itswillist

So I've been washing a good bit of homes lately. But I must say when it comes to aplying the chemical and rinsing it off you can't help but get a lil. on you (or is it just me) anyway, even being concious of the wind and angles and what not. Anyway, doing this sort of thing all day everyday seems like eventually would catch up ???? Am I wrong ? Just wondering if any of you guys use the lil. ventilater deals when applying the chems ??? Do you use rain coats as well ?? I'm curious, It wasn't a concern of mine when I was only doing a few homes a week .. but now I'm around 10 homes a week .. I've always been a lil. health concious and I don't want my lungs to get mad at me for all of this .. Any advice ?

Ok here are the specs: I have 2 pressure washing machines 1) 3500 PSI 4GPM 2) 3750 PSI 4GPM And I have 2 of the same type of surface cleaners: 27" Northstar that came with the 1502 tips with it. I have been using these surface cleaners for a while now, and for some reason they both started leaving uneven cleaning patterns. They're not leaving the little twirly circles like they do when one of the nozzles are stopped up. No when I clean a long driveway everything looks great when there cleaning, but when it's finished you can look back and see long stripes that I have to go over and over to blend in with the concrete. I already bought new tips but they're still doing it .And these stripes occur weather I go fast or slow ... Any takers ??? As I'm very agrivated about having to clean things twice ... Any advice would be golden ...

This is funny, I'm getting out of the roof cleaning business without ever getting into it. I'm moving on to another career field.. I bought the following a few months ago and never even took them out of the package .. 1) 300' 5/8" Polybraided Hose - 2) 5 GPM "Delvan" Demand Diaphragm Pump, 60 psi 1/2" inlet and outlet ports. (paid 440.00 with tax & Shipping for items 1 and 2) 3) 28" Stainless Steel Titan Hose Reel (never used) - Paid 636.00 with tax & Shipping (still have receipt in hand) Please contact me "john wren" (225) 278-9892 or john@earthcrawl.com for real images of these items ... I will be taking "best offer" for all of them .. buyer will pay shipping as well.. I will accept a check through the mail .. 4) I also have a trailer mounted Hot Water Cleaning unit 4GPM powered by a NEW 13HP Honda with roughly 300' high pressure hose all together and two 27" Surface cleaners rated for temperatures up to 200 Deg. as well as one more 4GPM Dewalt Pressure washer with a 13HP Honda Engine and 3 years left of it's 4 year warranty ... Any of these items I will sell seperatly but the bigger items Like the items in number 4 would be best if you picked them up, I live 5 miles from Baton Rouge, Louisiana .. - I seriously have never used items 1 - 3 ... Not Even Once !!

I have the the trailer unit and all the goodies starting on ebay auction tonight.. listing ID: 290158601564 The roof cleaning equipment (titan reel, 300' hose, and delavan pump) I would rather sell to someone here on the forum ...

They're "Hydro Tek" brand name bought from "Northern Tool" catalog with 1/8" orfice tips .. Rated for temperatures up to 250 Deg... 27" Surface Cleaners.. If you want to drive this far every month I may be able to get you a couple of gas stations to wash every month as well... they pay around 675.00 each every month .. not bad.

The trailer itself is new I bought it roughly 4 months ago for 1100 (tax title etc.) The Skid unit was around 2000 when I bought it 16 months ago ( I put a new Honda Engine ($600) on it a few months ago) (electric start) it powers a CAT Pump 3500 PSI 4GPM The 2 27" Surface cleaners cost me 1,000 for both of them and the extra dewalt pressure washer that rides on the front of the trailer I paid 1100 for. then the 2 100' hoses and 2 50' hoses cost around .... hmm, don't remember .. Anyway I have around $5,900 into this entire unit (I'll throw in a sweet chemical mask (darth vador looking) and a x-jet as well) I'd like to get around 3700 - 4200 for all of it .... (not including the roof cleaning items 1 -3 previous post)

These are all great theories, I'll play with all of them and see what happens. With my type of machines you think I should stick with the 1502's or try 2502, 1503 maybe ?? I don't know if they make tips between 02's and 03's ????

I'll keep playing with it and see. I just don't know what it could be, we're cleaning the same gas stations as before, same tips, same units, same speed, but now they're both doing it.. If it was only one, then it would be easier to determine.. but they both do it off both machines ... ?? maybe these new tips are the problem ?? Though they're the same ones as before, that's all I can come up with for now ...

I only have 2 arms on the cleaners. I would like more GPM and pressure, but the thing that gets me is the fact that they just started doing this, I used them the exact same way, same speed, and all with no problems. I put these new tips on them (the same as before) and now there leaving the stripes ... I don't know what the deal is. Like I said, they leave them even when I walk slower.

