Oxfordlawn

nothing here yet...but im waiting and watching:D I have the plow all mounted up:vroom:

I was using the x-jet until a great tip came from this site thru a very helpful guy by the name of Bob Weir. He turned me onto PressureTek and they will hook you up with a 4 nozzle holder the name of which escapes me right now. But what it is are 4 of the male quick connects all welded together, then their are 4 different nozzles/tips installed in the holder and its all right in your fingertips. 2 tips are for soap application, high and low, the other 2 tips are for rinsing highh and low. Pressuretek will ask your machine size and set you up from their. I stick the nozzles right in the gun handle, no wands at all. Soap the houses high and low all at once, 2 stories no problem, and then rinsing the same way...all by just switching to the tip I need at my guns quickconnect. It was the best tool for house washing ever...I haven't touched my x-jet since I purchased this setup...cost @ $25-30 total. No more lugging those heavy chemicals either..all downsreaming for me now...really cut my wash time dramatically. Just try it-you'll love it.

If you are putting the sealer on the inside of the gutters, heres a different thought...but along the same lines.... An auto body supply store will have whats called brushable seam sealer, I have used the stuff by 3M for fixing body seams on cars more than once. Its a thick gray paste that comes in a can and is applied with a small stiff 1/2" brush whichj they will have as well which is called an acid brush. It stays flexible and sticks real well to anything. Get a small can and try it out...I bet you will like it. To get under the overhanging roof, just put a big glob on your fingers and work in up in there

live from this afternoon:D Did you get it working?? Is that a "live" web cam type page?? looks like it could be cool...whens the first show??

OK heres my thought for what its worth... Take lots of pictures for realtor showing inadequate work,\ Have realtor stop payment on check, You redo for same price minus stop check fees cost to realtor This way you make some money, realtor loses no money, and you come out as the stand up kind of guy/business. again...just a thought

I have been searching here and reading up on this issue. Most of the houses I wash are vinyl in the 3-5 yr. old range and most will leave a chalky residue when hand ran over. This happens before and after washing. I use a mix of Emulsifier plus from E-Spec, bleach, and add jet dry for windows. At first I thought I was doing something wrong, not rinsing enough or other. Yesterday I washed a light gray vinyl very chalky house. rinsed forever and even brushed just to see if helped, and it was still slightly chalky when it dried. So some posts reccomended trying a spray wax to help reduce chalking. My question is how would this spray wax be applied? Downstreaming after wash/rinse routine, or added to the wash mix and all done at once? Someone reccomended a spray wax in the gallon size from Northern as an example, is this it??Monster Spray Wax 1 Gallon by Monster Labs | Chemical Cleaners | Northern Tool + Equipment Thanks for any help with this. None of the customers have mentioned or noticed this but I would like to have the answers for the time when someone does start asking. TOM

Its not noticable unless you are looking for it. Run your hand on the vinyl siding and a white powdery substance comes off. Its a type of oxidation caused from materials used in coloring the vinyl. SOme colors(blues) will be worse than others. Did a bunch of research on these forums and spoke to a couple very helpful people and all had that same answer. It doesnt affect the color---just takes away from the glossy sheen. I believe it is worse here in Florida with the long days of hot glaring sun. If I can get the glossy look back with the spray on waxy rinse..Im golden. I will know this week as I have the perfect house to try it out on. If it looks as good as I think it will, the UV protection angle is going to be my upsell angle and as well as the prolonged mold/mildew protection. Sun pritection in Florida should be an easy sell.

for real the vinyl homes need to be washed at least every year but almost everyone in this area is on an every 6 month schedule.The mold/algae buildup is that quick, especially on the north walls. The chalky stuff is just a slight oxidation layer that is there before and after. It will go away with some scrubbing, but thats not happening at $60 - $100 for washes. I am going to try the waxy wash to see if it hides the oxidation a bit with a shine as well, and if it does, next to try and see if I can use it as an upsell offering UV protection and less mold buildup between washes....everyone needs a a gimmick..thats the one im working on. Just something to try and seperate me from the other 3000 house washers in the area.

WOOPS!! now I just found his store...I take all that back:D

Although I cautiously defend this person,, I do not believe he is a spammer, at least on this thread. Ironically I was on his website earlier today as it came up while I was searching Simix concrete sealer for my own use on my own driveway...and his site popped up...he is a contractor who uses the Simix products...so I feel it may have been an honest referral.

I totally agree with the comission pay idea. A few years back when I owned my auto repair shop, I noticed that less work was being looked for and sold when a car came in for service, and it was obvious that it was just an issue of get the work done, get a paycheck and go home. Sooo...instead of raises one year, I laid out the numbers from a previous year(i had nothing to hide) and worked out a progressive comission scale for the increase in sales from the previous year. It worked great. it was amazing how suddenly everyone worked so well together. I nevr gave raises again...just increases in the comission scale. always kept the same base pay.

