll need to look into it and take your chances because you can't always rely on things working as advertised..

2 rypess of driveway worth avoiding in future for cleaning and sealing are tarmac and pattern imprinted concrete.

Yea thanks for that, yea I had in mind an all in one treatment, let’s hope it won’t be needed?

 

[Truckcab79]

Great info and thank god I’ve never been asked to clean a tarmac drive. Had no idea it was such a problem. Out of interest is the picture in the OP ‘damage’ or is it that the darker areas are less clean so in theory you could continue to clean in multiple directions with lots of overlaps and eventually it would even out?
Many thanks. Apologies for the slight hijack.

 

[Pjj]

Great info and thank god I’ve never been asked to clean a tarmac drive. Had no idea it was such a problem. Out of interest is the picture in the OP ‘damage’ or is it that the darker areas are less clean so in theory you could continue to clean in multiple directions with lots of overlaps and eventually it would even out?
Many thanks. Apologies for the slight hijack.

The light areas are dirty the darker areas are cleaner , there is no damage it’s just swirling marks from the fsc . Tarmac is a pita to clean and get it looking good looks fine when wet but when dry often looks like the picture it takes ages to get it looking good , I have mine to do in the spring and dread doing it every time and mine has a good slope on it for drainage and run off as well .

 

[Martin C]

Great info and thank god I’ve never been asked to clean a tarmac drive. Had no idea it was such a problem. Out of interest is the picture in the OP ‘damage’ or is it that the darker areas are less clean so in theory you could continue to clean in multiple directions with lots of overlaps and eventually it would even out?
Many thanks. Apologies for the slight hijack.

My aim for this is to heed the advice from the forum, go back & re clean it, in straight lines, over lapping 50% full flow on the washer & slowly, hopefully this will rectify the issue of circles when dry.

 

[Pjj]

My aim for this is to heed the advice from the forum, go back & re clean it, in straight lines, over lapping 50% full flow on the washer & slowly, hopefully this will rectify the issue of circles when dry.

That should make a big difference don forget to give it a good rinse with copious amounts of water starting at one end and systematically going across the full width of the drive working towards the other end , it’s all about practice but it’s very easy to get lines regardless of experience.

 

[Martin C]

That should make a big difference don forget to give it a good rinse with copious amounts of water starting at one end and systematically going across the full width of the drive working towards the other end , it’s all about practice but it’s very easy to get lines regardless of experience.

Will do, thanks for advice

 

[Truckcab79]

Stupid question then……if it’s dirt why are there circular dark marks? If the light bits are cleaner they’d be the circles. You can’t have a dark coloured really clean bit. Unless you’ve then gone over it with the FSC and somehow put a perfect circle of dirt down? Likewise you can’t clean up to a dirtier bit without leaving a clean chuck out of it. Can you? Must be something really obvious I’m missing.

 

[Pjj]

Stupid question then……if it’s dirt why are there circular dark marks? If the light bits are cleaner they’d be the circles. You can’t have a dark coloured really clean bit. Unless you’ve then gone over it with the FSC and somehow put a perfect circle of dirt down? Likewise you can’t clean up to a dirtier bit without leaving a clean chuck out of it. Can you? Must be something really obvious I’m missing.

It’s uneven cleaning that’s why it looks like that some bits are clean some are still dirty if you go over it several times or once at a very slow speed you won’t have the swerl marks ,

 

[Truckcab79]

It’s uneven cleaning that’s why it looks like that some bits are clean some are still dirty if you go over it several times or once at a very slow speed you won’t have the swerl marks ,

I get that. Don’t understand how the more complete swirls in the image can be darker and therefore dirtier when the lighter ones would clearly have been an earlier / longer / more thorough pass and are lighter / cleaner?

 

[Pjj]

I get that. Don’t understand how the more complete swirls in the image can be darker and therefore dirtier when the lighter ones would clearly have been an earlier / longer / more thorough pass and are lighter / cleaner?

The lighter area looks like it’s dead dry green algae to me , the darker area I think is cleaner , it’s difficult to explain but I have experience this many times over 25 years it needs a much slower pass rate then loads of rinsing , could also be blocked or warn jets in the fsc adding to the problem but its speed that’s caused theses issues . The one in the picture I would have put a hypo mix on it to kill the algae but I don’t want to promote hypo on tarmac as you can bleach it if you dont know what you are doing or leave it to long or let it dry out this will then cause major issues to rectify it and also be very expensive.

 

[Truckcab79]

The lighter area looks like it’s dead dry green algae to me , the darker area I think is cleaner , it’s difficult to explain but I have experience this many times over 25 years it needs a much slower pass rate then loads of rinsing , could also be blocked or warn jets in the fsc adding to the problem but its speed that’s caused theses issues . The one in the picture I would have put a hypo mix on it to kill the algae but I don’t want to promote hypo on tarmac as you can bleach it if you dont know what you are doing or leave it to long or let it dry out this will then cause major issues to rectify it and also be very expensive.

Cheers for the info. I think I’ll continue hoping I don’t get asked to clean one. ??

 

[Pjj]

Cheers for the info. I think I’ll continue hoping I don’t get asked to clean one. ??

To be honest we usually turn them down as they are a pita , I have to do my own drive in the spring as it’s not been done for 3 years and want to tidy it up