CCPC

failed finish on brick. I don't know much about brick or concrete sealers so I need help. Screened back porch with brick floor. previous owner put some kind of sealer/finish on the brick which is now failing. New owner says it was applied shortly before they moved in 9 months ago. The sealer/finsh is a thick and shinny coating on the brick. What product would you recommend using to remove this finish and what product would you recomnend using to reseal.

Alan, Thanks for the info. Although I sure it is not a wax finish its more like a shinny lacquer finish. It is coming up pretty bad in certain areas and with good reason. The guy who owned the house before did it him self and when you look at the floor closely you can see dirt and mildew underneath the finish. Terrible job he did. I think he just wanted to make it look good long enough to sell it. Thanks to everyone who have replied with help so far.

James, The planters are made of plastic, but I think whatever has caused the white discoloration is from the drain holes on the bottom of the planters. As far as fertelizer, I am not sure what they use or how often. Seymore - Ryan, Thinks for the recommendations I will look into that. Paul UK, My guess is that it might be efforessence as well. What is the best and safest way to treat that disease? I will be returning there on Wed. so ordering chems will not probably not be an option. I will have to find somthing local.

Rod, What do you mean when you say hang on to the side? Anybody else think it might be acrylic? what kind of solvent would efective?

Starting cheap is fine in some cases, but don't skimp on the things that you will need to grow into such as a trailer or an adequate size truck (if you don't allready have one). I made that mistake when I started by buying a trailer just big enough for what I started out with and now after reinvesting in alot more equipment, my trailer is overflowing. Same with the truck, I bought a truck that was just adequate size to haul my trailer, but now, when I finally get a bigger trailer (which I desperatly need) I will need a bigger truck as well. Where you should cup your spending is on things that will not effect your job quality, but may increase your completion time, such as hose reals. High pressure hose reals are very handy and can increase speed and effecincy but when your just starting out, your probably going to have more time than you will money to spend on things that are not completely nessesary. once you have enough business coming in where time is more of an issue than invest more in the things that will increase your effecincy which, in turn, will increases your profit. Point being, what good is there in saving 10 minutes by using hose reels vs. rolling hoses by hand if your only doing one job a day. Also, plan to budget in a nice chuck of money for marketing and advertising. You can easily spend 3,000 to 5,000$ in the first few months on quality advertising and marketing.

When it was wet it did disapear to some extent and then became alot more noticable after drying. Could this be efflorescence? Would Muratic acid be something worth trying on these white stains and if so to what dillution?

I did a search on previous posts, but I figured the senerio being that the problem is underneath a couple of potted plants that the specific info would help someone pin point what this is and how best to remove it.

No. I did not have my trusty camera that I never seem to have with me when I really need it.

James, what kind of soap do you use?

Paul and John, thank you very much for the help.

its actually lawnsite.com

I'm not sure about the answer to your question, but if you don't mind I thought I might hijack your thread for a few related questions. I have never brightened concrete with oxalic or any other acid for that matter so I was hoping someone could answer a few questions for me afte helping Troyt. 1) I read on another post to mix 2lbs of Oxalic for a 5 gallon pail, does this sound wright? Also, should I mix with cold water or hot water? 2) I could not find a straight answer on how long to let it dwell. How long should I let it dwell before rinsing or should I not rinse? 3) What kind of pump up sprayer would be a good choice for this task? 4)A lot of times after cleaning a driveway, I spray chlorine on it and leave it there. Obviously this would not work if I wanted to use Oxalic as well, so should I use oxalic first, rinse well, then apply the chlorine, or should I apply the chlorine first, rinse, then apply the Oxalic? answers to these questions would be greatly appreciated:) Lance

Working on your own equipment is fine if you know what your doing. I do all of the preventive maint., minor repairs, and any changes to my trailor and setup. But, I don't do anything major such as rebuilding pumps or taking apart engines. Its not that I feel that I can't maybe stumble my way through it, but thats not what I do for a living and I would rather pay a professional to make sure it gets done right. Its the same reason why people hire us to clean there homes, sure, they can do it themselves, but they would rather hire a professional to make sure it gets done right.

how many interior sqft is the home? what is the roof made of i.e. asphalt shingles, tiles, aluminum? what is the roofs pitch? what part of the country do you live in? your info say NY, but your name says FL powerwash. These questions would really help you or anyone else on these boards to help with some idea of pricing.

I have to do a pool screen enclosure tommorow that has a lot of pine needles sticking through the screen. Whenever I have done these in the past, I have blown them out from the inside with a wide angle tip, but this is a very time consuming and tedious task with a lot of back forth motion for every square inch. I was wondering if anyone has a better method they could share with me or just an improvment on the way that I have been doing it to help speed up the process. I hate doing enclousures with pine needles in them worse than anything else that I have done thus far in my business. I'm almost tempted to start turning down jobs like these. Any input, advice, or coments will be much appreciated.

