RyanH

I thought scam artists were typically more on the intelligent side. Why would you pass a forged check AND give your fingerprint??? I would, at the least, pay any of the 8-dozen bums on the interstate exit ramps (around here) $100 to go in and cash it for me. Sorry, sorry. I couldn't resist. Georgia continuously gets hammered for having the lowest SAT scores in the country, then somebody has to come along and do this to validate the claim. The Alabama-ns must be laughing it up right now ;) . I just hope this doesn't get around, or I hope that the intelligent people to whom *I* advertise realize that this is not typical of pressure washers. BTW, I wore shorts for the first time this year this past weekend. Sunny, beautiful skies, temps in the 60s. This morning, I awoke to snow on the ground. With jobs beginning in less than two weeks, I hope something normalizes!! Ryan H.

A guy in a bar after a few beers trying to explain the deeper meaning behind Kenny Rogers' "The Gambler?" Ryan H.

Bought a '03 Dodge Ram because Dodge was desperate to get rid of their '03 Durangos. I made a deal to buy both at the same time, so they gave us her car for something like $8000 under sticker price and mine for invoice. They were hurting when we walked out of there. I like the ram OK, but it is horrendous on the fuel. My wife likes it because of that overly-hyped Hemi. As for other reasons on purchasing it, I guess opportunity was my reason. It had a 4x4 and towing package and the quad-cab feature, all of which were necessities to me. Price was not too bad (around $27500, fully loaded, leather and tint added, and all taxes and title fees included). It was slightly used (had something like 9k on it), so I let someone else eat the depreciation on it. I usually buy used vehicles for the same reason as Rick gives.....bad investment. On the non-performance side, I have to say that the truck looks quite nice and I have had MANY positive comments on it from customers. I just keep it clean and for some reason the looks of that alone inspire confidence. Wait until I get my new PW setup!!! Business should start selling itself then. Ryan H.

Frenchy, Thus far I have use the rope setup for doing roofs. Many of the houses going up now have inclines well above 45 degrees (60 degrees is not uncommon, and some are even more steep). On some of these homes, the houses are two and three stories, so I am a little skittish on the ridges of the roofs. I use the rope to secure myself while I spray the roof down with the cleaner. Sometimes I have to rappell down the roof to clean out the gutters. I absolutely HATE climbing on a ladder over about 15 feet high. Hopefully, my days of having to climb are coming to an end. I am going to go the X-Jet route this year and stream the cleaner on the roof from the ground. Hopefully this will not dilute it as much as my previous methods and I won't have to do any climbing. Ryan H.

Frenchy, Have you had any experience cleaning windows in residential areas with the rope setup? I was curious how you secured your rope (if you use that instead of a ladder). Most of the harness setups I see require the anchor to be fastened to the roof. I have a huge problem with putting holes in my customers' roofs, so I am looking for alternatives. Right now, if I have to use a rope harness, I tie off to some trees or my truck, depending upon the part of the house I am on. Ryan H.

Greg, Something to try. Find a grocery store or department store nearby (anything with large picture windows on it, like a Best Buy, furniture store, etc.). Give them an unbeatable deal to clean their windows. The benefit to you is you gain experience in a safer environment than several stories off the ground. Now, you may look stupid, but you should really try this. Setup your rope kit on the building like you would on any high rise building and go from the top of the building down. Try cleaning this way. Doing it in this manner, the only difference between this and high rise cleaning is the distance between you and the ground.....you are still hanging in a harness and cleaning, so you should get the full effect of what will happen on a building. Don't rely on the ground for ANYTHING. Pretend you have 300 ft of air beneath you. Like I said, passersby will think you are the most ridiculous looking person around ("Why doesn't he just stand on the ground and clean it" the smart guys will say), but atleast you have the satisfaction of knowing that you are getting practice for the big jobs. And you don't have to risk life and limb doing it. Ryan H.

