Fairfield, CA Pressure Wash and Sealing

[New Look]

Enjoyed the heck doing this project. Repeat customer and they call me up every year when the Yankees are in town to play the A's. [spin]

 

[chrishartje]

Very nice Carlos. Can you explain the steps involved in that pool deck? If you would like to share?

 

[New Look]

Very nice Carlos. Can you explain the steps involved in that pool deck? If you would like to share?

Sure Chris....pretty straight forward as the stamped concrete was in excellent shape, meaning that the colors were still rich. Normally I surface clean but as mentioned the concrete and the colors were excellent. I opted to wand around the pool. Prior to that I xjetted a weak chem mix...let the dwell do it's thing. Bumped the burner up to about 150 degrees and rinsed. One thing to point out is that you need to be careful that you don't rinse/wash the water into the pool. I usually begin at water edge and rinse away from the pool water as much as possible. It is always good to FYI the customer that there is a good possibility that some "rinse water" will get in the pool water. I always ask customer to keep their pool pump running when we are washing.

After washing, you let the concrete dry. Once it is dry or close to it....SEAL AWAY. This particular job was a high gloss (Super Wet) look. I applied 2 coats. First coat was a heavy one where after we spray the sealant on we then go over it with a shop broom so that the sealant has a consistent and even appearance to it. Careful with puddling of the sealant in the stamp indentations on the concrete. Broom over those again if needed. Once the first coat is dry we went over it a second time with a lighter coat. This particular job involved all the stamped concrete around the pool, outdoor living spaces, 2 barbeque areas, sitting area, all sidewalks, front door entrance way and of course the driveway and stamped bands around the driveway. Started sealing around 10 and finished up around 2'ish!

 

[Doug Rucker]

Sure Chris....pretty straight forward as the stamped concrete was in excellent shape, meaning that the colors were still rich. Normally I surface clean but as mentioned the concrete and the colors were excellent. I opted to wand around the pool. Prior to that I xjetted a weak chem mix...let the dwell do it's thing. Bumped the burner up to about 150 degrees and rinsed. One thing to point out is that you need to be careful that you don't rinse/wash the water into the pool. I usually begin at water edge and rinse away from the pool water as much as possible. It is always good to FYI the customer that there is a good possibility that some "rinse water" will get in the pool water. I always ask customer to keep their pool pump running when we are washing.

After washing, you let the concrete dry. Once it is dry or close to it....SEAL AWAY. This particular job was a high gloss (Super Wet) look. I applied 2 coats. First coat was a heavy one where after we spray the sealant on we then go over it with a shop broom so that the sealant has a consistent and even appearance to it. Careful with puddling of the sealant in the stamp indentations on the concrete. Broom over those again if needed. Once the first coat is dry we went over it a second time with a lighter coat. This particular job involved all the stamped concrete around the pool, outdoor living spaces, 2 barbeque areas, sitting area, all sidewalks, front door entrance way and of course the driveway and stamped bands around the driveway. Started sealing around 10 and finished up around 2'ish!

Excellent Job Carlos, looks great. I am trying to make arrangements for the June 24th Seal n Lock training. We'll see.

 

[New Look]

Excellent Job Carlos, looks great. I am trying to make arrangements for the June 24th Seal n Lock training. We'll see.

It would be good to see you at the Training Doug

 

[Mark]

Doug,

Looking forward to seeing you on June 24th!

-------------------------------------------------------------------------
Become a Seal'n Pro Authorized Tech

This business offers one of the highest hourly earnings of any service we have looked into over the last several years.

Learn about this new, revolutionary sealing system guaranteed to increase your profits, maximize your labor, and generate repeat business!
This new system offers a cleaning and sealing option in just one day versus standard systems that can take up to 5 days to complete.

Seal 'n Lock is a must have for homeowners who want to protect and enhance the appearance of their homes.

Be among the first to master this breakthrough Seal 'N Lock system. Excellent add on service for power wash
contractors, landscapers, or anyone wanting to start their own profitable hardscape clean and seal business.


Seal'n Pro Authorized Tech Training Class will be held Friday June 24, 2011, register today before this opportunity passes you by!

http://www.easycleansystems.com/PDF_...lnLock1day.pdf

 

[chrishartje]

Thanks for the detailed explanation.
Carlos, what brand of sealer are you useing?
Take a look at this pic. would I need to strip all the old sealer before reappling new sealer? Or a simple clean and reapply?

 

[Gogreenwash]

Carlos as always great pics great info thank you for sharing.

 

[New Look]

Thanks for the detailed explanation.
Carlos, what brand of sealer are you useing?
Take a look at this pic. would I need to strip all the old sealer before reappling new sealer? Or a simple clean and reapply?

Hey Chris....I use Seal N Lock.

I would suspect you would need to strip this off. This is (pics) a text book example of how old sealant fails. I would venture to say that there is several coats of sealing on this based on what I am seeing. If this is the case you never know which coat was the coat that actually failed. Home owners hire people to reapply sealant thinking that by doing so will "mask" the failed coat that is on the concrete in the first place....this is not the case. Sealants fail for several reasons:

1. Inferior brand of sealant....customers opt to go "cheap" with watered down versions of sealant
2. The concrete was not cleaned properly in the first place. Normally stamped concrete has two colors. The last color is called the release color and it is usually applied in a powered form. When the concrete contractors cleaned the concrete or rinse away the excess relase color they often times do a bad job. So...when the sealant is added it goes on the release vs. the actual concrete.
3. Concrete was not allowed to "cure". After a concrete pour...it is standard to let the concrete "cure" for at least 30 days. Again, concrete contractors sometimes do not wait for proper curing. When they seal the concrete, there is still moisture in the concrete itself and eventually it rises to the top. Again, when this happens the moisture is "trapped" at between the concrete surface and the layer of sealant. Naturally it evaporates overtime BUT it leasve calcium deposits. This is where you see blotches on stamped concrete.

So....you situation could be one of many scenarios that I briefly described above.

Try to find out how many times the concrete was sealed or how many coats of sealant was applied. Me personally, I do not strip sealant off concrete unless the customer is willing to pay premium pricing. Stipping sealant is a pain and expensive....time consuming and just a big old headache in my book.

Hope this helps!!!

 

[Calob]

wow carlos, thats some nice work there. so total your looking at a "whole day" job. 6hrs or so total, for clean and seal. But looks great and keeps them coming back.

 

[New Look]

wow carlos, thats some nice work there. so total your looking at a "whole day" job. 6hrs or so total, for clean and seal. But looks great and keeps them coming back.

Yep...that would be correct. Did the entire pool area, back bar-b-que, sidewalks, driveway and front steps in one day.....I didn't mention this in the pics but this house belongs to NY Yankee pitcher C.C. Sabathia