Block paving nightmare
Discussion
Hello folks
Have a nightmare with our new driveway laid a month ago so was hoping for some help please!
Driveway is AG country cobble in light grey.
So the day before yesterday a tree surgeon contact messaged me whilst I was ag work asking if I wanted some oak dropping on the drive. It was a wet day and I was at work until 6pm but I agreed and he dropped it whilst I was out.
On getting home I saw what I suspect to be oil stains around the wood, I assumed from chainsaw oil residue. I didn't manage to move the wood until the following morning (28th Feb). Having moved it I saw the driveway appeared badly stained with oil.
I went to Screwfix and picked up 5l of degreaser, the reviews suggesting it would do the trick. This definitely helped but I was left with lots of dark staining like this
No panicking somewhat I messaged the tree surgeon who suggested it was likely tannins in the wood, made worse by the heavy rain. Google suggested sodium hypochlorite would help- luckily I had a new bottle tucked away.
I diluted 1/5ish and this appeared to fully resolve the issue. Brushed on and rinsed off after 10 mins or so.
The trouble is- now 36 hours later the driveway where I've cleaned it is still looking very dark/wet. This is despite rain today with the surrounding areas now dry?!
Has the hypo stained the whole thing or has deep cleaning the blocks caused them to absorb a tonne of water?
This was a very expensive job and im seriously stressing the driveway is ruined.
Any help/previous experience much appreciated
Have a nightmare with our new driveway laid a month ago so was hoping for some help please!
Driveway is AG country cobble in light grey.
So the day before yesterday a tree surgeon contact messaged me whilst I was ag work asking if I wanted some oak dropping on the drive. It was a wet day and I was at work until 6pm but I agreed and he dropped it whilst I was out.
On getting home I saw what I suspect to be oil stains around the wood, I assumed from chainsaw oil residue. I didn't manage to move the wood until the following morning (28th Feb). Having moved it I saw the driveway appeared badly stained with oil.
I went to Screwfix and picked up 5l of degreaser, the reviews suggesting it would do the trick. This definitely helped but I was left with lots of dark staining like this
No panicking somewhat I messaged the tree surgeon who suggested it was likely tannins in the wood, made worse by the heavy rain. Google suggested sodium hypochlorite would help- luckily I had a new bottle tucked away.
I diluted 1/5ish and this appeared to fully resolve the issue. Brushed on and rinsed off after 10 mins or so.
The trouble is- now 36 hours later the driveway where I've cleaned it is still looking very dark/wet. This is despite rain today with the surrounding areas now dry?!
Has the hypo stained the whole thing or has deep cleaning the blocks caused them to absorb a tonne of water?
This was a very expensive job and im seriously stressing the driveway is ruined.
Any help/previous experience much appreciated
Edited by TT86 on Monday 2nd March 00:57
If you want to remove tannin stains the best option was oxalic acid, but that's not so easy to get now it needs a license. That would fade it to nothing almost instantly.
Using alkali on a tannin stain is apparently not the route to making them go away easily.
I believe that given time it could just go away on its own.
Using alkali on a tannin stain is apparently not the route to making them go away easily.
I believe that given time it could just go away on its own.
Yes you need oxalic acid, that will remove the tannins, oak is terrible for it, especially if it's wet and raining etc.
what ever you do try a small patch first, follow any instructions. do not go tipping cleaning stuff all over it. all sorts of permanent reactions can occur with all sorts of different products so just go easy.
im not sure what the effect of oxalic acid would be on the blocks and it appears as josh says you can't get it now, I found this but its a weak solution. That said it might be enough, in my experience tannins are one of those things that will only come off with the right chemical.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/236349388198?_skw=oxyal...
what ever you do try a small patch first, follow any instructions. do not go tipping cleaning stuff all over it. all sorts of permanent reactions can occur with all sorts of different products so just go easy.
im not sure what the effect of oxalic acid would be on the blocks and it appears as josh says you can't get it now, I found this but its a weak solution. That said it might be enough, in my experience tannins are one of those things that will only come off with the right chemical.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/236349388198?_skw=oxyal...
m3jappa said:
Yes you need oxalic acid, that will remove the tannins, oak is terrible for it, especially if it's wet and raining etc.
what ever you do try a small patch first, follow any instructions. do not go tipping cleaning stuff all over it. all sorts of permanent reactions can occur with all sorts of different products so just go easy.
im not sure what the effect of oxalic acid would be on the blocks and it appears as josh says you can't get it now, I found this but its a weak solution. That said it might be enough, in my experience tannins are one of those things that will only come off with the right chemical.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/236349388198?_skw=oxyal...
Much appreciate both your replies. The oxalic acid looks like good stuff. what ever you do try a small patch first, follow any instructions. do not go tipping cleaning stuff all over it. all sorts of permanent reactions can occur with all sorts of different products so just go easy.
im not sure what the effect of oxalic acid would be on the blocks and it appears as josh says you can't get it now, I found this but its a weak solution. That said it might be enough, in my experience tannins are one of those things that will only come off with the right chemical.
https://www.ebay.co.uk/itm/236349388198?_skw=oxyal...
Safe to say I was panicking somewhat!
As above someone said about changing them over.
You would get away with that with these blocks as iirc they don’t have a top and bottom as such, they don’t have any side spacers.
That said it’s not as easy as just flipping them over you’d have to take an area up re screed and relay re compact but that’s if your stuck stuck!
You would get away with that with these blocks as iirc they don’t have a top and bottom as such, they don’t have any side spacers.
That said it’s not as easy as just flipping them over you’d have to take an area up re screed and relay re compact but that’s if your stuck stuck!
Something along these lines would help removing and replacing one at a time.
https://www.amazon.com/Upgraded-Hardwood-Dual-Heig...
https://www.amazon.com/Upgraded-Hardwood-Dual-Heig...
