RyanH

Tri-sodium phosphate. It's a pretty good cleaner to mix with water to clean things like wallpaper glue off walls. Also a decent all-purpose cleaner, but a side reaction with it and water produces sodium hydroxide, a particularly dangerous caustic chemical that can corrode certain surfaces. It did a pretty nasty deal to the glass on my truck when some overspray got on it. It does wonders at breaking up grime, though.

Well, Amanda (wife) and I put a contract on a home today...willl be either stone or brick (haven't decided yet) front/accents and will have hardiplank sides. I will be doing quite a bit of extra things to the house, like painting/sealing the garage with an epoxy finish, staining the deck (BETH....you'll hear from me before too terribly long!!) maybe a two tone, and some other little goodies.

I charge more for larger homes is there is more footwork involved...they usually have more and higher windows and gutters, so I have to climb farther and more often to clean them completely. You can avoid sticker shock by selling and preparing them for your cost of services during the "sales pitch." Really, I don't have a sales pitch, I just BS for awhile with them and let them in on what kind of quality they *should* expect and what dangers to watch for in the industry in general. They respect that and usually don't seem to mind paying. Actually, I have never had a dispute on cost...usually they are more than happy to hand over the amount for a superb quality job when they see their investment sparkling and looking like it had just been painted...it's much cheaper than painting!!!

I have found (after many trials with many brands) that Mr. Clean (Professional line works great) and **** 'n Span (Also, professional line) work fantastically at cleaning lineoleum, tile, and formica. I don't care much for the Lysol products when it comes to cleaning. The Spicnspan when sprayed onto painted drywall and gently rubbed with a cloth diaper (do they still make those!?!?!) or a soft wash cloth (dry) does a great job a removing scuff marks left by people brushing against it. I use the liquid comet to remove scuff marks from doors and baseboards, but don't rub too hard because it's an abrasive and can take the paint off if it's weak paint. You can mix your own glass cleaner (water, a little dish soap, and some vinegar or lemon juice), but I just prefer to use Windex (I use the professional line there, too) because it works so well. For outside windows, though, I'll mix the Zep tinted window cleaner with water and use a squeegee and sponge to apply (tinted cleaner because it contains alcohol not ammonia). The Zep grout and tile cleaner works really well on dirty grout, but be sure to wipe up all excess with a towel (you will need many many towels for a house) or you will be mopping it 20 times to remove the haze. You'll also need some kind of brush (whatever you are comfortable holding for hours at a time) to scrub. They make automatic scrubbers, but the spread the acid around and I like to keep it off the tile as much as possible. For wood, you can use something like Murphy's wood soap. I use hot water and the Mr. Clean (professional) at 1/2 cup cleaner to 3 or 4 gallons water to mop laminate wood floor. Have been doing this for well over a year in one of my commercial places and haven't noticed any damage to the floor. For mud, rust, blood, makeup, etc. stains on carpet, I've found a wonder chemical called Folex. I buy it at Target (can't find it anywhere else). May also try http://www.folexcompany.com . It makes very short work of cleanup. Also, there is a great chemical called Pull Out 2 that is great for getting oils and organic chems out of carpet. If you clean tar off carpet with something like GoofOff, this stuff will remove the ring left by the organic chemical. Can get it from http://www.american-niagara.com . The guy I bought it from is David, but it's been over a year since i've ordered anything (you have to buy it by the case at around $8 per can), so I doubt he remembers me. Aero makes a pretty good stainless steel cleaner/polish, but you can get comparable stuff at any janitorial place (for the popular SS appliances being used in houses now). Also works on brass and chrome. I think that covers most of the bases.

Hey hey Bill3752....I'm switching from the pressure washing thing to do chem engineering. Funny world! I ran a janitorial business during college. Midway through school I bought a pressure washer to take care of some of my commerical cleaning accounts and found out I didn't know what I was doing after it took me almost an entire day to clean the coverage equivalent of a driveway. After a few google searches, stumbling around rather helplessly in some newgroups and being told to go out and buy a real pressure washer (they all thought I wanted to start a full blown cleaning service...I just wanted to know how to use the one I had!!!), I finally stumbled across TGS here and learned enough to empower me to buy some of the proper equipment and move into residential cleaning. I made quite alot of money from it considering the time I put in, never compromised quality, and had a lot of fun, but I enjoy designing and building stuff too much to not go on with engineering. I'll always keep the equipment to do side jobs on the weekend, though. It's relaxing and a little therapeutic to see a nasty house brightened up after a good wash. The professors did get a little aggravated though when I would step out of class to answer customer calls. Also have a background in computer programming and made some web pages YEARS ago when the best you could do was code HTML in a basic text browser. Ran a bulletin board before the internet became as popular and cheap as it is now. Then JAVA had to come along and ruin it for me (too busy to learn it). Now with the flash, PHP, etc. I doubt I'll ever get back into the groove. I'll just stick with VB.

