Kurt

Germantown certainly has no shortage of townhouse decks. I see its been pretty hot up there lately. Nothing quite like 95+ degrees and sitting in a 3 hour traffic jam that stretches from Bethesda to Walkersville to end the day. Can't say I miss it one bit.

WHOA!!! $6.75 per gallon? Did I misread something? I seroiusly feel for ya.

There's one that runs in my local paper, House's start at $30.

I wanna believe too! Never thought I'd get a strong enough mix hitting the house through my 5.6. Anyone care to offer a suggestion on a good injector for this amount of flow?

I need to install a larger orifice in the M5. I pulled the retaining clip and removed the control knob. I'm assuming I now need to remove the black piece with the two flat metal pieces attached? I have no idea what these parts are called. Sorry. Does this black piece simply unscrew? Am I on the right track? Better safe than sorry. Thanks. Never mind. I found out how it goes in. Goes in from the other end. Duh...One of those days ya know?

Naw dude. Way too tacky. A pair of magnetics will run ya $75. Got my entire back window lettered for $35.

Was asked to throw some numbers at this one today. Includes the roof and this 4' x 500' PVC boardwalk. The roof isn't that bad but the boardwalk is a new one for me due to the distance from a water supply. If I drag a small say 2.5gpm unit into the bush with me, think I'll still get enough water supply through all that garden hose? The boardwalk is about 150 from the nearest supply. The boardwalk is over land and the grime will wipe off with a wetted finger. The roof is a no brainer but I'm a bit stumped on pricing the BW.

Sorry I wasn't clearer. I have a 5.6gpm machine. I just thought it would be easier to pull a small unit, 50' of HP hose and a bunch of garden hose with me than deal with hundreds upon hundreds of feet of HP hose and potentially have to walk back and forth to my trailer. I'd prefer a bit more volume than the current lil 2.7gpm I was planning on using but for now, these are my two choices. I've cleaned this material before and it does clean up nicely with chem and of course I'll use it. Much of it will vanish before your eyes. Figured I'd just need a little water for aggitation and rinse. Thanks alot.

Lil man felll asleep with the Kung Fu grip. He IS a natural!

The good news is that this is my house and getting ready to be painted. However, I'd appreciate some input here. Used oxalic to remove some iron stains from the painted stucco. See where it lightened the paint? I mixed according to directions and rinsed well immediately after watching the stains vanish. Think the mix was too strong? Should I have used something else? Boy, I feel goofy.

"Seems "as though the problem was my paint. I've used the same solution/ratio and method of application on 3 different stucco homes(family) since I did my own and have had no issues at all. However, out in the real world,I do believe that it is best to mix a little weak and re apply if necessary. I washed my brother's roof yesterday and could not believe how good his 5 year old paint looked on his house. Mine is also 5 years old and looks faded and dull. His house is very shaded. Mine is not and it gets blasted by the florida sun. Eh...This is why we practice, test things, study and learn before hitting the streets and making a mess of things. No sense in rushing out, throwing around chems screwing up jobs and in the process, muddying up the waters for all PW's in general. This is the approach I'm taking anyway. Better safe than sorry.

Well, yesterday I had to use my chin to stop my face from going through my hose reel. I have one those tall (5' or so) ramps on the back of my trailer. I was replacing a hose that had sprung a leak and the ramp was wet. No telling who saw it happen but I felt like an azz.

Hey guys, a lil help please... Those of you that target mostly residential, how often do you find that you actually need hot water assuming that heavy oil/grease extraction is not needed? I'm talking mostly about asphalt/tile roofs, stucco homes and concrete drives. Under these conditions, where/how would hot water really benefit me? On the other hand, without hot water, I'd probably feel under equipped to comfortably target commercial work where I'm likely to encounter oil, gum etc. I was gonna head in and write the check today for a hot water unit but I decided I'd try to get your opinions on this matter first. My main concern is the added cost and maintenance of a HW unit for this type of work. Think I'd be making a mistake by going with cold water if I could manage afford the hot? I'm convinced I'd need hot for commercial and I do have a fairly solid lead on some through a friend that works for a property management co. They have shopping centers, office buildings, self storage complexes(each about 700 units) etc. The owner has already expresses serious interest in talking with me about doing their cleaning once I get equipped. All that being said, my guess is that you'd recommend that I go with the HW if I can afford it so I have it if/when needed but what do you think about my origional question regarding the residential work? Since I'm a newbie, a little history.. Origionally from N. Tonawanda NY. Also lived in Orchard Park(Go Bills!). Moved to Florida and lived here from 70-75 before moving to Maryland. Lived in the Gaithersburg and Frederick areas for 20 some odd years before returning back here to E. Central florida. My background includes a 6 year hitch in the army where I served in Germany, Korea and the 82nd Airborne Div at Bragg. Was self employed for 15 years as a ceramic tile installer until it took its toll on my back. I am fairly familliar with roof cleaning and flat surface cleaning as I worked for a period doing this type of work for a guy locally but he turned out to be a real skid. One of those "special coating" applications that prevents mold from ever comming back. Long story short...it simply did not work and the guy had nothing but call backs, complaints and law suits. Recently, I left Rinker Materials due to huge layoffs. Ok. I'm done. Sorry bout the rambling. I appreciate any thoughts on this matter. Kurt~

Picked her up today as a matter of fact! Pressure Pro 3500 @ 5.6. Mounted on a dual axle 6x12 open with 225, 65 & 35 gal tanks and a surflo setup. Anxious to play around wiith her tomorrow.

I have some Rust Aide. It says, "Contains Oxalic acid". I simply wanted to try the powdered form. What I actually ended up using was Snow Cap.

Thanks for the response guys. There have been no repairs to the area although some is needed where the weed eater line keeps hitting the house. The ox worked great on the pool deck to remove the iron stains but I was seriously bummed about the house. I even did a small test spot but I guess I should have waited longer to see the final results. I realize that hind sight is 20/20. As I'm sure you're all aware, the label on the ox reads, "Not to be used on paint, stains or brick containing iron oxide pigments. I wonder if this could have been the cause of the fading. How does a person determine if a paint or stain contains iron oxide pigments without knowledge of what brand/type etc paint was applied?

I've seen pics of HW units in enclosed trailers that look as though a section of duct has been installed on top of the burner for venting. Is this necessarry? Can the rear doors simply remain open during operation to vent the fumes? What am I missing? Thanks a bunch.

Excellent! Thank you. I did a real dumb thing this week which is the reason for this thread. Knowing that I could not swing a trailer into my garage due to lack of room in the driveway(garage on side of house) and that the HOA rules state no trailers in the driveway, I went to check out rental units. Found a 10'x20' unit within minutes from home. I'm thinking, "10x20 with a 6x12 trailer...plenty of room right?" Bought a 6'x12' dual axle 5500# utility trailer and headed back to rent the unit. Went to park the trailer in the unit and discovered that I somehow did not take into account the 8' wide door. With the fenders on the trailer, it was too wide to fit inside. I called the trailer dealer and told them of my situation and they are happy to allow me to bring it back and apply what I spent on it toward an enclosed trailer which I'll have to store outside. This was my first rookie mistake.:lgwave:

Good deal guys. Thanks alot. Think its something I could attempt myself or is it best to have professionally done elsewhere? Any info on the web describing/showing how its done? Thanks again. You guys rock!

Thanks for the comments everyone. After alot of thought, I've decided to go with the hot.