As mentioned you need a Home Office licence for oxalic acid stronger than 10%, so the 9.95% linked on Ebay is OK.
EPP Licence
EPP Licence
t.TT86 said:
Hello folks
Have a nightmare with our new driveway laid a month ago so was hoping for some help please!
Driveway is AG country cobble in light grey.
So the day before yesterday a tree surgeon contact messaged me whilst I was ag work asking if I wanted some oak dropping on the drive. It was a wet day and I was at work until 6pm but I agreed and he dropped it whilst I was out.
On getting home I saw what I suspect to be oil stains around the wood, I assumed from chainsaw oil residue. I didn't manage to move the wood until the following morning (28th Feb). Having moved it I saw the driveway appeared badly stained with oil.
I went to Screwfix and picked up 5l of degreaser, the reviews suggesting it would do the trick. This definitely helped but I was left with lots of dark staining like this
No panicking somewhat I messaged the tree surgeon who suggested it was likely tannins in the wood, made worse by the heavy rain. Google suggested sodium hypochlorite would help- luckily I had a new bottle tucked away.
I diluted 1/5ish and this appeared to fully resolve the issue. Brushed on and rinsed off after 10 mins or so.
The trouble is- now 36 hours later the driveway where I've cleaned it is still looking very dark/wet. This is despite rain today with the surrounding areas now dry?!
Has the hypo stained the whole thing or has deep cleaning the blocks caused them to absorb a tonne of water?
This was a very expensive job and im seriously stressing the driveway is ruined.
Any help/previous experience much appreciated
hypochlorite ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,why did you use degreaser ???Have a nightmare with our new driveway laid a month ago so was hoping for some help please!
Driveway is AG country cobble in light grey.
So the day before yesterday a tree surgeon contact messaged me whilst I was ag work asking if I wanted some oak dropping on the drive. It was a wet day and I was at work until 6pm but I agreed and he dropped it whilst I was out.
On getting home I saw what I suspect to be oil stains around the wood, I assumed from chainsaw oil residue. I didn't manage to move the wood until the following morning (28th Feb). Having moved it I saw the driveway appeared badly stained with oil.
I went to Screwfix and picked up 5l of degreaser, the reviews suggesting it would do the trick. This definitely helped but I was left with lots of dark staining like this
No panicking somewhat I messaged the tree surgeon who suggested it was likely tannins in the wood, made worse by the heavy rain. Google suggested sodium hypochlorite would help- luckily I had a new bottle tucked away.
I diluted 1/5ish and this appeared to fully resolve the issue. Brushed on and rinsed off after 10 mins or so.
The trouble is- now 36 hours later the driveway where I've cleaned it is still looking very dark/wet. This is despite rain today with the surrounding areas now dry?!
Has the hypo stained the whole thing or has deep cleaning the blocks caused them to absorb a tonne of water?
This was a very expensive job and im seriously stressing the driveway is ruined.
Any help/previous experience much appreciated
Edited by TT86 on Monday 2nd March 00:57
get a 20 litre of hypochlorite ( from a swimming pool factor) and spray on neat leave overnight and jet wash off you will need to resand the joints with kiln dries sand again
do the whole drive , your tree surgeon is a prick and needs to pay for the hypochlorite
Purosangue said:
hypochlorite ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,why did you use degreaser ???
get a 20 litre of hypochlorite ( from a swimming pool factor) and spray on neat leave overnight and jet wash off you will need to resand the joints with kiln dries sand again
do the whole drive , your tree surgeon is a prick and needs to pay for the hypochlorite
Initially I thought it was all oil from the chainsaw- a fair bit was in fairness and it removed it leaving the tannin behind. get a 20 litre of hypochlorite ( from a swimming pool factor) and spray on neat leave overnight and jet wash off you will need to resand the joints with kiln dries sand again
do the whole drive , your tree surgeon is a prick and needs to pay for the hypochlorite
He only wanted beer money for the wood (unprocessed) so I won't be too harsh on him. Will definitely stovk up on the hypo again and give it another hit if it needs it. Surely neat would be far too strong though?
It will disappear on its own naturally, especially on block paving as its quite porous.
A bit of diluted mortar cleaner ( brick acid ). Will speed it up if you want it gone a bit quicker.
When i built this ,tannin was poring out staining the slabs and block paving around it. At first I cleaned it off but it kept coming out for about a year or so every time it was really wet. Eventually it stopped and just wore off.
A bit of diluted mortar cleaner ( brick acid ). Will speed it up if you want it gone a bit quicker.
When i built this ,tannin was poring out staining the slabs and block paving around it. At first I cleaned it off but it kept coming out for about a year or so every time it was really wet. Eventually it stopped and just wore off.
TT86 said:
Purosangue said:
hypochlorite ,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,,why did you use degreaser ???
get a 20 litre of hypochlorite ( from a swimming pool factor) and spray on neat leave overnight and jet wash off you will need to resand the joints with kiln dries sand again
do the whole drive , your tree surgeon is a prick and needs to pay for the hypochlorite
Initially I thought it was all oil from the chainsaw- a fair bit was in fairness and it removed it leaving the tannin behind. get a 20 litre of hypochlorite ( from a swimming pool factor) and spray on neat leave overnight and jet wash off you will need to resand the joints with kiln dries sand again
do the whole drive , your tree surgeon is a prick and needs to pay for the hypochlorite
He only wanted beer money for the wood (unprocessed) so I won't be too harsh on him. Will definitely stovk up on the hypo again and give it another hit if it needs it. Surely neat would be far too strong though?
but you will need to do the whole paving and leave it to soak overnight then with a pressure washer and a brush clean it properly
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