Thinking of selling my truck if anyone's interested: 2003 Dodge Ram 1500 23,000 miles 4WD V8 5.6L Hemi gasoline engine 4-door full size cab 345 horsepower, pulls loaded trailer with full 250 gal tank without knowing it's there. Leather interior, power everything, tinted windows, factor truck liner, good tires, side step rails, towing package, bed rails, extremely clean. Only blemishes are a few spots of paint damage just above the bed beside cab window where some battery acid splashed. Asking payoff (currently around $22k). Don't get enough use out of it to justify the cost. Yes, I know that's more than you want to pay, but perhaps other's will see this.

Just drink lots of water while on the job if the day is hot and drink warm fluids (tea, coffee, cocoa) when the day is cold. A long hot shower and half hour of stretching is good after a day of heavy climbing (when I do roofs).

I've used hot water and soap and some elbow grease to successfully remove them. I've also dabbed some goof-off just on the mark itself then wiped off with a wet rag. Don't overdo the goof-off, though, as you might damage the surface.

:taz: :banghead: :irritated :grrr: :furious: :angryfire Not in this lifetime nor the next! She looks a little like my wife, but I'd NEVER get her in something like that if there's going to be any cleaning involved. whew...if she reads this it'll be a cold winter for me!

I did alot of grout over the past week in bathrooms and hallways. The Tile an Grout cleaner by Zep worked very well. Squirt it on, agitate with a brush, wipe off with a towel, and mop off with sponge. Wear gloves and long sleeves as the cleaner is acidic and will burn you. I've found that most of the nasties in grout comes from accumulated dust and fibers pulled from a mop. These fibers trap additional dirt, dirty water from subsequent mopping, and various other grimy stuff really can make a nice floor go down in a hurry. Of course, I'm sure it can't compare with the efficiency of using the steam method, but for here and there applications like a bathroom once a month, it's not bad.

Thanks, Beth. Most of the decks around here are PT. Also, most builders do nothing beyond assembling them...no sealers and they certainly look the worse for it a year later. Ideally I'd like to do a two tone deck so I imagine I'll be stripping everything initially. The pictures that you and Reed put up awhile back (and I can't find them now...supwidat??) really makes me want to try that. I hope no paint...I've washed a few houses with painted decks and they look horrible after it starts to peel. I'd probably just tear it down and start anew if that was the case. Thanks for the tip!

:irritated Aggh Dammit!!! That's the bad thing about these blasted computers and supermoderators...they never forget anything!!! Cute, Alan.

From what I have read in the past here regarding lumber drying out, I wonder how this stuff effectively penetrates an aged surface without prep. My wife and I are looking for another house and I would like to do a deck. However, I think I'll stay away from this stuff and order my items from TGS.

playstation, taekwondo, and shooting range. and nature's oldest natural stress reliever guaranteed to put those seratonin levels right where they ought to be.

Carlos...Petra is a model from I believe the Czech republic. Apparently there are some luxury resorts in the area (hard to tell from the pictures) and she was visiting one. I heard this from my wife. Since I rarely watch television, I really haven't heard much about this thing. I haven't seen any pictures of it other than what MSN has on their home page. I think I've heard the word "tsunami" more times in the past week on radio stations than I've heard the word "christmas" in the past month collectively from any person or object capable of producing sound. I've heard radio news reports, but apparently they don't do justice to it by what everyone else is saying.

I'm a little upset by the news of Petra Nemcova. She was second only to Daniela Pestova in my swimsuit daily calendar. I told my wife that she should be wary because Petra is available again. She laughed and said I didn't stand a chance. Whew!! Boy...was that ever insensitive. Truthfully, I do wish better fortune for the region, especially with the disease that's becoming a larger issue. They may not believe in the same God I do, but I'll pray for them nontheless.

