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Cleaning Your Driveway

by Lee Wyatt

Summary: While you can use dangerous chemicals to clean your driveway, first try simple household chemicals, one at a time. You might find something that works just as well as a costly product. Always wear protective gear when using chemicals, and while cleaning your driveway, make sure that pets and children are not nearby.

Do you have chalk drawings of many colors on your driveway, indicative that you have young children in your home? Perhaps you've a heap of mulch in a corner of your driveway, waiting for you to transport wheelbarrows full of the stuff to deposit around your flower beds and trees, and the mulch has stained your driveway brown. Or maybe your teenager decided to change the oil of his car, and now there's a large oil stain on your driveway. If you use your driveway for purposes other than a place to park your car, then you probably need to clean it. Here are some handy tips designed to help you find a solution for cleaning your driveway:

Before you attempt to clean the stains, remove all obvious debris, dirt, leaves, and twigs, Use a standard straw broom or a push broom to completely sweep and dust the entire surface.
Use your garden hose to wet the driveway thoroughly, using the hardest spray setting with your garden hose nozzle to wash away dirt and grime.
Allow the driveway to dry completely before determining where the stains are.
Pour cola onto the stains, allowing it to set overnight. If your driveway is sloped, mix a paste of cola and baking soda and apply the solution to the stains, allowing it to set overnight.
Mix a bucket full of soapy, hot water, using the greater portion of soap, and apply that solution to the cola-and-baking soda solution, scouring it with a stiff brush.
Rinse the spots with your garden hose.
If you have stubborn stains, use a paste of common household cleaners, such as Soft Scrub or Comet, or automatic dishwashing detergent, mixing into a paste and agitating it into the stains with a stiff brush. Never combine household cleaners. Try one, then rinse. If one doesn't work, try another.
If stains persist, go to your local home improvement store and buy a specially formulated product for cleaning driveways and follow the manufacturer's directions.
For severe oil stains, use trisodium phosphate—commonly called TSP—allowing it to stand on the wet surface for at least thirty minutes. Using a stiff broom, scrub the TSP into the stain and rinse thoroughly.
As a last resort for stains that simply won't budge, use muriatic acid and a pressure washer. If you must use muriatic acid, consult with a professional about how to properly use the chemical, and always wear safety gear and keep it aware from animals and children.

When using dangerous chemicals such as TSP or muriatic acid, always use protective gear such as goggles, heavy duty rubber gloves, and protective clothing. Since TSP and muriatic acid are such dangerous products, use them only as a last resort, and never wash them down a storm drain. After using chemicals to clean your driveway, always use a generous amount of baking soda to neutralize the chemical action.

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Comments for this tip:

housedaz 03 Nov 2009, 14:51

Step 1 To Pressure Wash Concrete Driveways
Locate a decent pressure washer. Its recommended for cleaning concrete to use a 3,000 psi pressure washer. Your Home Depot or Lowes should have rentals if not check your yellow pages for tool rentals. Try to get a hot water unit. Hot water will clean 100X better than cold water * "Never hook a cold water unit up to hot water coming from your house it will damage your pump".

Step 2 To Pressure Wash Concrete Driveways
Prep the driveway by removing as much of the dirt or debris as you can by sweeping it away. If you know where the water flows to wile its raining or when you wash your car, place a oil soaking mat over the storm drain. Oil soaking mats absorb oil,gas and chemicals and let the water filter threw. If the best you can do is divert it to your lawn that is better than pouring it into the waterways. Also if your caught not attempting to do so. There are Hefty EPA fines up to $10,000. So at least show an effort.

Step 3 To Pressure Wash Concrete Driveways
Fill a pump sprayer up with a diluted concentrate degreaser. I recommend ZEP TnT, Its a brush less truck wash chemical that cleans anything from gutters to industrial railroad equipment. Also awesome on carpet.
Go around to any Soil marks and spray a generous amount on top of the stain.

Step 4 To Pressure Wash Concrete Driveways
Read instruction manual that came with your pressure washer. Make sure it is fully topped up with fuel. If it is a hot water pressure wash make sure the burner fuel tank is filled. Red tank is for gasoline Blue tank is for kerosene or diesel. Place pressure washer on level ground out of the way of your work area. Always wear protective eye ware wile you Pressure Wash Concrete Driveways.

Step 5 To Pressure Wash Concrete Driveways
Place the yellow tip into the wand. If you are using a hot water unit make sure there is no hose touching the grass around your driveway because it will kill it if left in one spot to long. Fire up your pressure washer. Determine the best distance from the tip of the wand to the concrete driveway that produces the best cleaning strength. Take nice even passes in front of you in sections about a ft to each side of you all the way to the end of your drive way or do it one pad at a time. Then return to the start and make your next path overlap where you just cleaned by a half ft.

Step 6 To Pressure Wash Concrete Driveways
Once you get to a location that is covered in a oil stain take a few passes over it until you cannot see it leaving wand marks. It will still look darker than the surrounding concrete but will dry to an almost even match. Using heavy duty concrete cleaners on these spots often burns the concrete and you end up with chalk white marks all over the place. Darker marks pressure washing with a degreaser come out hidden better once a concrete sealer is applied.

Step 7 To Pressure Wash Concrete Driveways
Give the whole driveway a rinse down with the low pressure tip "black tip". Don't forget to clean off things that got splashed like house siding and your garage door.
Let it dry for a couple hours on a nice day and double check your work before returning your rental or sealing your driveway

Cleaning Tips 24 Oct 2008, 12:26

Thanks for the pointer, Lyn. It was "cola," not "coal." We've made the correction.

-Allen

lyn 24 Oct 2008, 10:53

Coule you please advise whether you mean 'cola' or 'coal'iro the "cleaning you driveway' article.

Pour cola onto the stains

and apply that solution to the coal-and-baking soda solution, scouring it with a stiff brush.

Many thanks
Lyn

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