Chuck Bergman PC

Softwash Roof Cleaning and house, cage, deck, pool area and cement power washing. Check my website for info - http://www.bergmanpressurewashing.com/ work thru 2012.xlr

Is the Hammerhead with the grease fitting a better quality bearing or is the sealed bearing better?

I bought a ZK7 aprox 4-6 gpm unloader and I already had 2 K7 unloaders new too. I can't tell which is the ZK7 ? They all say K7

Thanks and me too! But my son can't afford a WW so he wants something in the $300 range at 20"

I use a 20" Whisper Wash. I have a 20" Hammerhead for backup. The HH is ok, but the steel spray bars rust fairly often. My son has a pressure washing business and I know quality on everything changes regularly. The WW is too expensive for my son. Which would you suggest and if you don't mind, why? Thanks! Chuck

Thanks Rod!

After 27 years straight in this business, I should know the answer to this. However old age and 9 prescription meds say differently! LOL What GPM will I get with a Comet 5.6 gpm pump on 13hp Honda engine, using a 2507 tip? I will be setting the pressure at 2500 psi. I want to be sure to order the right unloader. Thanks for your help! Chuck

24 YEAR PROFESSIONAL EXPERT'S ROOF TECHNICAL BULLETIN. Written by Chuck Bergman on 08/27/13 SHINGLED ROOFING: I have cleaned roofs in Charlotte County Florida since 1989. I started out pressure washing them, but I could see, with shingled roofs, severe granule loss taking place on the shingles and turning the pressure down didn’t solve the problem. Why? First off, it takes a certain amount of pressure to remove the black algae – period! So, if it requires say 1000 psi of pressure, which will work to blast the black coloration from shingles, then it’s just semantics. If at 1000 psi I can clean a roof holding my gun tip say 1 foot away, then, if I turn the pressure down to 1/2 that, I have to move in to 6″ away, bringing the pressure right back to 1000 psi. Another words nothing is accomplished! TILE ROOFING: With tile, most are manufactured with at least a light glazing on top of a slurry coating {paint} Pressure washing tile, requires a higher blasting pressure, starting at 1500psi up to 3000psi. This can remove or dull that glazing. If the roof has been pressure cleaned in the past and that glazing is mostly gone already, then the slurry coating, creating your roofs coloring begins to be removed. This will turn a red tile roof into a pinkish roof. It will turn other colors pale as well. Eventually, it will reach the plain cement the tile is made of, showing bare cement areas. Some companies have found an easier pressure cleaning tool, called a “Surface Cleaning Machine” and to cover the fact that these machines use pressure to the extreme, they give their cleaning method nice names like shampooing your roof. These machines were originally designed to clean flat surfaces { I own 2 } and are great on driveways, sidewalks and cement parking lots, where almost no damage can occur. They are the worst thing you can do to a tile roof though. The powerful jets are angled to cut sideways, also, they are set at an exact amount of inches above whatever surface they are set on. With flat cement that perfect! Tile is not a flat surface, so the high parts get blasted badly, while the lower portions of the tile, barely come clean-if at all. If you went up and inspected such a cleaning job, you would find many small black lines of leftover algae. If any algae is left, it will continue growing and return with a vengeance within 1-2 years! A chemically cleaned, soft-washed tile roof is easily evenly coated and all algae is killed and disintegrated. That’s why a Non-Pressure Roof cleaning, as explained below, lasts just about twice as long as any type of pressure washing / shampoo style cleaning will. Fortunately, you are not stuck, having to accept roof damage in order to have a nice, clean, healthy roof! Many years ago, some of the roofing manufacturers, came up with a formula to “chemically clean” roofs, using no pressure at all. It’s called by a few names “Non-Pressure” “No-Pressure” Soft-Washing” and “Chemical Cleaning” I started using this method and chemicals specified by the roofing manufacturers and their Manufacturers Association {ARMA} back in the 1990′s and found that it cleaned tile just as well as it cleaned shingles! It calls for a mixture of about a 3-5% total solution of Chlorine Bleach and a little TSP {Tri Sodium Phosphate} I then add a commercial soap / surfactant to that mix, to thicken the mixture, so it won't run off the roof. Nowadays, there’s always someone trying to sell you something. Non Bleach alternative chemicals are on the market and I try them as they come out. They all use the “Eco-Friendly” “Green” approach, to sell their chemicals with. The products I have tried do not tell you what chemicals are in the product. So, are they safe and eco-friendly? Who knows? We do know bleach though! We wash our clothes in it, disinfect our kitchen food preparation areas with it, swim in it in our pools and drink it in our city water! When it dries, it turns back into salt, which is what it is made from. You can go to my website and click on “MANUFACTURER SPECIFICS” and read directly from the makers of your roofing, that what I am saying is what the makers of your roofing also say. Or just go there directly, using this click-able link: http://www.bergmanpressurewashing.co...Specifics.html Incidentally, the ARMA also says not to allow anyone to spray on ANY after coating “Field Coating” on your roof. It says that those coatings can cause damage and at the very least, none have proven to accomplish anything. They are sold as a supposed way to not have to ever clean your roof again. They only claim that the products will keep your roof clean for 2 years. 99% of all roofs cleaned properly, will stay clean longer than that, without buying into their programs. Read the ARMA statements here: http://www.asphaltroofing.org/sites/...tin/tb_227.pdf So, after 24 years of roof cleaning: First with a Pressure Washing machine and then without the use of any pressure, this is what I have learned to be facts. Chuck Bergman Roof Cleaning "AND" Pressure Washing. Charlotte and Sarasota County Florida. In business here since 1989. Father & Son business since 1994. No Work Crews - No Trainees! We do not run our business from a cell phone. We have old land line numbers that have been mine for over 20 years. We are permanent residents and here to stay! Englewood, Rotonda West, Placida, Cape Haze areas CALL: 941-698-1959 Venice, Nokomis, Osprey and South Sarasota office: 941-483-3673 Port Charlotte, Punta Gorda Office: 941-255-8600 Englewood, North Port Office: 941-474-8883

