Cleaning large items without making my property look like a junk yard?

[scout80]

About a year ago I moved out from the city to a rural area on just over an acre of open desert property. The only concrete on the property is the slab under my house, and the floor in the 2 car garage. The rest is basically open scrub desert.

I'm starting to tear into my old International truck, and it's covered in 50+ years of dirt and grime that needs to be cleaned off. I also occasionally have the need to clean up old engines, axle housings, etc that are also covered in grimy stuff and much too large to fit into a parts washer.

The easy way is to throw some degreaser on it, and hit it with the power washer....which means all that grease and grime ends up on the ground, and eventually that area starts to resemble the ground in a junk yard. Not to mention, it's now a muddy mess too.

When I started filling the garage with tools, shelving, etc, I didn't think of making it a wash bay, so filling it with power washer spray likely wouldn't be a good idea.

I considered having a company come out and pour a concrete slab of say 10x20 feet, and putting a car port up on it to contain the spray, but then I'm thinking I'd have to wait for the water to evaporate, then scrape up all the crud and toss it. Though from what I'm looking at online, I'm looking at several grand to do this.

Any other good ideas for this?

 

[csp]

Scrape as much grime/grease off as possible when it's dry and contain that first.

 

[egdede]

Supposedly all that **** flows through the dirt to pollute the water that supposedly flows underground.

 

[redmondjp]

Here's one thought: collect a whole bunch of newspaper. spread it out, in a fairly thick layer (around 1/4" or so) on the ground underneath the truck. The newspaper will catch and filter most of the grease and dirt. Then let the newspapers dry out and you can either burn them or throw them away. It's not a perfect solution, but it's inexpensive and will keep most of the grime off of the ground.

 

[Cyberbear]

If you are going to pour a slab to work on while cleaning off grease and grime, have a sump pit in the middle of the slab to catch all the gunk. Periodically have a septic truck come out and remove the collected dirty water from your pressure washer. Something along these lines should solve your problem and keep the county officials happy as well.

 

[volleyball]

A large tarp or heavy mill plastic will work. Dam up the perimeter. Let mother nature evaporate the water and then remove debris or toss the entire thing. You could remove several of inches of soil and make a pit so you don't need a dam.

 

[bczygan]

Visqueen!

Seriously!!!

http://www.homedepot.com/p/HDX-10-ft-x-25-ft-Clear-3-5-mil-Plastic-Sheeting-2-Pack-RSHD3510-25C-2/204711655

 

[lakeroadster]

A large tarp or heavy mill plastic will work. Dam up the perimeter. Let mother nature evaporate the water and then remove debris or toss the entire thing. You could remove several of inches of soil and make a pit so you don't need a dam.

Visqueen!

Seriously!!!

Great minds thinking a like....

 

[KDXSR5]

Heavy plastic with 4x4s wrapped and nailed into the edges to create a raised edge. I did this for years when I worked for an industrial cleaning company. It works great! We used oilfield plastic that is normally used on drilling rig locations, but any thick plastic will work well enough. If you can get your hands on some oilfield plastic (used works great too!) you will be well off.

EDIT: If you use good quality plastic, this setup will last for years. We had "temporary" cleaning containment plastic that was used for years. Maybe do a search for containment products like barriers, tarps, etc. If you can find good quality stuff it should last a long time and it is strong enough to withstand daily heavy use. If I was close to you I would lend you a large chunk of leftover rig plastic that I have laying around.

 

[Handyfarmer]

pour a slab slope it to a grease trap, and then put the drain in to a dry well or a drain field, or septic tank. put a pipe grate, over the sump, if one puts a narrow spacing on the pipes it will catch the large chunks of oil/sand chunks and they can be picked off later and may keep wrenches and other items from dropping in to the sump,

if the trap is designed correctly it will collect the greases and oils and the sump will collect the sand and heavy sediments,

had one in our high school shop, and one in a old Air force station that I worked in one time, some thing like this, https://www.rkfdseparators.com/garage-drains
(they were simpler than the one in the web page)

the ones I have been around were not much more than a grated 30 gallon brum with a drain line that had an elbow in the out let that would keep the floating oils and greases from entering and a space for heavy stuff to sink in, and there was vent later down the drain so it would not air lock, in a sense a mini septic tank set up,

on one would use a conventional drains and a grease trap off to the side of the slab, before entering the septic system or drain field or dry well,

 

[Showkey]

Everything your going to clean off on the truck came from the earth to start with.......hot water pressure washer or steam cleaner with bio degradeable soap.

It's one truck. If you catch all this stuff on a tarp and throw in the trash......it ends up in the same place in or on the ground concentrated at the dump site. I am not saying drain the oil or radiator on the ground....but washing the frame and engine etc is not going to create a super fund site.

If you that crazy.......take it to town witha sewer treatment plant. Use the car wash and the treatment plant will catch the **** off the truck with all the other stuff people put down the drain at home.

 

[My Old Tools]

Car wash is the easiest solution. Let them deal with the mess.

 

[KDXSR5]

Car wash is the easiest solution. Let them deal with the mess.

Doing that will get you banned from a lot of car washes around here. I have been kicked out of a few for using it as a degreasing bay. I was told the car washes can get in trouble if they have a lot of oil based contaminants going to the treatment plant. I think they just didn't want to have to clean up whatever little bit I didn't get sprayed down the drain, haha. Regardless, I am not allowed to use a few of the car washes around here anymore for doing what you suggest.

 

[zmotorsports]

I don't like the **** on my concrete either so on the few occasions I have had to pressure wash a dirty chassis or similar, I purchase a cheap tarp, like the ones from HF, lay it under the vehicle and pressure wash it. Once completed I pull the tarp out and let the water evaporate then simply put the tarp in a plastic bag and dispose. It is a PITA but after 20+ years now my shop apron is still nice and clean.

Mike.

 

[sberry]

That is a good idea. I agree, scrape and clean first. Putting plastic and then shoving it in a garbage bag for dumpster is simple. I have a little grease now and then, am more careful than I used to be but we had a mess a while back or someone will blast some off before scraping.
I have a grass raceway where the water has to run off and across and there is some low ground 200, 300 ft away but heavy vegetation and grass and we never see oil anywhere. Oil floats, I think it floats and gets wicked up on the grass and solar burned off. We get some road salt. I can see that wanting to settle with any water that permeates.

 

[sberry]

If I was going to do it regular as the man said find a cheap tarp or find some 8 mill on a roll could shear off as needed. Would use a scrape off. clean up, wash maybe? I realize not everyone can have the same environment I have for something like this. If I was pressure washing would try to rig a plastic with dam/drain maybe or divert to septic off slab possibly but a pumped septic would add up in a hurry although in a dry clime where additional rain/snow to a sump wouldn't be a problem may be another matter.
I have a big well and a lot of water, 5 gpm pressure washer makes for fast cleaning. I wash a car most days and 3 on some.
My grease is a little and don't steam it for others. If you live in the burbs this may be for a project car, in my case 2 miles any way to the pavement over gravel clay mix and no way around pressure washing it off. I actually rarely use a parts washer. I am working on my cameras and phone, should have snapped a pic of washing 2 wheel bearings with a pressure washer.
I didn't feel like solvent and it takes a cup of diesel to heat it up but 30 seconds to blow them sterile clean.
I put a new hose on, a little tune up and cleaned the fuel tank this spring. Bought it in 82 or so and changed the oil once or twice, been in use every day.

 

[Jazz1]

I do my dirty work in the wigwam. I have Stegawrap on floor for sweeping up media. The poly on floor also keeps moisture out in winter when o store ye ol' binder in there