PressurePros

In thinking about the various civic groups and organizations I have belonged to, I figured it was time to ask myself what exactly these groups have done for me besides collecting dues.

I actually came acrossed a homeowner that ordered this stuff. He put it on in June. After the first rain, it was almsot gone, by July it looked like untreated wood. What a bargain!

yep, mine were all the same.

Actually sodium percarbonate is an effective fingicide/mildewcide, its just SLOWWWW. I read that someone posted sodium hydroxide does not kill the mold? If that's true, I am in trouble.

Modesty is good, but please Shane. I think your work as well as your awesome custom color blends are both pretty well known. If nothing else you are the Arbor/Plastic King!

In case any home owners weren't paying attention... If your deck's looking mean, Just look for OxyClean. So why pay a pro When there's Home Dee-poh? Just joking, Adrian. I had to rag on you a little.

Toilet Paper........................................check Bud Light...........................................check Keystone Ice........................................check Budweiser.........................................check Red Dog.............................................check Misc. other bottles of alcohol......................check Diet 7 up chaser ..........................................CHECK Closet door to float your chick and booze on...check Next time let's all be more prepared =

The window trim, the glass on that big window and the gutters and fascia are what is going to make the front of that house look good. From the pictures nothing looks all that bad so I don't see any real scrubbing in your future. But the other guys are right, for all the places you have to spray soap every window is going to need to be rinsed as well as most of the brick. This would be my technique so take it for what it's worth. I'll adapt for one man show. Front: Split into two halves. Wet down brick and glass. In a 5 gallon pail, 35% Butyl based cleaner, 10% Sodium Metasilicate / 2% Carwash, with remainder as plain water X-Jetted onto eaves/fascia/gutters/window trim and doorway. I'd soap the glass as well. Immediately start rinsing the glass. I'd Leave the rest to dwell for the ten minutes it's going to take me to soap the remainder of the front and the garage. Rinse using 00300 nozzle which will easily get a high flow stream shooting to the top of the house. It will rinse those eaves vey well but watch your water penetration. The rest of the house is standard stuff. I think anywhere from $450 (minimal brushing) to $700 for everything brushed is reasonable in our markets.

This may sound way off the wall but the best way (shown to me by a mason with 30 years experience) is to actually pour the product and use a large floor squeegee to spread it around. Just like in wood you want the concrete to soak up as much of the product as possible so you get even coverage without blotchiness. Now you have a ton of s/f so the problem is it may soak up more than you want it to and your usage estimate may be short.

No science to back up their claims. No history to back up their claims. Absolutely no UV protection. Every consumer I talked to has regretted using it. Lousy customer support peddled by some gypsy contractors. Unfortunately some legitimate contractors have gotten sucked into the hype and are offering this as well. Most guys that use it are getting $6-$8 per s/f. Someone posted a picture on here..not sure whom to give the credit but here is a deck treated with this type of product after one year.

Great approach, Glock, way to go! If more guys would do this there wouldn't be so many businesses going under. I will be watching this one as I am on my way to bid the awnings for six Sleepy's stores.

It's a great color. Beautiful job.

Funny stuff. At the beginning of the summer I had a customer that fancied herself as a premier gardener. Her landscaping was immaculate I must admit. I told her her plants would be fine. She must have asked me twenty times if I would harm her azaleas. I bought a breathable tarp to cover these things just in case of misshap. So what do I do? I slip off the step thats covered in stripper and crunch, my foot lands right in it. I yanked off the covering one of them is laying flat, it's little stem crushed under my boot. After messing with it (and having my guy watch for her coming around the corner) I was able to prop it up so that the first rain or gust of wind wouldn't knock it over. I knew that once it was up for awhile it would regain it's natural stature, I just didn't want to hear her freak.