Good information Chris! I never thought of such a thing? After reading this post, it certainly makes sense, even to a largely computer illiterate such as myself! I don't know if I have a blog here at the Grime Scene or not? I don't have time right now, but I know the Grime Scene is a strong SEO forum and probably the best rated website for pressure cleaning, just as the RCIA is for Roof Cleaning! Thanks for the SEO tutorial. I for 1 need it!

Florida-Roof Cleaning by Chuck Bergman 33981 34224 34223 33947 34293 33950 34231 33946 33913 33920 33955 34292,, 34287 941-698-1959 You have probably heard all the new fad "GO GREEN" "Biofoam" "Bio Degradable" "Eco-Friendly" roof cleaning pitches that have cropped up recently. They try to convince unknowing homeowners that chlorine bleach should not be used on roofing to clean with. Now, here are the facts from The Roofing Manufacturers Themselves. It's your warranty, you can listen to the green salesman and pressure washing guys, who can blast the discolorations [ along with your roofs granules etc ] from your roof, or to those who make the roofing and honor warranties or void them. Here you go! I could easily supply more proof, but this is pretty obvious, I'd say. [h=1]TO MAKE IT SIMPLE. THESE ARE THE RECOMMENDATIONS FROM THE ROOFING MANUFACTURERS WHO SUPPLY YOUR WARRANTY AND MAKE YOUR ROOFING: From GAF Roofing Manufacturers about black algae removal: http://www.gaf.com/Documents/Algae_Staining_on_Shingled_Roof_Surfaces_-_Steep_Slope_Techn-43-808-v3.pdf "If a new roof is not an option, GAF recommends cleaning the roof with a special mixture. That mixture is:" 'bleach and TSP' "What NOT To Do! Do not power wash the shingles to clean the shingles. Some roof cleaning companies offer this service. However, it is not recommended." From ARMA roofing manufacturers Association-how to clean roofing. http://www.asphaltroofing.org/pdf/tb_217.pdf "Algae discolorations to remove from roofing surfaces, applying a solution of chlorine bleach, trisodium phosphate, and water. Solutions for these ingredients depend on the amount of discoloration. Solutions range to one cup TSP and 2.5 gallons each of bleach and water. Caution! High pressure washing systems for algae removal should not be used." From Owens Corning Roofing Manufacturers : "USE CHLORINE and TSP" "DO NOT USE A PRESSURE WASHER" Owens Corning - Owens Corning™ Roofing Products Product Demo This one from the ARMA says not to allow anyone to apply any *after coating* such as Algaecides, Fungicides, Copper, Zinc, or other Roof treatments - not anything! http://www.asphaltroofing.org/pdf/tb_227.pdf[/h] Florida-Roof Cleaning by Chuck Bergman 33981 34224 34223 33947 34293 33950 34231 33946 33913 33920 33955 34292 34287 Charlotte & Sarasota County Florida Pressure Washing & Roof Cleaning by Chuck Bergman Since 1989 941-698-1959 941-474-8883 941-483-3673 941-255-8600