Thanks for the suggestion Mike. You don't rinse houses with the x-jet nozzle?

Well, that went like crap. I spent almost two hours of tedious work and still could'nt remove all of the pine needles. But, the customer was happy with it, and he did give me a twenty dollar tip to show his appreciation. I still need to find a better and faster way. Jon, would'nt using a rotery nozzle on a screen enclosure cut a hole through it? How far are you holding it away from the surface? Ryan, I thought about torching the joint somwhere in the middle of my second hour when my shoulders felt like they were going to explode. But, the guy was super nice so I did'nt. Thanks for input fellas.

The draw rate should be right. I bought it from Beth and she did ask what gpm machine I was using to make sure I got the right one. I think I will check anyway, just to make sure that it is accurate. I am not to concerned because of the fact that I plan to use a Shurflo set up as soon as I have time to rig something up. I am still torn between doing a cart mounted setup with about 60ft of hose or truck/trailer mounted with about 200ft. of hose. I just got my Shurflo pump yesterday from Northern Tool (1.8 gpm). An update on my X-Jet housewashing chronicles: I used it again yesterday on a 2,500 sf. home and shaved about 45 minutes off my time. My rinsing time has'nt changed that much, but my application time has reduced dramaticly. I get that sucker going and I can coat 1 1/2 sides of a 2,500 sf house in a couple of minutes. The other time saver I've noticed is the dwell time. I'm using 2g chlorine 1g emulsifier plus the rest water in a 5 gallon bucket. The mildew and dirt almost melts away on contact. My setup and breakdown time takes a little longer, but the time I save washing definitely makes up for it. Mike, do you use buckets or do you use a cart mounted setup for x-jeting?

I used the X-Jet again today on a roof I did. It came out better than the previous attemps but I still was'nt completely satisfied. I let the chlorine dwell for at least 20 minutes and I used roughly 11 or 12 gallons on a 1,300 square ft house. Put up to three coats on certain areas, but I still had a few dark areas that I had to remedy with a pump up. On the bright side, I used the X-Jet today for the first time to wash the exterior of the same house: OHHH MMMYYYYYY GGGGOOOODDDD!!!! WAS THAT FASTER!!!! I have had it for 2 months, but had yet to use it on a house. I got it initialy for doing roofs and had my reservations about using on the exterior because I figured that the extra prep work of filling and setting up buckets would eat up to much time. Well let me tell ya, even with my inefficency due to it being my first time using it on a housewash I was still able to cut my cleaning time down by a 1/3. I don't want to even think about all the hours I've wasted in the past 2 months. I am now a believer.

I have wondered about the old chlorine theory. I get my chlorine from an Ace Hardware and I fill my tank directly from the two huge 5 to 10 thousand gallon tanks in the back. I asked the manger how often they fill the tanks and if they let the tanks empty before they fill them he said no. So basicly, they cap off the tanks on a weekly basis weather they need it or not(could be some pretty old chlorine mixed in those tanks). I use a 4GPM maching, so I don't think it is a draw problem. I'm thinking that maybe The two times I tried it I did'nt give it enough of a chance. Meaning, I started the roof with it and after trying it for a few minutes decided it was not doing a good enough job. How long are you leting the chlorine dwell? About the step stool set up. I installed a hose with orings for the lid which also has a quick coupler that connects to a plug that I fastened to the lid, basicly the lid is aire tight around the line going in. Well, when I designed it I forgot to add an air hole in the lid, so the first time I used it I went back to see how much chlorine was left in the bucket and found that the whole 5 gallon bucket had imploded from the air suction of the chem line (looked like a crushed tin can).

Where are you at down south?

I,m using the same about 10 to 10.5% and no proportioners either. I even built a homemade rig out of a step stool that sits comfortably on the peak of roof. The stool is custom designed for a five gallon pail and I added thick rubber feet to help keep it stable and to help protect the roof. I cut a pail in half the fastened it to the stool which allows me to place another pail in side the one that is fastened down. I used 50 ft. of chem line with Q Connects on both ends which allows me to disconnect the line right past the shut off valve so I can use the X-Jet nozzle without the hassle of the chem line if need be. The rig is very stable and because of its design it can fit almost any pitch of roof. The problem is that I can't seem to good results with the chlorine strength I am getting through the X-Jet. here is a picture of the step stool rig on a house a did a couple of weeks ago.

I tried the X-Jet a few times on shingle roofs and it seemed like I could never quite get the chlorine strong enough to do a good job.

What kind of wand did you use to apply the chem?

Thanks Rick, I appreciate the detailed information and so do many others on this board that are looking for ideas and methods. Ryan, please don't forget to share your Shurflo roof cleaning experience with us when you get an opportunity.