Pressure Washing in Aledo
Most of Aledo irrigates off a well, and well water carries dissolved iron. That is the difference here. The concrete problem in Aledo is not dirt, it is orange, and the chemistry that takes orange off is not the chemistry that takes dirt off.
Iron in irrigation water soaks into the pores of concrete and stone, oxidises there, and every wet and dry cycle carries a little more a little deeper. You see it as fan-shaped orange spray patterns running out from sprinkler heads across the drive, and as a band up the bottom course of brick and stone.
It comes out with oxalic acid. It does not come out with chlorine, and chlorine makes it worse: it oxidises the iron further and darkens the stain, so a slab somebody has already hit with bleach is harder to clean than one nobody touched. That is the single most common way a rust stain in Aledo gets made permanent.
Caught in a season or two it lifts close to completely. Left for five summers it lightens a long way, but the concrete underneath has changed colour, so plan on better rather than gone.
The other thing that shapes an Aledo job is where the water can go. Septic drain fields and spray heads dictate the rinse path, and the acreage lots mean a shop, a barn, a well house and a run of pipe fence that no house square footage covers. Those get quoted as their own surfaces, not folded into a house price.
What we do differently in Aledo
- ✦Oxalic acid on the iron, never chlorine, because chlorine darkens it and makes it permanent
- ✦Stains read before anything goes down, since rust, oil and organic growth all look like dark blotches and all take a different chemical
- ✦Rinse routed around septic drain fields and spray heads
- ✦Shops, barns, well houses and pipe fence quoted separately, because house square footage doesn't cover them
Questions
Can you actually get the orange sprinkler stains off my drive?
Usually, most of the way. Fresh iron staining lifts close to completely with oxalic acid. Rust that's been soaking in for several summers lightens a long way, but the concrete under it has changed colour, so the honest answer is better rather than gone. Anything already treated with bleach is harder, because chlorine oxidises iron further and sets it.
Do you charge for the barn and the shop separately?
Yes, and we'd rather say so up front. A plan is priced off house square footage, and an outbuilding isn't in that number. Tell us what's out there when we quote and it's all in one price before we start.