SQUEEKY

really appreciate all of your experiences!!! sorry for the late reply but been dealing with connectivity probs :lgkeyboar ??!!! Jeff Robison>> surface cleaner? what kind was it ? what kinda seal did it adversely affect? Rod>> good advice. wont have to worry about that till i can train someone.must train myself first. Paul Kassander>> thanks Paul really appreciate your generosity and experience! CCPC>> wow! that's a biggie. prolly just saved me from stress and loosing $$ thanks! CLASSICPW>> lol! don't know what you look like but could imagine the look on your face as it got shinier. so what is your method for cleaning aluminum siding? and what is the max. psi for cedar decks? Richard>> holy sh**! final paycheck!! more like final destination for that guy..... good business practice offering the work for free. thanks for the experience. jbruno>> gutter shock and seal don't mix huh.. or was it that it was newly sealed? thanks tbl141>> so how did the 12% react with drive way?LESSON LEARNED DONT EVER PULL ON THE X-JET TRYING TO GET A LITTLE FARTHER, JUST REPOSITION IT. i'm sorry too green to understand?? thanks! CarolinaProWash>> thanks Celeste. don't worry i believe strongly in insurance. Jeff>> thanks Jeff. you musta been trippin pretty hard when they called back and had water inside!! it seams in your situation the the customer had enough comen sense to understand that it was poor workmanship by the camera contractor. but what if he/she were a pin head and went after you? would you have to hire an inspector to determine whose at fault? which brings me to my question about stipulating such a thing in your contract? do you or anyone else have any kinda language in your contract to cover your a$$ in this kinda situation??? R L S>> i've seen a flex lance @ 10,000 psi enter and exit 6 times through both legs of this poor fella.. hope it was not that bad! Rod>> funny you show up to clean ans your soiling the place! if you cleaned it up what was the H.O. prob? Rfitz>> that sucks man, poor kids huh.. look at it this way at least you got karma points for puttin a little food in the kids mouth as long as you could... thanks!! anybody care to share a sample contract with me?

