[Matt Gibson]

Got a call to go and give a quote for some chewing gum removal. Apparently the company they got in to do the job were just using a cold washer. The property maintenance company stopped the job because of the below pictures and called me in. I did a really nice test patch with the steam machine and cleaned it up with the whirlaway. Now ive just got to get the price right. 1000m2 of tarmac (gum removal and clean) and  1000m2 of monoblock (minimal gum removal and clean)

[BDCS]

You need to be carefull when you clean the tarmac after gum removal as you clean the black off of other pieces you never saw before and end up with more to do

[Matt Gibson]

Yeah i found that out during the test panel. 13 years of chewing gum, and the tarmac hasnt been cleaned in the 13 years either. I think its going to be a quick spray to rinse it, then steam machine then wash..

[Blast Away]

I had the exact situation last year Matt and I put some images on here too. They use a pencil jet to shift the gum.

 

[Matt Gibson]

I think these guys just used a fan jet. but its a shocker. the pictures dont do it justice. some areas they havent actually removed the gum, just dug a big hole all around it.

[Kev Martin]

Yeah i found that out during the test panel. 13 years of chewing gum, and the tarmac hasnt been cleaned in the 13 years either. I think its going to be a quick spray to rinse it, then steam machine then wash..

Matt

Couldn't you treat the tarmac afterwards with sealer?

Kev Martin
Marblelife Ltd
Tiling Logistics

[Roger Oakley]

Kevin
Don't think tarmac seals that well, yes you can re-colour them, back to black etc, also the trouble is with tarmac/bitumen etc it depends how good a job was done in the first place. Pikey or decent company that laid it.

[Jettaway]

Sorry for digging up an old topic, but I'm currently quoting a similar size job with similar age and gum problem by sounds of it.

My clients how ever don't want a full clean, just gumming. I have explained that results will be similar to above photo so I am trying to push a full clean on them, although thy are happy to let it 'weather in'.

Ive gummed blocks and flags but this is my first tarmac one.

How do you guys mean that you don't see gum after cleaning?

I tend to fsc first then lance the gum afterwards

[Matt Gibson]

You need to fsc the tarmac first, otherwise when your gumming, peices you didnt notice will show up. If you clean first you reveal all. Carefull with tarmac as it can stripe very easily. Had issues with striping on this job. We used a low pressure steamer as thats what they wanted. This was a back breaking job, night work bent over using a steamer. Went through about 30 brushes at £4 a pop too. Ipod is a must and you will have enough time to think about all the problems in the world 

[Jettaway]

Cheers Matt,

I was thinking about 60° heat with the revs turned down on the Washer.

Its gonna be a long one lol! How did you avoid the striping?

[Matt Gibson]

I played with the pressure, made sure i had new nozzles in and walked slowly. Overlapped a lot too, had to find the right amount of overlap so it didnt stripe.

Others might have better tricks, but once you have the right walking speed and pressure etc, its just like using the fsc normally.

[Jettaway]

Thanks Matt, I tend to rock the fsc back and forth, but that sounds like a reasonably good way to o do it.

I did a test patch earlier for this gum job on the tarmac.

Gotta be honest I'm not too optimistic. I couldn't find a temperature and flow rate that I was happy with.  It either blew the tarmac, slightly damged the area around the gum or it wasn't strong enough to remove the gum. Mind you thinking about it I didn't adjust the pressure valve, I didn't see the point at the time.

[jim mca]

What about one of the gumpack backpack steamers if they don't want it all cleaned

[Ashley Brothwood]

I've got a steamer for sale that would do the job at low pressure if you was interested.
It's a matrix sdv 8000, it's an 8bar steam that has a chemical injection which you can get chewing gum remover chemicals for

[Blast Away]

What about one of the gumpack backpack steamers if they don't want it all cleaned

You still get clean marks and it can loosen the tarmac.

Trevor Perry did a job with low pressure and they didn't like the clean marks at the end of it. Think they didn't pay him either.

[drive surgeon]

We tend to swerve chewing gum removal on Tarmac. Bit off a nightmare.  Have any of you found a good way if removing it without melting the tar. It's a horrible surface to attempt gum removal.

[Blast Away]

Just uploading a video clip now of tarmac at the front of a pub in Blackpool. It coped with the heat. Much of the new stuff is what crumbles away. I don't know the names of the different grades of tarmac, could do with knowing really.


https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=GUGbgOQjfdU

[G O Cleaning]

Just uploading a video clip now of tarmac at the front of a pub in Blackpool. It coped with the heat. Much of the new stuff is what crumbles away. I don't know the names of the different grades of tarmac, could do with knowing really.

was under the impression it's wether it's hot or cold layed which makes the difference, but don't quote me.. We have removed paint from roads via steam no damage, yet small areas cold layed can be a lot softer as said just increase temp reduce flow. I find always best to do demo as it protects both parties, you play with setup they instantly know what they r getting. Looked at a job locally for asda I think the only thing holding the Tarmac together was all the gum  walked

[trevor perry]

sometimes it not only depends on quality of the tarmac being worked on but also weather conditions and how long the tarmac has been down for, we did a test patch at a college that had only been down about 3 months and already full of gum, they wanted it removing for an open evening.
  on trial hot pressure washer damaged the surface, it was a hot day and low pressure steam removed the gum but did slightly mark the tarmac i showed the decision maker the results and he decided low pressure steam would be ok.   when we returned the weather was much cooler low pressure steam moved gum without any damage at all, Six months later we was asked to carry out the job again i thought i would just try the pressure washer on a couple of pieces as we had already whirled the area and guess what it was fine no damage at all so we used pressure washer to remove the gum.
  Tarmac can take many months to cure properly and hot weather can effect its softness so the only solution is to carry out tests and then use the method that works best for that surface at that time.

[trevor perry]

What about one of the gumpack backpack steamers if they don't want it all cleaned

You still get clean marks and it can loosen the tarmac.

Trevor Perry did a job with low pressure and they didn't like the clean marks at the end of it. Think they didn't pay him either.

 yes and they did not want to pay for the whole surface making clean , lesson learnt if they only want the gum removing they sign that they accept the clean marks left where gum is rermoved

[BDCS]

Tarmac is graded by the stone size, hot roll - the smoother the smaller stone size. Cold is usually only used for patching - read bodge. In areas of poor drainage or to comply with recent planning changes for allowing run off from drives etc then permeable tarmac can be used. The tarmac that comes up when heat washed can be due to the weight of the roller / compaction.