I wrote a business plan, but yearly I have had to modify it. The main reason is my definition of success has changed. I live modestly (no fancy rigs or 8 gpm machines on my work vehicle, four year old car etc) At the same time, I want to retire when I am 50. I figure to travel and enjoy life with Christine that will require no mortgage or debt, $2 million in liquidity and hope I don't live much over 80 (kidding) As I have explored this business, one thing has become clear. Financial freedom cannot be achieved having this as your sole business investment (unless you live in your mom's basement, have no kids and eat Ramen noodles three times per day and have excellent financial advisors) Unless you clearly define where you want to be and how you are going to get there you will get nowhere. That's just a fact of life. Yes the bills will get paid and you may work your way up to having a few play dollars every month. Having an unwritten business plan is not really a business plan, it's a mental hopes and dreams list. I am a spewer of cliches and here is the one that applies. Failing to plan is planning to fail. Here is a great link: http://www.sba.gov/starting_business/startup/guide.html

You can change your orifice size but the pressure build up from a pressure actuated unloader is still going to kick pretty hard when you open that gun. I have been on a deck loaded with stripper and been pushed back almost off my feet from that initial blast. I'm not afraid of being up on a ladder, I just don't like it and I think it is an unsafe practice to wash from one. I did subcontracting work for Comcast in the past. Imagine being up on a 28 foot ladder,the ladder suspended from the cable wires, wind blowing 30 mph, ground snow covered, and the concrete underneath completely uneven. Sometimes then, I would have a little lump in my throat until I hit mother Earth again with both feet.

Wow that's a lot of work to do by hand. I find the bigger he job, often times the less profitable it is. Great job getting this one finished.

Thanks, I knew I remembered reading it somewhere.

Phenomenal job on those steps!

If I had to use ladders to wash a house I would go exclusively to deck work. I hate ladders. I actually hate noodle wands even more. I have not had a problem with downstreaming chemical on, letting it emulsify the dirt and then rinsing. The 00300 nozle lets me stand back pretty far from the house so water is hitting it much more straight on than the X-Jet. The dirt up here isn't that much different but I do think housewashing is a newer phenomenon in my area (ie most houses have never been washed) Mike..Delco

Lou, definitely be aware of your windows. Rinse them constantly. If Emulsifier Plus dries on them you have to buff them out with a glass compound to get them clear again. I have found the Emulsifier Plus to be the worst offender of this over any other housewash mix I have blended or used. If you really want windows to shine, run a brush over them.

Mike, I remember reading that when I first found message boards for this business. I also remember getting slammed on another "network" for suggesting that the X-Jet wasn't the be-all-end-all for cleaning. It is exactly right to say the -Jet is a tool for housecleaning but not the panacea for every situation you run into. Mike, have you ever run into a situation where even up close washing was not enough? I'm talking about where you have to break out the brush and actually break the dirt bond.

I don't doubt for a minute that you can get to the next level of clean by hand scrubbing a surface. The question to me becomes when does prefectionism cross the line of profit margin? In comparison we may be talking about detailing a vehicle undercarriage just to go driving in the rain. Yes, you can get that top 6 feet of siding just as clean as the bottom six feet by jumping on a ladder and agitating the detergent. Will the homeowner notice the difference? More importantly, is he willing to pay for it? And.. how long does it last? Three good rainfalls? Ten? How about that first wind gust followed by sideways driven rain? My mother is an obessive Italian with old school cleaning style. To this day she wouldn't dream of mopping her floor, she gets on her hands and knees and scrubs from corner to corner. If she were to go into the housecleaning business she would go broke or she would have to charge so much she would never gain any market share. But that "get into the corners" mentality still sits with me. I personally don't agree with the splash/dash mentality of getting a 4500 square foot house done in under two hours with an X-Jet. But, if I am going to get into perfectionist detailing it is going to be on making sure the concrete foundation is spotless or making sure the white iron rail on the porch is just as clean as the house (ie stuff that will actually be viewed up close). We all have our niches and I think that's what makes most of the guys here successful. Making yourself unique is the key to long term profitability and retaining customer base. Everett, if you can get a house done with ladders achieving top to bottom spotless clean in under two hours, that is incredible. I strive for that level of efficiency. I'd love to cross the bridge and come see you guys in action.

Everett, is that the only time you would hand scrub a portion of siding (egg removal, tough stains, etc) or do you brush and close wash the entire house?

That has long since been settled. Behr had to change it's mildewcide content as a result (from the worst to just "sucky")

Very nice, Mike.