:lghohoho: See, I make joke! I wasn't really serious about that, just thinking outside the box a little. It is an inadvertant method in the south, however. Builders are cheap and put minimal insulation in the attics....when we do have snow or ice, you can tell which houses are well insulated because they will have snow on their roofs for quite awhile. The uninsulated houses are bare, and these can be next door to each other. More prevention than cure in my original post, though.

Remove insulation from the attic and crank up the heat.

Sulfuric and hydrochloric acid vapor burns to sinuses (minor) when cleaning grout and porcelain surfaces. Ammonium chloride vapor burns to throat from sterilizing bathrooms. Minor sulfuric acid burns from splashes when cleaning grout. I've had butyl degreasers burn my face from overmisting, but haven't had problems from that and bleach from running down my arm while cleaning. The few times I have had it run down my arm, it usually continues to the armpit and down my torso, but I've always wiped immediately with a wet towel and so far it hasn't been a problem. I try to take better precautions now, though. Vapor irritation was always due to insufficient ventilation and staying in for just a moment too long (I usually try to moderate it so that I don't actually breath it in and leave plenty of doors open).

Hd machine works great for house washing...I've used it for over a year and have a few hundred hours on it. Not necessary for windows, though. I drop down to regular house water pressure for windows and use a squeegee and window cleaner. High pressure will blow water under the sill and make wet carpet,

I tried it for about 15 minutes...the wires get in my way with so much movement, and there is nothing so aggravating as when you turn too quickly and an earbud rips out of your ear. I do use it from time to time in my janitorial stuff, though.

Leadership is an inherent quality that is made better by education. If one lacks the natural leadership ability, however, fine education just amounts to a high student loan bill. Check out this letter of apology written by an ivy-league graduate. The insipid and vile statement by her makes me want to beat my head against the wall at the ignorance portrayed by such spineless individuals. These overboard apologies issued by everyone who has ever stepped on someone's toe and offended them...arghhh! Anyway, the point is that she doesn't strike me as a very effective leader when she is able to be beaten down and admonished by people with unfounded hurt feelings. http://www.nat-portman.net/article/10

My vote for greatest leader: Audie Murphy. Greatest entrepreneur: Truett Cathy

Hey peeps, throw some money towards DuPont stock. Some of the work we (students) did for them a short while back was for one of their initiatives to get almost completely away from the dependency upon fossil fuels as their stock chemical for making products. In this case, it will be a viable replacement for nylon (replacing carpet, clothing, etc.). They will be virtually independent upon oil prices, or atleast will not be nearly as impacted upon rising prices, and will be in a position to offer their goods at a lower rate: increase market provisions. And Ken, SHAME ON YOU!!! There is no such thing as price gouging. People will pay what they believe is a worthy price for a good, otherwise they will not buy it. I think that theory is sound for every product / service. Prove me wrong! (okay, that sounds harsh...I'm just playing with my strong tone, but I do think that gouging is a socially invented idea and has no economic viability). Merry chr'mas eryone!

I'm a typical stubborn guy. If I think that there is any chance in the world that I can do a service myself, then I'll do it. Cut my own grass, paint my own walls, clean my own house (I run a janitorial business, so this is no big deal!!), wash my own cars, etc. I do realize, however, that there are some things I'm incabaple of doing and I will hire a professional service to handle it. Things like auto maintenance, installing windows and vinyl siding, and operating on my appendix are things I'll hire out. There are times, however, when I have hired a professional and they have screwed up on the details. Example: my car had a problem with the brake lights not coming on. On this model of car, this will prevent me from putting the car in gear, so I can't go anywhere without a manual override. I took it to the dealership and they charged $70 for a diagnostic and another $200 to replace a faulty switch and wiring. Six months later, I had the same problem. They were going to charge another $70 for a reevaluation and problem solving session. Being one to listen to the addage "Once bitten, shame on you; Twice bitten, shame on me," I decided to look at myself. I rummaged around, found the "faulty" switch, used a little sandpaper to clean the contacts, reinstalled it, and haven't had a problem in the last 50,000 miles. This took about 10 minutes to do. Professionals did not work for me in that regard. Necessity mandates when I will call for a service or a product.