The area where I operate is a golf cart community--gigantic--called The Villages. Anyway, now that I have ventured into house cleaning and have been doing quite a few lately...I have noticed the same rust colored type stains on several of my customers driveways. When asked, they all say that is where we washed our golf cart, and then this happened. The golf carts were all of the electric type and I know battery acid and white oxidation builds upo tremendously in the battery trays. When people wash and rinse this out, a rust colored stain gets left behind on the bare concrete driveways. How would one go about removing these stains. I have thought of quietly spraying some Oxalic and seeing what happens but that I feel may leave a very bright spot around the rust as well and look silly. So my question is what takes that stuff off. I may still do a sneak attack and sparay OX in a spot on someones driveway as an experiment..but lets try the right way first LOL

To put a close on this thread...I bought the SUPER IRON OUT as suggested and it worked. I had also tried spraying with a product called WHITE OX just for the heck of it at an earlier date, but that just barely lightened the stain and left a super bright clean spot of cement driveway where the sprayy hit. The SUPER IRON OUT almost totally eliminated the stain, but also did not lighten the surrounding concrete that also was sprayed. If I looked real close I could still see a ghost outline of where the stain was, which may go away since concrete is porous, but everyone was surprised and extremely happy, including myself. Thanks again to all that responded!!!

I have VerizonWireless 3g on my Blackberry phone which gets plugged into laptop, gets internet connection for $40 month unlimited usage, and its quicker download speeds than you would think---phone hooks to computer with USB and then you have internet connection on the road

Got the Monster wet wax from Northern this morning..I will spray a house early next week when I get back to working, and see how it looks. I will post results here as well....and again to all....THANK YOU. scheduled some time off for family visiting for a long weekend---golf time!

Thanks for the responses. I have a Northern Tool very close so I am going to try the wet wax liquid carnuba which gets diluted at 30:1, and I can get one gallon and try on a customers house and see and monitor results. All the vinyl sided homes in my area are the same age and seem to have that slight chalky coating. Honestly, I am looking possibly just for a way to distinguish/ seperate myself a little bit from the others in this area. Looking at advertising something along the lines of protecting the value of your home with exterior surface sealant and mold formation retardant. Taken straight from ESpecs catalog. just thinking outloud here. I will also try the Plex-master but its a bit pricey and I will have to order it, so in the mean time I will get the wax and apply it, then get the Plex-master and apply that to a similiar home. Hopefully one of these will get the results and shine so I can try to sell in a different manner. (and charge way more). I'm pretty sure I can sell the "protection" service no problem on top of a house wash.

I think a wax upsell/UV protection is a very good and doable option in my market area. Can you or anyone here offer any advice on how its done. Is it mixed in the house wash solution? or sprayed after the wash job and downstreamed in a seperate mix solution. I will continue to research but am asking here/now as well.

....and thats why I ask:) So the chalky will always be there is what you are saying? This is why I am spending some time here researching and learning. The spray on wax would not help minimize at all as suggested in some other thread?

I agree and thats sort of the same thing I was trying to say as well. If an area only will warrant charging lets say $85 for a small house wash, you cant come in and say I wont work for less than $150. If an individual wants to stay alive and make some money in these economic times and be out there working, I feel we need to be reasonable in our choices. I can sit at home all day and state I charge $250 for a house wash, and not work, or I can be out there charging what everyone else is, be out there working and making some money. Whether the rig is moving or not, you still have bills to pay, so it may as well be moving and most importantly, be visible out there as advertising and be seen. I personally am very fortunate to live right next door to what I think is the worlds largest retirement/golf community, with all houses ranch style single story homes. Also everyone here has been brainwashed to the mindeset of the houses needing to be washed every 6 months, so I am building next years schedule already. Although the price per unit is very low, I can go knock out several houses in a short amount of time and be home by 2 or 3 and make a coouple hundred profit. Thats not too bad for this area in these times. I'll take it. I too have to eat and pay my bills. I DO NOT LOWBALL...I SET MY PRICE TO BE IN LINE WITH EVERYONE ELSE IN THIS AREA...ALL 300 OF US:D

reviving an old thread:) I have my internet homepage set for Pandora Radio www.pandora.com Pandora is awesome, you hardly ever hear the same song over and over Right now listening to BB King & Eric clapton song : Marry You

You must agree though that the area and economic status of an area also dictates what you can get away with charging for a house wash, mobile home or otherwise. If someone were to go to Winter Haven FL. and say I will get a minimum of $150 turn key price to show up and wash your house, you won't ever have to worry about finding your keys. So...do you do a job for the going rate for an area? or remain stubborn and demand an amount that will never fly..and never work? where's the middle ground?

I would be interested in the Whisper Wash Classic I could pick up from you, not too far of a drive to Longwood Call, e-mail, PM or post here...whats your price???

Here is a dilution ratio chart I found from a chemical company whom I would hope knows and has it right---but ya never know. It appears the ratio in chemical solutions "is" more of a fraction. 1:4 is 1/4 , according to this site http://www.tomorrowchemicals.com/files/Dilution_Ratios_TC.pdf

yes sir massa sir...weez iz all stupid lyke hear. So how high is that pedestal you stand on ?

And again..THANK YOU!!!