OH! It doesn't grow in Arizona! Now I get it! :-)

Hi Ron, I don't understand what "maybe you missed one" means? Maybe I'm just a bit dull this morning? I also don't know anything about Arizona and what it means that my setup won't clean there? As to cleaning roofs with "the pump on a pressure washer to deliver the chems just like Your electric or air pump? " My pump delivers the exact % SH that I make up in my tank. 20-25% for shingles $35-50% for tile. A Pressure washing machines pump depends on a downstream chemical injector to supply chems. They only put out 10-15% solutions, wich won't clean a roof without then pressure washing it. You can buy chemical injectors like Envirospec's Super Suds Sucker, that claims 22% if I remember correctly, but I have owned 2 of them and every other injector made [ I have about 20 of them right now! ] and in spite of claims, my extensive testing shows none passing the 15% mark and most that say 25% actually only putting out 10-12% have a good day Ron! Chuck

Hi Ron, I have had a pressure washing business since 1978 and used pressure washers to clean roofs until 1991. In 1991 I started to chemically clean roofs with 20-25% chlorine and Dawn dish liquid etc on shingles, up to [and never above] 50% chlorine and TSP on tile. My pump puts out 5 gpm at 60psi. Of course, basically no pressure, not even 60psi hits the roof. I tried all pressure washer settings imaginable and all pumps, from 4gpm to 8gpm. To me, after doing so many hundreds of them, you can not reasonably turn down a pressure washer to a setting that will not blow granules-{lots of them on older roofs}- off the roof. Even if you could set one to 100psi and you were willing to spend a week cleaning a 2000sq ft roof in 1" strips, the 100 lbs of pressure would still remove granules. At 100psi, you would have to hold the pressure washing tip an inch from the roof to accomplish anything. Look in the gutter of a roof never cleaned by any method and you will see the rain knocked off a pile 1/4" deep. Rain is like no pressure at all, compared to any pressure washer setting. Of course, we both know, no roof cleaning business is going to put the ridiculously excessive amount of time into cleaning a roof that 100-500psi would take to do. I see guys pressure washing shingled roofs and tile here in Florida all the time. They are all using well over 2000psi, probably 3000psi. Lets not fool ourselves. It is a real issue. ON THE OTHER HAND: What I say in my posts and blogs about these new "Green" "Eco-Friendly" roof cleaning products, I would prefer not to say. These green guys seem to find it necessary to downgrade the use of chlorine and any method other than their own. That makes them my target. But if they could just stand on their own merit and not knock my way of roof cleaning, I would live and let live. Until this "Go Green" push started, I only advertised and posted about ME, not about others methods and chemicals. Same goes for roof-a-side until I saw they found it necessary to put down my cleaning method in their website and blogs, I never said a word about them. I don't want trouble, but I'm also not good at just taking it either.