New tarmacadam left with white stain that won't come off.

donh

Has anyone heard of a white stain left on newly laid tarmacadam that won't wash off? We have contacted the contractor who told us that the stain would burn off, but I somehow don't believe this as it has been a month since it was laid and has not improved with time. Is there anything we can do to remove this stain? We were told there was a spring on our driveway by our contractor and he said this may be causing the problem. Any information regarding this problem would be much appreciated.

coylemj

donh wrote: »

We were told there was a spring on our driveway by our contractor and he said this may be causing the problem. Any information regarding this problem would be much appreciated.

You mean a water spring? Sounds like complete BS. How did you select the 'contractor' - by any chance did they come cold calling and claiming to be 'doing work in the area'?

Was their a company name on their vehicles?

dudara

Moved to Construction & Planning to see if you can get better advice there

dudara

donh

dudara wrote: »

Moved to Construction & Planning to see if you can get better advice there

dudara

quote="coylemj;86437173"]You mean a water spring? Sounds like complete BS. How did you select the 'contractor' - by any chance did they come cold calling and claiming to be 'doing work in the area'?

Was their a company name on their vehicles?[/quote]

Yes a water spring, that's what he said. The contractor is from a well established family run local business whose being laying tarmacadam for over 14 years. When we contacted him, he was very abrupt and asked us "what did we want him to do about it", as if it was nothing to do with him!

oppenheimer1

Any chance of a photograph?

A water spring seems to be a highly unlikely reason for staining tbh.

macadam

donh wrote: »

Has anyone heard of a white stain left on newly laid tarmacadam that won't wash off? We have contacted the contractor who told us that the stain would burn off, but I somehow don't believe this as it has been a month since it was laid and has not improved with time. Is there anything we can do to remove this stain? We were told there was a spring on our driveway by our contractor and he said this may be causing the problem. Any information regarding this problem would be much appreciated.

Hi donh,

Can you tell me what material you got was it SMA or just macadam/
Is your house a new house ? Has the driveway a concrete path or new kerbs along side it, also have you a water softener installed?
I have come across this recently on a 2 jobs and have narrowed the cause down to a few things, I have already cleaned down all my equipment, roller paver whacker etc as we do each and every day before commencement of laying macadam/asphalt. The least the contractor can do is come back to you and reassure you, if the correct depth was laid it wont effect the lifespan of the material, if you can give me the above details I will help you resolve this.

donh

macadam wrote: »

Hi donh,

Can you tell me what material you got was it SMA or just macadam/
Is your house a new house ? Has the driveway a concrete path or new kerbs along side it, also have you a water softener installed?
I have come across this recently on a 2 jobs and have narrowed the cause down to a few things, I have already cleaned down all my equipment, roller paver whacker etc as we do each and every day before commencement of laying macadam/asphalt. The least the contractor can do is come back to you and reassure you, if the correct depth was laid it wont effect the lifespan of the material, if you can give me the above details I will help you resolve this.

Hi there,
Thanks for your input. I can only tell you that the house is 10 years old, with concrete kerbs there 10 years also. It was laid with chips beforehand. Not sure if the material is SMA or macadam. We have a water softener installed but they used our outdoor tap which the lime hasn't been removed from. The contractor is insisting that it is an underground spring which caused the stain even though the spring is in a different area to the stain??

donh

donh wrote: »

Hi there,
Thanks for your input. I can only tell you that the house is 10 years old, with concrete kerbs there 10 years also. It was laid with chips beforehand. Not sure if the material is SMA or macadam. We have a water softener installed but they used our outdoor tap which the lime hasn't been removed from. The contractor is insisting that it is an underground spring which caused the stain even though the spring is in a different area to the stain??

Picture below

macadam

What was laid under as blinding?
what part of the country are you?, thats water staining alright, at a guess it seems to me that the dust came up through the tarmac or the roller may have been over flowing in that spot, it will weather out but will take time.

macadam

Do you have any ponding of water in that general area when it rains?