jnoden

Let me see if I understand correctly. If you guys spray the deck and rails you go back and brush every sq inch of the deck? I remove all puddles and drips but what is the benefit of back brushing every square inch of the deck?

Thats very good to know. Thanks to both of you for quick responses. I estimate this place on Fri and the woman said over the phone that she wants Aussie Oil on it. I will give her this info but let her decide. I think two coats of WTW will look good based on some pics on this site of IPE with WTW.

I have one similar to a little giant and have used it like that also but it only gets me about 4 feet off the top of the slope due to one side only being extended half way or so. I hate pressure washing off ladders though because you need to move it a lot and its a little dangerous because we all end up trying to reach more than we should before moving it.

You can approach it from the ground with an extendable wand (my choice). Some people lean over the railing and use the 1ft flexible lance. Just wear rain pants so you dont get soaked. You could also use a step ladder which I wouldnt normally recommend with a pressure washing gun due to safety but if you use a 48" lance and use only the first few steps you should be ok. I think the best way to become an expert is to have good equipment therefor i would invest in a wand like the corress extension wand or another sturdy aluminum extension wand.

I will be getting a hot box for next season and will start researching ice dam removal. Is this a difficult sell? I live in southern PA,so residents may not be aware of the problem since winters can be fairly mild.

jhignutt, I hear what you are saying and that can be frustrating. If the other guy can do it the same week than he must not be very busy and so probably does not offer the same quality of service. How much longer would they had needed to wait to gain your service? Anything more than three weeks and I know that I start to lose bids. I also charge extra for a rush start time. I like doing the estimate on the spot while the customer is there. Often they decide then and there to go with the work so i get a signed agreement and 25% down. If they need to think about it then i leave the paper work with them and if they decide later to hire then they just send me a signed copy of the agreement with a check for 25%.

Does anyone know what size thread is the typical water hose? I need to buy bulk head fittings and such to hook a tank up to my washer and I cant seem to find the answer to this anywhere. Tractor supply online has .75 and 1.25 inch bulk head fittings. When I measured a garden hose coupling I got 1 inch id.

Does anyone mix this stuff for 5 gal buckets? I have a 20 gal tank on a cart that I usually put in 15 gallons of house wash total. I didnt realize that it was designed to be mixed in a 55 gal tank all at once. Im not even sure if the powdered mix is mixed well enough to just scoop out what I need. Is there a formula to use for mixing and using the x jet? Thanks to anyone who can help me out with this.

RLS, I understand what you are saying as far as reducing it down. I think I could figure out the ratios if it works. I guess what I really wanted to know is; Are the chems that make up the powder mixed well enough that I can just reduce the formula (scoop it out) and still end up with a final composition that is not significantly different than If I were to mix up the entire kit (assuming that the formula/ ratios are correct)? I have been trying to get a hold of Tracy but he has been busy so i thought I would just see if anyone on here was doing anthing like that with these cleaners.

Customer paid for the truck. That was part of the agreement. If I remember correctly she paid a one time $85 for them to set up the truck, I think it was $30 per thousand gallons and $20 for each additional day. I have some pics of the project and will try to post them in the next couple days.

I am trying to decide if I should add a hot box to my pw. Currently I am only doing residential decks and house washes (3 years) but I would like to do some flat work and comercial buildings next year and have been researching this sector. What do you guys think of doing this kind of work compared to residential? I know this is a very subjective question but has anyone done both and stopped doing one area over another? I know that payment from comercial work can be a pain. My other question. Even if I decide to stick with residential is there a definate benefit to having hot water? The only thing that I was thinking is that I can warm the water a little and therefor possibly have it work better up north here in months like March and November or whenever the temps are not cold enough to freeze but cold enough to make many cleaners less effective.

I think I might try to land a decent comercial job that will pay for the hot box and then go from there. I think that if it allows me to to start the season two weeks earlier and end about two weeks later (roughly speaking) It would be well worth the investment for that alone. Thanks for the responses.

Nice set up. Thanks Ken.