hello to all been lurking on this board and others for roughly 2 months now and have learned a lott.thanks to all for your professional generosity! first i will start with training. i know that PWNA would be the first choice but can not afford it at this time so... http://www.honest-work.net/index.htm there's this @ $50.00 and then we have this http://www.deckseal.com/ @$100.00 looks like this one is geared towards decks. which i plan on doing as well as house washing,gutter cleaning,roofs ,driveways etc. any info on these programs? next there's the equipment.. the only place nearby me that could service my PW is northern tools. here is the model that is in my price range is it enough?? http://www.northerntool.com/webapp/wcs/stores/servlet/product_6970_200241424_200241424 any opinions or info about northern tools will be appreciated.. i will be purchasing an X-JET tho i have seen debates over the x jet and down streaming but i am not sure what down streaming means?? i loved f&^@ing with greenhorns on the job so mess with me all you want>> karma and all... finally the notes i have accumulated mostly from forums and other places as well anything else or inconsistencies in notes would be appreciated. power washing notes 1) At the same time that you are trying to compensate for the flexing from the spray you will be fighting side to side. End result will look blotchy. I replaced my glass wand with a 24ft aluminum wand made by extendawand. This wand is ideal for the field by design. It extends with spring loaded lock pin that adjust quickly and stay in place vs a screw type. It is light weight and side to side wabble is minimal. It is also built using universal parts. If something breaks you don't have to wait on an order, you can get it from most distrubuters. 2) Citracleen (RPC brand) rocks - we use it regularly. 3) sodium hypochlorite How are you applying your housewash mix? I downstream, and I use 10.5%. If I need soap. I'll add maybe 10% soap to the mix. If I'm Xjetting, I'll use 1-2 gallons of 10.5% in a 5 gallon bucket mixed with soap and water. Since you're using 15%, you'd want to cut that down a bit. 4) Jobsite preparation Make sure you tell the homeowner to securely close all doors & windows! Also bear in mind that weatherstripping was not designed to withstand lengthy periods of lots of gallons shooting at it. We generally have our homeowners put a towel at the base of all exterior doors just in case. Usually if you prewet vegetation and rinse during the process, landscaping won't suffer much. Sometimes covering plants will cause more damage than continuously wetting them. We actually run a higher risk of drowning stuff than killing them with chems. Check your surfaces to be washed thoroughly and note any areas of concern. Point these out to the homeowner and take pictures. In other words, cover your butt. 5) accessories example, the vast majority of pressure washers use way too much detergent. The detergent valve is usually opened all the way because the operators like to see lots of suds. A fixed orifice system can be installed to release the concentration of detergent needed to achieve maximum cleaning results while using the minimum amount of detergent. This drastically reduces the amount of detergent you use, with zero impact on cleaning power. Often, detergent use is cut in half. A turbo nozzle can speed cleaning of caked-on grime by blasting away with a jackhammer effect. A water softener in an area with hard water will greatly reduce your detergent use and improve the finished look of the surfaces you are cleaning. Adding an auto start/stop feature makes operating the pressure washer easier, plus it reduces risk and extends the life of your machine by automatically shutting it down when not in use. A hose reel will help keep your pressure hose from lying on the ground where it can absorb oil and grease or be damaged by vehicles driving over the hose. A longer pressure hose makes it faster and easier to clean larger areas. A surface cleaner added to your pressure washer will clean walkways, driveways, and parking areas much faster and more uniformly than you can clean with just a pressure washer alone. 6) acid washing When the concrete is really nasty, like on dumpster pads or sidewalks outside of the kitchen doors....we'll do an oxalic acid misting - It's acid but it also brightens the concrete dramatically! Realistically, acid (muriatic is the acid that comes to mind when we say acid wash) opens the pores of concrete and causes etching if what you are using is not properly formulated for specifically cleaning. Depending on the condition/grime level, a good degreaser with hot water will be all you need. We have been known to use GSRestoration on paver sidewalks where the grout was nasty nasty black - that's a restoration acid with oxalic in it 7) Artillary fungus is from my experience just about impossible to remove. It sticks to the house at a tremendous amount of pressure. I don't remember what the pressure was but its up there. A 2000 sq' Vinyl sided house with the gutters brushed cleaned takes me just about 2 hrs. I have Hot water and cold water machines and there is no difference between using either. What makes these house fast to clean is the chemicals you use and how strong you can make them without causing problems such as killing plant life etc Back to that Artillary fungus. If you are going to try to attempt to clean that you will be at the house for hours and hours picking this stuff off and you will still have the residue from the fungus on the house so your wasting your time with it. 8) Next year, I'm taking by yellow pages money, and spending every bit of it on direct mail. I get better results. 9) HD-80 Do-have a neutralizer on hand ready for use when applying HD-80 Do-Keep a gallon of vinegar on hand for personal neutralization Do-Pre-wet plants and painted surfaces prior,during and after application to avoid causing problems. Do-wear protective pvc, nitril gloves, goggles, respirator and rubber boots when working with HD-80 Do-Keep curious homeowners inside the home with windows and doors closed in the event the spray drifts in their direction Do-Apply only to the intended surface and avoid application to an adjacent wood surface not intended to be affected. Use plastic masking to help where otherwise it would get on the surface. quite a read here but i did say i did my homework and am still studying THANKS IN ADVANCE FOR ALL REPLYS

THANKS AGAIN FELLAS Paul I, like you will have to pay my dues at first.any opinions about northern tools?

Thanks Celeste always dead on with the info people need.

i hear ya! yea instead of giving anyone the $$ ill just start a thread of everything that i will do to be successful(kinda like a log). that way in a year or so some other newbie can just hit my thread. and will save him time and money. thanks

what kind of machine are you running paul?

very informative. need insurance in the Charlotte N.C. area any ideas?

Thanks Dan it was really that bad huh? i will take your experiences to heart and skip it. thanks again

Thanks Adrian your right $50.00 is a lott to waste thanks for helpin out.

Thanks Beth i'm glad to be here! i will be asking away believe me.

Thanks Lynn i check out craigslist on a regular basis and cant seam to find anything relatively close by.. BTY my sister in law and her family live in Griffin Georgia really growing fast over in Mcdonough.

D'ohh!! my bad... i would love to take you up on that Celeste!! thought it was a lott closer tho? i'll just get a hotel room. i'm not completley green i did industrial hydro-blasting for 4 years back in my teenage days.plus 9 more years as a metal tradesman and have well over 200 hours of safety training including the 40 hour HAZ- WOPER course (been over 15 years tho and prolly not current).

Thanks Mark you just saved me some $$$!! when is the convention maybe if i get started soon enough i'll be able to show some R.O.I. and attend it?

Thanks Paul i wish i could afford more gpm's but the price jumps like $500.00 above 4 gpm's unless i'm missing something? so is a downstream injector compatible withe a duel pressure wand? yea I'm hoping Celeste over at Carolina pro wash reads this. she is very gracious about helping newbies out and is not that for away