Does anyone here have much experience with cleaning roofs? I clean some houses in areas with some pretty steep pitches on the roofs, usually 2, 3, and 4 stories high. I have had a few requests to remove the black streaks (sometimes the entire roof is black on the north side) from the roof. The height is too great for an extension and a pitch-witch, and the pitch is too great to simply walk around (generally greater than 45 degrees....sometimes around 55-60). SO, I went to a local outdoor adventure store and spent some big bucks on mountain rappelling equipment, got some instruction on how to use it, and am ready to (safely) tackle the high jobs. Now, my BIG questions. I am concerned about "pressure washing" a roof because I don't want to take off any of the grit. Thus far, I have kept the tip fairly high from the surface, so the roof is not being hit with high pressure, and I am having great success with this and have not noticed any damage to the shingles. However, I am sure that I will have questions from time to time from concerned customers. Also, what type of chemicals do any of you guys (gals) use? I have checked out the roof cleaners around here and they all seem to use sodium hypochlorite and/or sodium hydroxide, the same stuff in regular bleach. Will these chemicals void a roof warranty, or are there others that are better to use? I am asking these questions specifically because I think that roof cleaning can be a huge business in my area....most of the "lowballers" and part-timers only want to clean the side of a house and a driveway. Nobody seems to want to do the dangerous stuff, which tells me that there is great demand and little supply ( equals BIG $$$!!!). I would like to start advertising an exclusive roof cleaning service, but I want to make sure that the chemicals and methods I use are non-destructive so I can be confident in my advertisement and marketing. I would appreciate any help, advice, information, or tips from anybody out there with some knowledge and experience in roof work. Many thanks!! Ryan H.

Chemically, you cannot have sodium hypochlorite solution without having some sodium hydroxide. Dissolving sodium hypochlorite in water will make a solution containing some basic components (hydroxide). There is an equilibrium between the available hydroxides and hypochlorites; I'm not sure what that equilibrium ratio is (it is temperature dependent, though), but I know that you will definitely be using a basic solution if you use the hypochlorite. The solution is not strong enough to warrant neutralization, however. A good rinse with water will dilute the solution enough so as to be inert. The thing to worry about would be allowing too much of the solution to dry on the roof, leaving the white sodium hypochlorite salt behind. Customers might not be too happy about this (until a good rain rinses it for you). Sorry if I sound a little incoheherent. I'm having a hard tpying and its 50-something degrees in my office, so the fingers aren't working very well! Ryan H.

I have seen guys clean windows of this size in a matter of seconds (typically around 10 seconds). They drip a lot of water and soap solution on the ground as they do it, but the windows generally look very good. But, they are also standing on the ground. If you having nothing holding you against the building, I would imagine you would have to go slower to keep from pushing yourself away from the glass as you cleaned (Newton's third law of motion). They are generally using a chamois-type applicator in one hand (around 12" in length sounds about right) and a squeegee in the other (16" - 20"). How were you thinking about doing this? Do the buildings have scaffolds that go down the side, or were you just going to rappel over the edge? I was just curious how you would carry your bucket of solution. Be careful up there!! I would lose about 10 pounds from stress-sweat every cleaning if it were me! Welcome to the board. Ryan H.

These appear to be real pictures drawn (or painted) on sidewalks. Truly amazing, I think. http://www.ebaumsworld.com/sidewalkdrawings.html Ryan H.

Hmmmm. You might be right. Close inspection of the fourth image's background shows cars/trucks driving or parked along the left side of the street. I would love to see the 2-D view from the top. Blows my mind! Ryan H.

