What Causes Rust Stains On My Sidewalk?
Does your sidewalk have rust stains? Do you pressure wash and scrub your sidewalk hoping the rust stains will go away? Maybe you have spent time and money (to buy a pressure washer) to get rid of the rust stains only to find they come back within a matter of months…?
Does this all sound familiar?
It should. We talk with property owners and managers on a daily basis who have these same experiences. Curious on who or what to blame? It can be blamed on both your sprinkler system AND your water quality. In Florida, iron is predominant in our water system. You may not know it because you have a water softener to improve the water quality coming into your home. This may not necessarily help the water quality going through your sprinkler system. Rust in your water going through your sprinkler system is what causes the stains on your sidewalk. When your sprinkler runs day after day, over time the rusty water hitting your sidewalk will start to leave a stain. If not treated the stain will become darker and much larger over time.
Can pressure washing help?
Yes, it can help but it won’t cure the problem long term. We have had many people call and ask about pressure washing to remove the rust from their sidewalk. Pressure washing will remove the rust but only temporarily. Over time the rust will come back, and the stain will start all over again. To truly remove the rust stain from sidewalks the water must be treated at the source. This is where we come in….How can Rustoff provide permanent rust removal on my sidewalk?
We treat your water and its source. Before the water goes into your irrigation system it must pass through our mechanism that we install on your water system. We have developed a water treatment that we apply to water systems that removes the rust before it goes into the irrigation system. Our treatment mechanism is installed on your water system for full time treatment.
Is Rustoff’s system a one time set it and forget type of system?
Unfortunately, no.
Like any proactive water treatment program for iron, we visit your system once a month, apply our treatment and your water is protected for the entire 30 days until we return the next month. We have had customers ask if they can go longer between treatments. Because rust is so prevalent in our Florida water system, we typically find that longer than 30 days of treatment rust particles start to invade, and a buildup of rust will begin to form on sidewalks again. Concrete is extremely porous and will absorb easily so it’s best to continue the treatment every 30 days to protect your sidewalk long term.
When you see rust stains on the side of homes, apartment buildings, townhomes and driveways these rust stains are the very same ones you are finding on your sidewalk. It’s very time consuming to continue pressure washing every month or every other month as the rust builds up, not to mention costly as well to hire a pressure washing company or fuel your own pressure washer. Maintenance is sometimes a necessity for any homeowner. Treating your water to prevent the rust stains falls into that “maintenance” category.
We understand it’s probably more fun to spend money on a vacation, however, if you value the look of your home and the surrounding area, hiring RustOff to treat your water system will be an investment into your property so you have more jingle in your pocket in the long run to take that memorable vacation.
We have several before and after photos on our website, we invite you to visit our site gallery and see for yourself the difference once the water is treated at the source:
https://rustoff.net/before-and-afters/
For more information on how we can help you remove the rust from your sidewalks, give us a call at 1-800-992-3111 or fill out the form on our website. We look forward to helping you have clean sidewalks again!