Mark Gallison

No as seen in the photos, the one shows it after rinsing with hose and the areas stay light in color and dry for the most part so I am assuming it may be sealer? I haven't physically been to the site, the customer sent me these pics.

I have a customer that has these spots on their concrete porch and have never run into this before. You can see from the dry photo compared to the wet one that it appears that the water doesn't penetrate those areas,. To me it looks possibly like leftover sealer from one point? Thinking if thats the case maybe Xylene or some sort of paint remover etc would take it off? Any thoughts or suggestions.

Looking for info on proprietary equipment for cleaning tile and grout, interior hard surface cleaning. Something with vac system etc. I would like to add this service to my lineup and looking for info from someone that may be offering that service currently or has done more extensive research into this. . I know I have equipment already that could be retrofitted perhaps to do this work but thought there may be some insight on specialized self contained, portable proprietary equipment for this. Not really interested in cleaning carpet but have had opportunities to clean hard surfaces both from new leads as well as current customers I do other services for. Is the need really to get the grout back to really clean as well as cleaning the tile face surfaces? I have experimented on a few areas and am finding that grout doesn't come clean that easy unless you want to get down on all fours and scrub with chems. Does the market demand that the grout lines become clean back to "like new" or is it more like getting the dirt and grime up and removing stains and soils from the main tile field itself? I stumbled across a company called "The Masters Touch" and am continuing to get more info. Do any of you use this system or similar system? Any help and info would be greatly appreciated. I would like to be able to generate some "off season" revenue indoors during the colder months as well as increasing sales with a new service line during the "working months"

Around here I have yet to find a city that will let you hook up at all, meter or no meter. So many of these condo / town homes situations simply do not have outside water taps. I have had to pass on several office centers as well as there was no water source available. Many retail situations are getting the same way except they will usually have a riser / mech room with water tap and we just run a crap load of feeder hose to our tank.

I have used my own meter when I have had this come up.. The cost is so insignificant per gallon you can tell them that you'll cut them a check for the water. I hook up to one unit per building and usually can find one homeowner that is willing to do that. On some instances the Association will discount the owners fees towards reimbursement for the extra few dollars on their average bill if you can supply them with gallons used per tap.

I suggest staying away from washing gars at dealers. Lots of hassle and need extra labor to manage hose, dry vehicles etc. Too many "groups" out there doing in for practically nothing, driving up to the lot in their 20 year old f150 rust bucket.. But the lots don't care, they just want it done cheap! We do primarily flatwork, commercial and love it! Got ta have a hot machine for that. We run a 4000 psi 9 GPM, gotta love those cleaning units!

Does Viper renew do anything with rust ?

I certainly understand that after being in the biz for so long.. I do know that many people are not comfortable with any association to pressure washing when it comes to their awnings. I am fully aware that my machine is capable of doing the similar work but am thinking about having a separate group of equip that is tailored for that work which would not require that much GPM etc. Having a skid type sprayer pump set up in a van will also give me more ease of parking in tight spots and make considerably less noise. Using my PW is overkill in any sense of its application. I also will be using DI water through the systems and DI and High pressure pumps do not get along well and I would not have that issue with the types of pumps i am looking for. I was hoping that someone out there could just give me some vendor references for that type. I think I would be best inquiring on a lawn spraying site possibly. Thanks for the feedback

Thanks for the feedback. One of my goals is to set up a separate trailer of small van with only the awning cleaning equip and have that as a separate division. Also something that would push water a couple hundred feet through smaller diameter hose if access was difficult and we cant get very close to the work. I would like something that is a little more quit as well if we are just cleaning awnings so thats why I am inquiry about a different set up. I want to send the message that we have the proper equip for the job because I am finding out through research that when you use or reflect anything related to "pressure washing" when dealing with awning customers it gets people very nervous. having a very low pressure decent GPM machine would give me the ability to apply more water for quicker presoak and rinsing without using much more than garden hose pressure. Also having an on board tank will eliminate the need to try and find a close spigot and not having to run out a bunch of feeder hose.

We do a lot of residential cleaning but when we do clean siding we sell more jobs because we use soft water. When we rinse off the widows after applying soap to the house the results are really great and the windows end up being really clean. Perhaps not exactly like a hand cleaning but all of our home owners like the fact that they don’t have to layout extra cash for the windows. Offering this technique gives us the definite edge when selling the house siding cleaning as well as aiding in cleaning the house better and with less chems as the soft water makes the product work much better. The added cost of using a resin bed to run water through to fill our supply tank is very minimal and again does tons in getting work that may have gone to a competitor while still charging overall a little more for the complete job. Plus there is no ladder work, which keeps our insurance costs down. Feel free to eamil me with any questions directly if you would like. mark@cleanmidwest.com

I have been doing some research on this and every home will be different in regards to the solution or fix. As stated before the lack of insulation is a factor but sometimes more important is the proper ventilation under the roof deck There needs to be a space between the insulation and the roof decking. This combined with proper soffit through peak ventilation will keep the roof cooler and help cut down on the melting and refreezing. Of course removing heavy snow deposits after storms are one of the best things to do.. Also it sounds like (gathered from research) that using steam rather than heavy stream of hot water works much better, allowing surgical melting and removal of controlled sections without having a flood pouring down on to the ground making more problems. Just my 2 cents, (jury still out)

I will be adding awning cleaning to my service line this year. Not sure if this is the best category (residential pressure washing) to post this but I am wondering what those of you that do this due for equipment. I don’t want to be using my high-pressure equipment even dialed down and want to have something separate. I am thinking like using a separate gasoline driven pump, putting out somewhere around 250-350 psi and 2 or so GPM. Need to push trough 200" possible of 1/4 to 3/8 hose to feed the awning cleaning attachments. Want to use the right equipment and look and be professional as with the rest of our services. Any info you can share would be great! Mark Gallison Clean Mid West / MarKir Services Inc. mark@cleanmidwest.com

I use MD - 80 from eaochem if the deposits are heavy. Safe restore works good as well but with MD-80 you will use less chem. Apply anywhere from 50/50 mix with water to full strength depnding on the scope of the leaching. The biggest thing to remeber is that the staining is caused by the salts etc leaching from the brick when water works it way out of the brick. High pressure should never be used to rinse as it can force more water back in and soon the same aituation is back. I apply the chem in one to two applications then and let it dwell a few minutes, then I use a soap nozzle and stand back so when I rinse I only get a gentle rain like amount of water on surface just enough to remove the remaining chem. Like most situations the chems do most of the work. With MD -80 you defintly want to use gloves , filtr mask and face sheild to be safe. Sherwin williams will stock the product usually or will if you ask them to.