OurTown
Well-known member
I'm calm enough to write this now. Usually I try to keep my emotions out of customer idiocy but this was a bad one. Two guys come in during the day (we think they were drunk) when we were not there and clean seal coat out of the back of their truck and some equipment. They got it everywhere. All over every item in the bay and every square foot of bay walls and floor. On the changer, footprints leading to the changer and tire tracks and a large dump of it on the concrete exit apron. They did not have a front license plate and their tailgate was down so we could not get a reading on the rear plate. To give you an idea of how much was still coming out of the truck afterwards we followed the trail for miles across the city before it started to disappear. The police could not help without a plate so we are on our own to find them and find them we will. On to the cleanup: Most of the signs came clean with bug and tar remover but of course the meter box door decal and another custom sign is ruined because of yellow staining left behind. We are fortunate that I was able to get it out of the Cryptopay swiper slot and the coin mech works fine. Pressure washing with 3,600 psi and a turbo tip seems to get the thick film off of the concrete floor but it is leaving some residue. After getting the thick parts off then I put some Xylene on it and then pressure washed it again but is still leaving most of the residue. The block walls are much harder to get clean and I'm thinking it is because it is mostly thinner spatter. The areas where it was thicker it is coming off better but not the lightly spattered areas. It might take several treatments.
Is there a better chemical to get the residue out of the concrete than Xylene?
I assume the Xylene will ruin our bay signs so is there a really quick way to mask or coat them with something so I can clean the walls? Otherwise I would have to drill the rivets out and reinstall. This is also a good question for acid washing the walls which we have never done.
After getting everything clean is there a good way to make this easier next time? I'm sure we can seal the walls but is there some type of industrial wax for the signs and decals?
IF we were to install the tongue and groove vinyl wall coverings would the seal coat leave yellow spots after removing it? I would imagine that some of you that have this in your bays have been through this before.
Is there a better chemical to get the residue out of the concrete than Xylene?
I assume the Xylene will ruin our bay signs so is there a really quick way to mask or coat them with something so I can clean the walls? Otherwise I would have to drill the rivets out and reinstall. This is also a good question for acid washing the walls which we have never done.
After getting everything clean is there a good way to make this easier next time? I'm sure we can seal the walls but is there some type of industrial wax for the signs and decals?
IF we were to install the tongue and groove vinyl wall coverings would the seal coat leave yellow spots after removing it? I would imagine that some of you that have this in your bays have been through this before.