Just to correct myself it was about 6500 sg ft not 9000. My helper and I used a tanker and they had to come out and fill it up again which we then used a little over half. 7000 gallons total. Thats the most water I have ever used on a job.

I usually spray the floor even when it is too breazy to spray the railing but it seems like a great tool on extra windy days. I usually use a 4in thick nap roller for the rails and I can do them fairly quickly. Do you guys use a pad on the rails?

I am noticing more and more vinyl houses with oxidized siding. I have found that the best way to remove it is with a steady fan of about 1000psi slowly along each siding piece. If you use a zero degree to rinse high areas you will see marks on the siding when it dries (casued from not fully removing all oxidation). I drove past a house that I did a couple weeks ago and noticed marks on the front of the house. the customer has not contacted me but I will be contacting him in the next week to come out and re- wash the front of his house for free. For now on when I arrive for an estimate and I run my finger along the siding and see chalk/oxidation, I will adjust the cost of my estimate to include that. Does anyone else have this problem in their area? It takes at least 25% longer to wash (usually need to break out the corres wand) so I feel that a 15% increase would be in order and I think this can be easily justified to the customer. Homes look real nice when you can take away that faded washed out look by removing all oxidation. I couldnt find many posts about this but it seems like a big deal.

I hear what you are saying Rod and I appreciate the sound advice. Im not sure If I could get the price that it would entail to brush the entire house. I have read past post by you and a few other pros about water damage that can occur. I was thinking that I would be ok since I use a corress wand with a fan tip to wash parrallel with the siding. It is pretty fast work and does a great job at removing oxidation and It seems to me that less water enters the weep holes than would If I were to use a zero degree and spray upward to clean the top of the house. Also I was thinking that a high flow of water at less pressure and less of a fan would cause more water intrusion than the opposite which would include more air and less water intrusion. This might be a neat experiment; Using a 2 litre bottle and put a small hole in the cap, screw it on, spray it with a steady stream from a garden hose then try with your pressure washer. Im thinking that even with a jet stream from both that there would be more water in it from less pressure. I could be very wrong here though.

I not discrediting the findings or how it relates to our businesses but, it makes since that these states have more mold damage insurance claims since they generally have a higher population of people. It would be neat to see which states have the highest amount of mold per capita or percentage of homes with mold damage but I guess that wouldn't be useful other than to us.

I just completed a bid on a super large deck and fence out in the boonies (over 9000 sg ft of wood) Owner is on a well and asked if i carry my own water. I dont carry water and I do not think that anyone would want to make that many trips to refill their tank. she said that she can have a tanker dropped off. Does anyone have any idea what this cost and a rough estimate on the amount of water needed? I was thinking 2,000 gallons would cover it.

Just curious if anyone is using something other than plastic and duct tape to mask a house from sealer over spray. It has been a pita for me mostly becuase the tape does not want to stick well and if there is any wind then forget about it.

I spray the floor also. It doesnt waste as much stain as the railing, Fast and you can get between the boards and less chance of overspray problems. Sometimes we will hand roll and brush the railings and then spray the floor. Im also curious as to why you would rather brush the floor.

Anyone still using this stuff? I have been using it on and off and like it so far. I am wondering if anyone who has used Ready Seal in the past has compared the two. I hear that WD covers a little better than RS and may cost less per job than RS but I havent used RS yet so I dont know for sure. The only problem I had was a couple pails leaked all over my garage after the shipper dropped them off.

I will use the fence stainif I ever get a fence job. Seems like people dont care to get their fences stained around here or they do it themselves. Im suprised nobody responded to this thread. I heard a lot about it last year and several people said they were going to try it including myself. I really would like to know if anyone got an idea about its durability.

In the glossary it states that TSP is a water softener. We all know that hard water does not clean quite as well as soft water. My question is, can this be added to house wash mixes to soften the water and clean more effectively (ecspecially glass that sometimes gets water spots from the hard water? Just curious if anyone knows for a fact if it works or not.

Hey Ken, Do you get a lot of warranty work from Trex? I called them up twice to let them know that I would be interested in doing the warranty work cleanings in this area but I didnt hear back from them. Dont mean to hijack.