F9 BARC Concrete Cleaner.  The Best Rust Remover for Concrete Rust,

Fertilizer and Orange Battery Stains

By Craig Harrison, Front 9 Restoration, Inc.

            As the owner of Eco-Friendly Power Washing located in Palm Desert, California  – one of the largest golf course environments in the United States – I founded a concrete restoration business that serviced hotels, golf courses, parks, municipalities and commercial and industrial buildings.

Over the years, our company received thousands of calls from golf course management, homeowners and homeowner associations asking us to remove the dreaded “orange golf cart battery stains” and how to remove fertilizer stains from their properties and golf cart barn areas. We tried just about every product on the market, but could not find one that produced the results we needed.

The problem with most rust removers currently on the market is that they contain acids that “eat” the concrete.  They strip the concrete of its cement paste and create a micro-aggregate or “etched” surface surrounding the orange acid burn.  When these cleaners react with the cement, they only take a minimal amount of the stain with it and cause deep, permanent damage to the concrete.  Almost all concrete rust removers will discolor the concrete, turning it white or sometimes even turning it more orange, amplifying the stain and sustaining permanent damage to your customer’s concrete.

In turn, we began speaking with concrete scientists and concrete experts. Combining a few of their pointers with our own experiences, we began formulating our own cleaners.  Job after job and year after year, our formulations and results for our rust stain and battery acid stain remover – which we’ve named F9 BARC – got better and better.

F9 BARC has special proprietary properties that allow it to soak into the concrete ¼ to ½-inch deep, lock into the pores and chemically reverse the orange battery acid stains.  It does so in a way that will not harm or etch concrete and will even give the concrete some protection from future staining.  F9 BARC is infused with rust removers, allowing our proprietary blend to dive deep within the concrete to remove the deep rust staining.  It is almost a magical thing to see orange stains on a customer’s driveway literally disappear when the concrete dries!

One thing we always explain to our customers is this:  Orange golf cart stains and some thin rust can travel into the concrete up to two inches deep, which is further than F9 BARC can reach.  When concrete is wet, you can see deeper into the cement and may be able to see spots of the deeper staining.  As soon as the concrete dries, the cement will turn back to its normal color.  This is because that when concrete is dry, you visually cannot see into it more than about ¼ to ½  of an inch.  Usually we will ask the customer to come out and watch us use a blower on the wet spots so they can see that immediately upon drying, the orange staining disappears.

Battery stains are very different in nature but look almost identical to rust and fertilizer staining. Because of the similarities and misconceptions about these stains, F9 BARC was formulated to remove fertilizer, rust stains and the ever-difficult orange-colored golf cart battery acid burn. The product is also safe to use on concrete, concrete coatings, sealed concrete, colored concrete, pavers, brick, stone and masonry, stucco and pool decks. F9 BARC does not contain hydrochloric acid or any acids that will eat or damage your customer’s cement, grass or plants.  One gallon of F9 BARC restores 400 to 800 feet of orange staining on concrete or up to 1,600-feet when cleaning on a sealed surface.

Creating New Markets

Being able to remove battery acid, fertilizer and rust stains opens the doors to new cleaning markets for contractors. We recommend that you go to your local golf cart dealer, golf courses, homeowner associations and let them know that you are the go-to business for these problems.  In fact, we even provide contractors who purchase at least one case (four gallons) of F9 BARC with our marketing brochures, tri-folds, door hangers and business cards (via email), and a listing on our website.  You may use our photos, put your business cards on the sample pieces and use them any way you wish to gain business.  (We also have brochures you can purchase and staple your business card onto.)

We have had good success with the golf cart dealers referring work our way.  Many retirement communities give infraction tickets to their homeowners for having golf cart stains on their driveways.  It might be a good idea to call your local communities and ask them if they give homeowners infractions for dirty driveways.  Many of these communities also have newsletters or monthly magazines that your business can advertise in.  One example of marketing we like to do is to find a house with stains and see if they have a block captain.  The block captain (or delegate) can email their residents and you can clean a driveway or perform a demo for an entire group.

Other possible areas where rust and battery acid removal can get you business include golf courses, country clubs, cities, maintenance departments, landscape companies, pool companies, concrete coating companies, airports, schools, hotels, motels, resorts, property management, boulder and stone companies, AAA, retirement villages, battery stores and more.

In my experience as a contract cleaner, F9 BARC is the perfect fit for contractors in the pressure washing business.  Cleaning stains that were formerly thought of as being impossible to remove can be a lucrative move on the contractor’s behalf.  We and other cleaning companies have used F9 BARC to get businesses into monthly commercial cleaning contracts with well-known resorts because of its impressive results.

To learn more, visit our website at www.Front9Restoration.com, our Facebook page at https://www.facebook.com/Front9Restoration, or our how-to video at http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=jg-yy3aZabs.