CLASSICPW

I'm in the same position. I would love to have a box truck, but I don't think they'll fit in a parking garage. I'm leaning toward a stake body open 12 ft bed, that'll hold a 500 gal tank and an 8gpm mach, but security is an issue. I need the accounts first then I'll decide.

It's been so cold that I haven't touched my trailer in 3 weeks. I don't have the liberty of a heated garage so if i pull out the trailer on a 35 degree day, I have to fully winterize it when I'm done. I've told my customers that I'll be there when it get's back in the 40's and they are totally cool about it. Luckily I'm on a project rehabbing part of my inlaw's house. What's everybody else doin'?

If you open the Yellow Pages in my area you'll find 50+ pressure washers, and 10 of them have credit card sized ads. I thought about putting up for a dollar bill or even a half page thinkin' that maybe the biggest ad will catch the eye. It's such a gamble because there could be commercial work like a $10,000 parking garage job, or just penny pinchers. Last year I spent 10K on advertising this year I'm doing "smart" advertising.

Has anyone had any problem with washing houses with hot water in cold weather? I've heard you can crack windows. It's never happened to me,but I've been hearing rumors.

A painter that I do work for came to me with this job that is going to be a doozie. Basically, it's a $3,000,000 home that has 3 huge chimneys with a synthetic slate roof. 1 year ago, mason pointed up the chimneys and now the lime from the mortar has leached out corroding the copper flashing and staining the roof with efflorence (sp?) (apparently the scaffolding alone for that job cost $15,000, huge house) My job is to remove the stains and seal the chimneys. We are renting an 80' boom for this. My ?'s: what will remove this? and what's a good product for sealing a stone chimney? and if I spray the sealer will it leave spots on this slate or should i cover all surrounding areas or can they be wet down. It's a crazy job, but it's also crazy $ Thanks ahead for any ideas.

I have afriend that works for a pool company near me. i bought 2 5gal tubs of pool chlorine, got to the job and it was like washing with plain water. i went back to the store and told the manager that he cannot store the chlorine tubs in the front window, because of the sun. he thought i was a fool! She gave me 2 fresh tubs at 1/2 price then (when the idiot wasn't looking) gave me 2 more "on the house" Sweet. Morel of the story: Chlorine degrades greatly, it should only be used fresh, I'm still searching for a % sensor.

HOLY CRAP!! after readin this I went outside and sprayed my stainless grill..........It looks brand new!! That's great.

You can try Cabot's Australian Timber Oil. Since they changed their formula the semi's suck, but the oil was ok.

I've got a Hydrotek sc30005 machine. Today I tried to use a water broom on a roof and my machine kept cutting out. I guess the nozzle size doesn't conform with the machine so how do I remedy this?

I bought it years ago and realized that it was worthless, but then found out that if attached to an extension wand you can roll it up and down a roof to rinse chems and remove streaks and crap. Alot easier that a rindge hook and risking your life.

Is the house near an airport or a coal burning power plant? Could be oily residue from jet fuel or the plant. Otherwise I"v seen mold under paint from a poorly prepped previous job. Mainly on wood siding that wears a semi. It's very annoying to keep washing and still see black areas.

thanks alot fellas, the broom seems to be a great tool for roof washing.

no no no no, I respect everyone on this board times 10, and there are guys on here that are 1000 times more experienced and basically better than me. In my startup research learned the origin of "power washer" and every time I see a company in my area that uses that terminology they are in a dodge caravan with the seats torn out, ladder racks and a 2600 psi washer. Thanks for bustin chops though, I enjoy a good bust!

You guys wouldn't believe how many of these scrubs are around me. Just a point too, that really gets under my skin. (I DO NOT MEAN TO OFFEND ANYONE BY STATING THIS FACT.) Sears created the name "power washer" so I always say pressure washer or pressure washing because that is the technical phrase. When I see locals using power wash I tend to think that they did not do their research. When my ad's graphic designers put out an ad for me they sometimes slip in power wash and I get a little upset. I just prefer the correct terminology and when I see a competitor's ad stating "power washing" I automatically think that they are inferior because I did such a tremendous amount of research into this biz and they apparently did not.