In a few weeks, I will be proposing an idea to a community in my area for a contract to clean the driveways in the entire community (actually, about 90% of them). Should the proposal go through, I will have about 3 months to buy and piece together some equipment. The setup I have now will not allow me to complete the number of jobs (between 300 and 400 houses) in a reasonable amount of time. So, here's the skinny. I need to build a setup that will allow me to clean anywhere between 5 and 10 driveways per day, each being approximately 1000 square feet. I have the capacity to carry 500 gal water with me and to hook that supply into the houses' supplies to keep it full. Essentially, I would pull from my tank and refill from the house. I imagine that my output will be a little greater than my input, so my day will be somewhat limited, but I won't be concerned over that now...I'll get another tank if I need to. I was looking into buying the 30" surface cleaner (Big Boy, I think it is called), but I am not sure what type of washer to get. I want hot water and I was thinking around 8 gpm, 3500 psi. Does anyone have an opinion on this? Is 8 gpm overkill, or not enough. Also, any particular brand I might want to consider? I will be stuffing everything into an enclosed trailer (12 - 14' length) if that makes any difference to anyone. Many thanks for checking this out and any help you may provide!! Ryan H.

Sorry about the confusion. By "green" I meant free of any chemicals; only the dirt and mildew that was on the driveway to begin with. Ryan H.

Alan, I had considered filtering most of the water to reuse (similar to your setup). This way, I shouldn't need to use nearly as much water as without filtering. This should be VERY useful when the summer draughts come around. Also should help me to get contracts with gas stations and local restaraunts. As for dumping, I would dump the "green" water (no chemicals, only dirt and grime) into recovery drains to allow it to be retreated and used by the local water authority. I would like to look into the oil separators like you have to clean the other water. Ultimately, I guess I would like to recycle the water as many times as I can in the same tank. Time to put the engineering hat on! Ryan H.

Carlos, I have already considered many of the problems that can occur with a job of this scale. Fortunately, the guidelines of the community restrict parking on the street unless it is for service reasons (meter checking, lawn care, UPS/Fedex, etc.), so I really won't have to contend with this. Also, from inspection, very few homes have cars parked in the driveway at any given time, so I will only have a few instances where I will have to make special arrangements for that. The drainage of the yards and driveways is rather poor, however. That is why I am looking into the recovery. Thanks for the help! Ryan H.

I will not get the equipment until I have the jobs confirmed. The story goes like this: I did a few houses in the community and noticed that the sidewalks were looking pretty shabby. I talked to some of the homeowners for whom I cleaned and they said that it had been brought up several times at community meetings but they didn't want to pay the thousands of $$$ it would take to to clean them. I also noticed that many of the driveways looked to be in need of cleaning, so I pitched pitched an idea. If I could get an agreement from the homeowners to pay to have their driveways (and any other part of their home) cleaned within a certain time frame, I would do the sidewalks for free. May not sound like a good deal, but the distance from one sidewalk to the next is roughly 80 ft. I figured with a 30" cleaner I can do that in no time, and since I am already parked at one driveway and hooked up to the supply, it will be all that much faster. The homeowners get a clean driveway (which they pay for) and the community gets clean sidewalks at no cost to the community fund. Everyone wins. I would ask for an agreement from 90% of the community and have contracts binding them to the work (basically so I don't buy the equipment and then have them bail out). The community is rather exclusive and there is a great "group" mentality among the residents. I have spoken to a few homeowners as well as the HOA president and they all think it is a great idea. I just have to come to some meetings and formally propose the idea. So, I have a few months before this happens and I would like to find the "perfect" system. I'm looking to put around $8 - $10 k into the whole setup. Don't know if that is an unreasonably low number or not, but like I said, I just started looking. Again, thanks for the opinions! Ryan H.

Hmmm. Alan, you might should call Steel Eagle and ask for some commission. I think you have sold me on some of their equipment. I don't particularly like the idea of having to drag the vacuum hose with me as I clean, but I *do* like he convenience of having everything done at once, so I am going to seriously consider this route. I think I am more fortunate than most as this one job should more than pay for all of the equipment, so I don't have to worry about buying everything and sweating until it's paid off. Because of this, I am not going to let cost be a huge factor in my final decision....I want to get the right equipment now (while I can afford it) so that I won't regret it in the future. Plus, having the reclaim equipment should put me in a totally different league than most of the competition around here. Ryan H.

