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Last year i invested into this field, after the Government introduced another law regarding fornt gardens, i too saw alot of potential within this scpoe.
im so suprised at the lack of interest from the owners of drives once they've forked out any where from a grand to twenty six (in my case)
there are many pros and cons you will encounter, which im sure will differ for each contractor
the life span of the matt sealant on a drive whether its heavy or light traffic will be an issue, so your skills at rapport building is crucial, the long tail of business within this business is for a life time or until the surface is no longer required!
As well as the petrol washer, rotary cleaner, drums of sealant, you'll be wise to invest in a good vapour mask, as the fumes will bring you as close to hallucinating as you wish to go, infact the sealant is harmful to almost everything except precast concrete units.
large areas with a roller application, dont wear shorts, as the resin cling-ons will bring water to your eyes when removing from shins, thighs etc
price per sqm, pm me.
if you were to concentrate all your efforts in this field you'll be investing again quickly. Remember the surface of the area needs to be perfectly dry, you can progress the works in the winter period with an industrial space heater and heavy gauge visqueen.
Hoorah for professional know how! Unfortunately my next door neighbour chose to have his patio relaid by a 'firm' (and I use the word extremely loosely) as he prefers to keep friendship and business separate. Naturally I don't have any problem with this but how I wish he'd chosen more carefully. Suffice it to say that they took an inordinate length of time to lay the patio (which has been done in black) & immediately sealed it on a day full of showers. Needless to say the white marks surfaced. Neighbour understandably not happy. Apparently 'man and van' says it was chemical reaction between sealant & rain - and you are allowed to laugh/groan - considered that to be 'not their fault'. Ultimately 'man and van' paid for sand blasting and immediately resealed....and, of course, you know what I'm going to say - yep, more white marks. Wonder how long before I'm asked for my 'professional' opinion... hey ho.
Kerry Jackson said:
maybe do a small one first if asked and if you like doing it as a job and your happy (and they) as an outcome, go for it.................i would be aware of blocks that are not laid very well, or have a 'fall' towards house etc and yes brush in silver sand first !! this could take a day ! and is £10 a bag.....
i can imagine the difference would be amazing to having moss.dirt,leaves etc on a nice expensive driveway.
my neighbour opposite paid £1000 or£2k to have there house (semi) roof, jet-washed and sealed red........(the gipsy's workers did put a tarporline over the lawn though and he turned up in a Bentley apparently to be paid...
Stuart Marler said:
As a nation we tend to baulk at training and the laws in the UK allow us to become pretty much anything we like at the drop of a hat and this can have it's downsides.
Best,
Steven
Ive double read all posts and see only solid advice being issued, now if misleading help/advice is being issued, I being one of a few that has replyed to Paul would take heed if im wrong or stand my ground.
As Phil has recently reminded us, potential clients could be reading this, any bad advice should be noted.
Steven Callaghan said:
My interest in this topic is to confirm that it is a good business to get into - I know, as in the past I have been involved both on the contracting side but also in the manufacture and supply of sealants and sold the business to a customer who tells me that it continues to be successful.
I don't want to get personal otherwise we will have an unedifying tit-for-tat exchange and that is not the object of the exercise but I will address a couple of points:
Whether or not I am the "expert on all things pressure washing" would be open to debate but what I can tell you is that I have personally pressure washed and sealed literally thousands of metres of paving in countries all over the World so, yes, I do know a little about it. You'll notice I don't post about planting schemes on this forum of which I know nothing beyond dig a hole, stick the plant in, water it.
This having been said, I ought to touch on a couple of points:
Kerry, I agree with everything you say in your first post but disagree with your second post about effloresence - this should not reflect badly on you as this view of the causes and effects of this condition and thus how to avoid it has been expounded for many years, often by large manufacturers - "Don't seal them, wait until the effloresence has come out" has been the reason why much paving has ended up never being sealed and I fundamentally disagree with it and so would many people who I have dealt with over the years.
ProGard, by not sealing you are missing a trick from a business point of view, it adds considerable value and profit to the job. Yes, the climate demands that care must be taken and yes, on occasions one will be caught out and have to rework an area but those who have been doing "clean and seal" for a living in the UK would never contemplate dropping the sealing.
I draw your attention to the show for two reasons - the first is yes, I would very much like you to come along (Thanks, Stuart) but secondly it is now not appropriate for me to start posting comments and opinions about the products of different manufacturers and it is very hard to go into technical detail without doing so, the type of product being used is fundamental.
At the show, various manufacturers (Stein-Tec, Adseal and probably Resiblock) will be holding seminars and demos but also, and I think that this is hugely important, you will get the chance to network with peers who are already in this business and, providing that you are not operating in their near vicinity, most will be happy to share their thoughts and experiences with you.
Often product x from manufacturer y is not necessarily a bad product but has application limitations that are not always stressed by the manufacturer and I have sympathy with both user and manufacturer on this - it is not easy to get people to find the time to attend training sessions or get them to pay for them and they are costly to run - I know, I have been there and done it.
I see no reason why a show seminar cannot take the form of training - in an hour I could certainly impart the necessary pro's and con's so the people running the seminars will be able to do so to and I will bring this up with them.
The concept and plan of the show is that it is a very pro-active experience - I would be very disappointed if anyone leaves the show not having acquired some sort of knowledge which will help them grow their business.
In conclusion I will briefly touch on effloresence - it's cause in the form that it is most encountered is as follows: as cement hydrates (the chemical reaction between water and cement) it creates a number of compounds, the most significant of which is Calcium Silicate Hydrate (CSH) which is the compound that creates the binding effect and holds the aggregates together. One of the by-products is a lime like compound that, if brought into contact with low ion content water, produces a leachate that moves towards the surface of the cementitious product (block, concrete, no difference). Upon reaching the surface it reacts with the air and becomes a salt like substance that is known variously as lime bloom but is technically known as effloresence.
Have you ever wondered why cement based bricks go white after the first frost or snow? This is because melted frost or snow is very low in ion content.
So, the sooner a cementitious paving element is sealed the better the chance that effloresence will not be a problem - ideally if a drive can be laid from blocks that come straight out of the wrapper and sealed before rain strikes, this would be the optimum - I and many of my customers subsequently have proven this in practice.
Of course, it is still possible that water can penetrate in through the base of the element but experience has shown this is less likely.
Sealers do not need to be shiny - if this look is not desired there are products that do not change the surface appearance of the paving one bit although these do not in general bind the jointing sand, one of the useful jobs that sealants do when applied to paving (there are others).
I hope this is of interest.
Steven
PS. Please don't post telling me that Wikipedia's definition is different from mine -I know. I disagree with some of what is written there (not all) - the "water that's inside carries salts from the interior out to the surface because of hydration heat" bit - there is so little water going into pre-cast paving these days, you would be amazed at how low the water-cement ratio has got due to sophisticated admixtures and how easy it is to hydrate modern, finely ground cements.
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