Thrare  ›  Case: a four level deck, in sections

A four level deck, cleaned in 4.5 days, never closed.

The property could not close the deck. That single constraint set the method, the sequence and the pace.

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The property

An occupied residential deck in metro Atlanta.

A four level structured parking deck serving an occupied apartment community. Resident parking on every level, a single vehicle route through the structure, and stair cores and lobbies carrying the same foot traffic as the slab.

The deck had the condition profile that every occupied deck develops. Oil concentrated in the drive lanes and at the stalls where vehicles sit longest. General soil across the slab, heaviest at the entry and exit where tires carry it in. Columns and curbs holding the visible grime that makes a clean floor still read as dirty.

The constraint was not the surface. It was that residents had to keep parking there the entire time, on a property where people leave for work on a schedule nobody was going to change for a cleaning contractor.

The constraints

What made this a sequencing job.

Four separate limits shaped the plan before any equipment was specified.

Occupied throughout

No closure available at any point. Residents needed parking every night and access every day.

Vehicles in place

Cars could be relocated a section at a time, never all at once, and only against notice residents actually received.

Drainage

Deck drains discharge to a system that was never intended to receive oil and heavy solids from a wash.

Pace

Working in sections is slower than working an empty deck. The schedule had to absorb that rather than fight it.

What we did

Sections, not levels. Contain, then wash.

The plan was built around handing space back rather than around covering ground quickly.

  1. Walked and markedOil concentrations, drain locations, low spots holding water and the stall bands taking the heaviest load, mapped before scheduling.
  2. Noticed and stagedWritten resident notice on the property manager timeline, with relocation by section so no resident lost parking.
  3. Contained the dischargeDrains protected and the discharge path set before the first machine started.
  4. Degreased, then washedHot water and surface cleaners across the slab, with degreasing worked into the drive lanes and stalls, and hand work at columns, curbs and edges.
  5. Handed back as we wentEach section recovered, cleared and reopened before the next began, so the deck was never out of service.
  6. DocumentedPhotographed before and after by level, filed with the invoice.

The outcome

Four levels, 4.5 days, no closure.

The result a manager can verify is the simplest one: nobody had to be told where to park.

All four levels were degreased and washed across 4.5 days on site. The slab, drive lanes and stalls came back to a uniform surface, and the vertical elements were cleaned on the same pass so the deck did not read as half finished. Wash water and solids were controlled rather than sent to the drain untreated.

The deck stayed in service every day of the work. The photographic record went to the manager with the invoice, which is what turns a completed job into something that can be approved without an argument or a site visit.

Straight answers

What this job usually raises.

Why not just close the deck and go faster?

Because most properties cannot. A closure means finding parking for every resident for the duration, and on this property that was not available. Working in sections costs more days and no goodwill.

Would overnight have been faster?

Not materially on this deck, and it costs more. Overnight is the right answer where a property has daytime constraints that sections cannot solve, and we will say so when that is the case.

Does degreasing damage the slab?

Applied correctly, no. The risk on a deck is not aggression on the surface, it is uncontrolled discharge and standing water in the low spots.

What does a deck like this cost?

It depends on levels, square footage, oil loading and how much relocation room there is. The walk is free and the number comes back in writing.

The record

Photographed by level.

Before and after by level, filed with the invoice. These are frames from the job described above.

The deck mid wash, vehicles still in place on the level being worked.
The deck mid wash, vehicles still in place on the level being worked.
Washing a level of an occupied parking deck, vehicles still in placeWashing a level of an occupied parking deck, vehicles still in placeWashing a level of an occupied parking deck, vehicles still in place

Levels of the same deck during the work.

ServiceParking decks and structured parkingFor managersWorking with property managersEvidencePast performance

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