Today I washed a house in my area, came out night/day, it had so much mildew that the house turned brown when I applied chems. I realized that every house in this area (probably over 1000) has the same problem. While i'm driving away I'm stopping and putting my post cards in the flag of the neighbor's mailboxes when I thought of a good idea. What if I came up with a "newspaper" of "knowledge" with my business and some of my friends businesses wrapped it up in some plastic and chucked it on the lawns like a paper boy. I drive through so many communities every day and so do my friends. If we could compile some serious info on why the public needs our services complete with information, pics and coupons this would be great. I have friends that own car detailing and home improvement bizes. I ran it by them and they are very interested. My question: where can I find articles on why you should clean and preserve/stain your deck, benefits of washing your house etc...

I applied an oil based and it poured down rain right when I finished, I mean thunderstorm. I went back the next day, scared to death, it looked fantastic!

I think Cabots products have gone downhill since Lowe's started carrying it. A friend of mine runs a painting biz w/ 5 vans. He used to buy probably 100 gal of cabots a week. I've already had to strip 2 decks for him in the last month because of cabots new formula failure. It has the tendency to give many shiny/sticky spots on decks if even slightly overapplied. His guys do everything with 4" brushes and it still gets shiny spots. He stopped using it and is VERY UPSET with the rep and the company. I personally don't use it unless requested.

on my second job ever I got sealer on the guy's oxidized aluminum siding. When he asked me to remove it, I used stripper. Grey turned to shiny aluminum real fast. Luckily he was contemplating on getting new vinyl siding and I was the deciding factor. BTW I also used 3000psi on his cedar deck. I sanded untill my hands bled.

I do work for a big painting contractor in my area, basically all his prep washes for siding and the occasional deck. Well he had me wash this cedar deck then had his guys go out and sand it. This deck turned out beautiful, like furniture. It's got me thinking, I would have charged about $1200 to strip and seal this deck(the cust wanted a clear seal to show off the color of the wood with a yearly maintenance contract) He charged the guy $3500 to wash/sand/wash/seal. It's got me thinking on total deck restoration, which means going out sanding a deck, rinsing it, then sealing it and charging triple. Is this logical? Is there more money to be made. Let's face it folks, we're not here for the fun of it we are here to make money, what's more profitable? It took 2 guys 2 days to sand this deck.

First of all, great job Matt!! jbruno, this cust was a doctor with a very nice house who had a large deck with multiple nasty sealer/stain applications..............he just wanted to start fresh and it was cedar. After the full sand this deck looked unreal. These guys spent 3 days sanding it and i went back and washed the dust off, but it turned out beautiful

I've got a job coming up for a customer's shuffleboard court. It's concrete and they are going to apply a 2 step epoxy. They want it washed with muriatic. My father just did his garage with a rustoleum product, a 2 step epoxy, guess what the prep wash chems were............citric acid!! Is that not weird or what? I would think a degreaser and a crete cleaner maybe, I've never heard of citric acid being a prep cleaner for concrete. waddya think?

That deck is simply unreal, and you guys did an awesome job, my only problem is that I thought that was Celeste's butt. Geeze, I was staring at a guy's butt!!!

Immediate family pays for all material and labors the job, Aunts and uncles and such get a discount, friends get a little less then full price. Then again 80% of my friends do something that benefits me. IE. I washed my friends house, he wired my whole basement, I love trading labor, it works great

I only want the powder form for rust spots on concrete. I use the citric/oxalic batch on wood. All the home depot/lowes, sherwin williams duron etc... stopped selling it, I guess it's part of the whole VOC thing....just a guess.

I put jet dry in every bucket, works great