Make your case

I am asking this question geared to the types of services I will be offering in the future.

In your valued opinion what is the best way to clean flatwork? When I ask this I mean the choice of equipment, chemicals and technique.

Thanks,

Jimmy

jimbo, I am not a flatwork expert, but I do it. Russ and Musgraves are the flatwork gurus, and darn good at what they do. They are very knowledgeable and have more answers than I could dream of.

With that, depends on what type of concrete you are cleaning, what you are trying to remove, and then the equipment can be suggested.

Jim, for most styles of pressure cleaning, flow is king.. the more gpm the better. You will also need hot water and a surface cleaner to be efficient. For small scale flatwork (under 100K s.f.) you can get by with a 5.6 gpm, 3500 psi hotwater machine pushing a 20"-28" surface cleaner. What slows you down is the final rinse, its better to have more flow. When cleaning commercial concrete, you will also need to understand the EPA's Clean Water Act. The guys out west are built on sanitary drywells. We don't have many of those here so you have to reclaim. That requires a reclaim system. Here are some links that will help anyone looking to get into flatwork cleaning.

http://www.dcs1.com/del/delpg5/rept507.html
http://www.parking.org/magazine/may2006/may06art5.pdf
http://www.epa.gov/earth1r6/6en/w/pw.htm

Is that right?