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Hi,

A week ago we had some sleepers delivered, these were new oak with no additional treatment.

They have left a dark brown stain on the block paved front drive (only a few months old!). I tried pressure washing the stain today but this wasn't effective.

My questions are: Is this likely to be a tannin stain would Oxalic acid work? Or would a brick cleanig acid or even petrol possibly help (assuming other natural oils are weeping from the oak.)

Unfortunately they are permeable pavers, if it was the basic 100x200 blocks I would just replace them.

Sorry no pic as it was dark when i left site today.

Thanks, Gareth

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  • Hi Gareth,

    Take a look at the threads in this link, might help.

    http://www.landscapejuicenetwork.com/forum/topics/stains-on-sandsto...

  • If there fresh green oak then I would say that the stain is tannins but I could be wrong. Iv not had it before but we always keep sleepers on pallets or bearers as with all long wood.

    Im not sure how you would clean it but I wouldn't try brick acid as surely that will make the aggregates in the blocks more visible.

  • Hi Gareth,

    I would remove one of the pavers and test the oxy and brick acid on it first before going over the whole area. You may have to bite the bullet and replace the pavers

  • Thanks for the responses.

    The supplier used oak bearers to protect the drive rather than softwood. This seems to have been the cause of the damage so may ask if they have some spare in stock they would give me. Only issue is this is usually a non-stocked item at almost all merchants locally.

  • Ask for the name of the guys who did drive, they may have some laying about at the yard.

  • I have experienced tannin staining on several occasions, through oak leaching into new paving installations, from pergolas, sleeper beds/benches... and from oak flowers falling into paving and walling. Never once has it proved permanent, with no visible staining left after a season. Your client may not want to wait, so it may be difficult. Don't use acid, the result will be permanent.
  • gareth, sounds like the tannin. normally easy to remove with a weak solution of bleach. try a small patch first.

  • Agree with this idea, take a couple of the paviors up and test each one in a bucket of each different solution, including the bleach idea Thermo had. worst cast is replace the stained ones, but could they not be flipped over?

    axeljk said:

    Hi Gareth,

    I would remove one of the pavers and test the oxy and brick acid on it first before going over the whole area. You may have to bite the bullet and replace the pavers

  • Do not worry!

    I made a stool out of oak logs in April - It stained my Raj Green paving dark brown, the stain was non existant after a couple of months, and thats with the stool in the same place.

    My firewood stack left a brown stain on the concrete flags it was on - the stack was moves to a new built log-store in August, and the stains are now gone - The tannins are water soluble, but only just - so it takes a while for them to wash away. Power washing will get quite a bit of the worst off, and the rest is time.

  • we had it happen to a travertine marble patio we laid, after the carpenter forgot to seal the oak pergola. the bleach worked perfectly

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