Monday, June 11, 2012

Just cleaning the driveway....

So this last Saturday, the hubby and I spent several hours working outside. One of the projects I'm super excited about (I know I'm weird) was cleaning our driveway. Awhile back Race was working on his truck, and somehow spilled battery acid everywhere, leaving a huge stain in our driveway, which literally made me insane....and angry....and slightly bummed every time I pulled into/out of our driveway. We had tried everything we had heard/read online to get rid of the stain, including; laundry detergent, bleach, and cat litter. Each of these worked a little but nothing truly got rid of the stain. Then I called my trusty, genius-when-it-comes-to-this-stuff Dad, and he suggested muriatic acid, and it worked like a charm....Here's a quick how-to for anyone else who has the same problem :)...
We bought this at Home Depot:
Klean-Strip Green 1-Gal. Muriatic Acid....We went with this one because it was the only "green" option, and we like to do what we can. Plus, like Race said, anything that's better for the environment, is probably better for us to be inhaling or in case we accidentally got some on the lawn.
The first time we tried we followed the instructions to a T, but didn't get the greatest results, so we used much less water the second time, and diluted the acid much less than it recommended and it worked like a charm. Of course, I always recommend following the directions and it's probably the safer option, but we weren't getting the best results so we did it our own way. (We're guessing since we used the "green" version, it was probably already too diluted).
All we did was mix the acid with water in a 5 gallon bucket and used a dollar store broom (so that we wouldn't feel guilty, if we needed to toss it afterwards) to scrub the spot with the solution. You should wear protective eye wear and gloves. And REALLY, you should wear long sleeves and pants (don't judge my husband, hes a rebel) because the acid can be very dangerous if you come in direct contact with it.
You can see how bad/large the spot was in this picture...
The acid turned almost a green color and you could hear it sizzling and see it steaming while it w as  eating away the damaged layer of our driveway...which was scary...
Then we used our hose to rinse it off...
 We did have to do this all a couple times before the spot was fully gone, but it looks 100% better...
And now the driveway looks as good as new! The newly cleaned spots are lighter than the rest of the driveway now (we thought about doing the whole driveway, but this would be quite the endeavor), but eventually they will become as dirty as the rest :)....What did you guys do this weekend?

11 comments:

  1. You are the reason I shared this :) Hope it helps!

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  2. Thank you... doing this tomorrow to get the HOA off my back!

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  3. Glad that you got rid of those ugly stains from the driveway. People forget that cleaning their own home also includes cleaning the surrounding area outside, such as their driveways and even the sidewalk. Perhaps next time, you might want to inquire about renting industrial cleaning services. They can clean driveways, sidewalks, and garage faster and better than just cleaning it on our own.

    Total Clean Equipment

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  4. Great post, I appreciate you and I would like to read your next post. Thanks for sharing this useful information.
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  6. I have been playing around concrete structures for 21 years. You are going to want to apply a concrete sealer after you do this to help protect it from the same thing happening in the future, plus it will help keep excess moisture from penetrating it. If you have a broom finish it shouldn't make it slick.

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  7. I have been working around concrete structures for 21 years. You might think about applying a concrete sealer after you clean your driveway. If you have a broom finish, (which is normal) the sealer shouldn't make it any more slick. It will help prevent damage, and keep excess moisture from rising to the surface.

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  8. Thank you for sharing! This article is really helpful and informative. You can try water blaster for quick and deep cleaning.

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  9. I didn’t know what the big stain was! Yep definitely because of husband messing around with his truck batteries. Going to try it during the week. Thanks!!

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Nothing makes me happier than seeing your lovely comments...except maybe wine...yeah wine makes me happier...but still I love your comments :)