PS.. Every situation is different, but most of the time the chemical does all the work for me (even on 2 story) and I x-jet it up there and rinse it off.. There will be some times when you have to get on a roof or a ladder to get the dormors or other things that require a different angle ..

Whatever, the guy needs some help ... That's what the forum is for... You will hear people swear by down streaming, and some by x-jetting .. I prefer x-jetting b/c I can get a good batch of chemical pretty high let it set for like 4 minutes then rinse it off with the x-jet as well with the chem. hose unattached. 2) Get your insurance with "Joseph D Walters" I pay like 100 / month for a 2 million policy. the 1 and 2 million are not to far apart so I went with the 2 mil.

One of my customers has some egg stain on the 2nd level of their home (no balcony) The house has a stucco finish on it, this egg stain has been there for 6 months.. Any ideas as to how to get it off ... (remember the complications involved with the stain being 15 feet up there .. ) - Ideas ?

downstreaming and x-jetting both have a time and place. personally I like the x-jet, it shoots out some chemical for sure ... that's what I like, let it sit for 3 -4 min. rinse it off with low pressure ... every bit of it (dirt/mildew)comes off ...

I tried x-jetting my normal SH/Soap/ etc etc .. onto the area, let it dwell, rinsed with hot water from a telescoping wand ... Got some of it off, but there is still a stain there ...

I think you need to break it down for him a lil.. Some of those terms can be a lil. confusing when starting out .... It's hard to comprehend a downstreamer capable of projecting chemical with any pressure at all behind it when your used to the typical low pressure downstreaming method .... The black tip just doesn't shoot it ...... my .02 cents ....:)

Is it just me or has business slowed down ?? Trying to find out if it's the economy or just my local area with competition ???? * Things have slowed for me the past few weeks, any ideas ?

Being a flyboy is fun, but it can be overrated ... the aerial photography is enough to keep me busy on Saturdays, but the rest of the week .... ??? there's a bigger demand for pressure washing... I'm going to be changing my aerial name and pressure washing name ... in fact I'm going to start on that right now ... This is the fun part :)

yeah, I do aerial photography (used to be Earthcrawl Photography (Land . Air . Sea) but then just niched in aerial photography ... I kept the name "Earthcrawl Photography" for the aerial business, I have one bus. number (cell phone: when someone calls I can answer "Earthcrawl this is John" and cater to both clients (aerial or pressure washing) I already have the bank acount, brochures, etc etc.... ) Do you think changing the name would make a difference ? I'm open to ideas ..... I put out flyers today with my helper ... we landed a job (call from the newspaper)

Thanks for the advice, I'm going to create a few sample ad's and post them on this discussion later today and see what you guys think ... Thanks for the confirmation Scott, it really helped out .. It's true, our market is a lil. different here ....

don't forget the original purpose of this thread ....... any ideas with regard to my last thread ... ??? 2 threads above this one ?

yeah I don't know, my advertising has stayed the same ... phone book, and news paper .. I was getting close to a call a day from it all ... 3 weeks ago they just stopped .... I get most of my calls from the news paper .. I'll send you a link .. 2theadvocate.com Classifieds I'm the first link, I noticed when the "Ballard" guy started advertising I received alot fewer calls... Any ideas as to how I should word my next ad ????

chem tank, chemical, pump, hose, ladder, Gun, free time ......... DIYer, may find it's cheaper to hire it out ... it's the competition I'd worry about ...

Good morning, I was wondering if any of you guys know just how far (in feet) I can extend the chemical hose from my x-jet nozzle to my chem. batch before it begins affecting the suction ???? The longer the better, but not at the price of a sucky aplication ... Thanks again. - Me

Anytime I want I can downstream (or can I).. The x-jet is just another tool to have. I want to see if I like the aplication better out of the x-jet I hear it's close to 1:1 coming out the nozle... my downstreamer gives me problems right now anyway ... I bought my unit used and can't seem where to match up my "suction ball" and the o-ring that sits inside... thus it sticks all the time making my "draw" very sucky if any ... .... ... making my jobs take longer than they should ... - the x-jet will be fine ;-)

Hey guys, I was asked today by a chemical engineer at a crawfish boil ... Well more like told by him that SH (bleach) screws up the homes "termite barrier" and If I could find something that didn't do that I would double my business... He said the "run-off" of the bleach onto the ground degrades the barrier... Anyone know about this ? Any thoughts ??? Always like to have some information for myself and for any customers who may ask me that question in the future ....