Carlos/Alan, Actually, I have already done a few homes in the community. From what I have done thus far, the driveways mostly have dirt that comes off very easily with cold water at 4 gpm. I have only had a few spots and patches on some of the driveways with stubborn mold/mildew. I wanted to stay away from using chemicals if I could help it just because this will be such a large job and I wasn't sure how effective my reclaim setup would be. I figured the hot water would be more than sufficient for this type of work. There are a few driveways I have seen, however, that do have a little more grime than others, and I would use chemicals on those. Alan, Have you seen anyone, or have you done yourself, reclaiming straight from the surface cleaner? I was wondering if running the vacuum hose directly to the cleaner and having a wide suction attatchment slightly above the ground behind the unit would work to pull the water up after cleaning. This may not be necessary for this particular job, but just curious. I am mainly worried about the water pooling up in certain areas on the driveway. Thanks for the input! RyanH.

Oh, I forgot to mention that I am looking into reclaim equipment for the runoff. I guess alot of my trailer will be taken up by the vacuum hose. Thanks again! Ryan H.

I usually take a long handled sponge (like you mop kitchen floors with) and run those along the soffits after a low pressure rinse once the soffits are almost dry. This usually gets rid of the spots. Ryan H.

Northern Tool and Equipment has them. Not sure on the price, but I think it would be around $15 - $20. Ryan H.

One call, FWIW, I'm a student at GA Tech in Atlanta, GA. You may or may not know it, but there is a VERY wide range of nationality and diversity at that school. I have had lab groups with people of different religions (some muslim) and can say that from my experience with *those* people, they are as much for the prosperity of America as you or I. I didn't blame them for 9/11/01, and similarly they did not blame me for the Crusades. Taking it out of the context of religion and focusing on geography, I knew a few people here from Pakistan who were very appreciative of the opportunities they have been able to find in America. Remember, the thing that makes America as great as it is is its FREEDOM. And, if it makes you feel better in the morning, you can boycott any stamp or reference to something with which you disagree. It's good to be an American. As a side note, it seems that there were Muslims in the building that day, going about their daily lives as functioning Americans. Being muslim does not prevent you from being an american. Ryan H.

Okay, here is my submission. Keep in mind, I do *not* want to make this my permanent avatar, but for fun of the game, I will put this up. No, the ring on my finger does not bind me to another guy. This picture depicts what happens when your best friend's granddaughter, who thinks you hung the moon and are one of the greatest people on the planet, gets a Pretty Pretty Princess dress-up kit for christmas, and *YOU* are the guinea pig for trying on new things. So here I am at my friend's family's Christmas gathering. Cheers! Ryan H (Ryan Holbird)

Paul, Thanks for the help. Can't these things be bought at janitorial supply stores? One store around me that I use for some of my supplies sell these pads for slow and high speed floor burnishers. Now, I'm sure they are too large for the hand buffers (they are usually from 12" diameter up to about 30" diameter), but they usually have an inner circle that is cut out of them to accommodate the floor buffers securing plate and the diameter of the inner circle is usually in the range of 2" up to around 5". Why not contact the company that makes the pads and ask if you can have or buy their leftovers? Same concept that Krispy kreme had years ago to sell the doughnut "holes." I can see where it would work very well for the DeWalt polisher. Perhaps you can send me the dimensions of the product and I can check on Monday and see exactly what is available. If these <i>can't</i> be used, then they can be made. A company I currently clean for uses a special tool that attatches to a drill and it cuts felt samples. It is designed so that when pressure is applied to the surface of the stuff to be cut, three razor blades drop about to a desired length (usually around 1/2") and cut a perfect circle. I know (from experience) that it would work on the type of material the defelting pads are made from. Ryan H.

Pardon my ignorance, but what's a defelting pad? What is one used for? :o Ryan H.