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Mountainaire

Members
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About Mountainaire

  • Rank
    TGS Newbie
  • Birthday 04/13/1954

Profile Information

  • Company Name
    Mountainaire Power Wash
  • First & Last Name
    Dennis Schlabach
  • City & State
    Knoxville
  • Occupation
    Power Washing Novice
  1. Black streeks on gutters?

    I use f-13 also. That stuff rocks! I've cleaned some filthy gutters and at 20:1 most have come clean with a little brush action. If the gutters are too tall to reach from the ground, (over 24 ft. for me) I downstream some straight, giving me a 10:1 ratio, let it dwell a couple minutes and rinse. Repeat if needed. If there are any streaks left, I sure can't see them from where I'm standing. Homeowner's happy, I'm happy, and my ladder stayed on the truck.
  2. I'm fairly new too, but if you've been "lurking" for a while you have probably picked up more than you realize. You can use a mix of dawn dish soap and 12% bleach, but I think you're better off going with a product like citraclean, simple cherry or e plus. There are many more products but those 3 get the most positive remarks on this and other boards. To deliver the goods you either need an x-jet or downstream to reach the target. There are good points to each. The x-jet can deliver a stronger solution but you need to tote a bucket around with you. Downstreaming is effective, just a matter of getting the correct nozzle for your machine. Talk to Bob at Pressure Tek, he's the downstream guru. He hooked me up recently and I'm real happy with it. Either way you'll get good results. You don't want to use pressure to remove dirt from buildings. Soak it with the right mixture, let it sit there and do it's magic for a few minutes then...rinse, and watch the dirt slide off. Much simpler than trying to hit all the dirt with your pressure. Plus, I don't even want to start pointing out the potential hazards of your prior method, but you're opening yourself to lots of claims for damages if you try forcing dirt from vinyl or wood. I would strongly suggest using the search option at the top of the threads and getting specific information to any questions. I spend a lot of time looking here, pwn, pt state and other boards and find most every question I have has already been answered, just got to dig it up. Good luck
  3. metal shed cleaning

    I bought it locally. The name is spelled differently. I don't know what the difference is chemically. The folks that sold it to me say they sell a lot of it and they thought it worked good as a house wash. That's all these folks do is sell cleaners, got a big warehouse and plenty of salesman. I know it doesn't make their products great, but it does mean someone's using them. Can't imagine them being in business as many years as they have without good products. Now I need to sample some of the products I've read about here and see what the difference is.
  4. metal shed cleaning

    I need to drive over to Smyrna and see him, I keep hearing about his stuff. It was chilly the night before and it was mid morning when I tried cleaning it. I'm trying stuff on my friend's and family's places before I try selling to others. I'm too honest to tell someone I can do it if I haven't done it before. Character flaw I reckon. Thanks for the responses.
  5. metal shed cleaning

    It was close to 50 degrees, is that cold enough to limit the effectiveness? I don't seem to get the results with these cleaners that others on here talk about. I'm using stuff from a local distributor that claims to supply many pressure washers in the Knoxville area. Saving on frieght costs. I'll need to try Rowlett's products, or the Sun-Brite line I guess. In both replies, there was no mention of needing to add another detergent to stick the chems to the surface better. I didn't get many suds, and it seemed like it just ran off, though it took the top layer with it. When I rinsed there was suds though. I haven't done much of this on buildings. Mostly I've done flatwork and trucks. I need to figure this out before it starts warming up here as I hope to wash houses beginning this year. Thanks for the replies.
  6. metal shed cleaning

    Earlier today I cleaned a metal shed that had some mold on the roof, but not a lot. I used CitraKlean and bleach, 2:1 bleach to cleaner. I let it work for 5 minutes or so and rinsed. The top layer came off but there was still plenty left and I ended up using pressure to clean the remainder of crud from the shed, using a ladder to finish the roof. Should I have added some dish soap to help the solution stick to the shed, or let it work longer before rinsing? I really thought it would "melt" off with a rinse. Any suggestions would be appreciated.
  7. Water supply question

    So, if I keep my tank in the back of my truck, rather than on a trailer, I should have enough drop to make a positive flow? I hope to get materials tomorrow for a feed line and try this. I appreciate the responses from everybody. I allmost bought a belt drive unit but was talked out of it by a salesman at the last minute. It sounds like the slower pump speed would be helpful here. Live and learn I guess.
  8. Water supply question

    It is a direct drive. Looks like I'm going to learn a lot from this venture. I'll configure my water line and give this a try. If it works I'll be pleasantly surprised, if it doesn't I'll go back to square one, I reckon. Certainly someone has made a direct drive work from a water tank though. If you have please chime in.
  9. Water supply question

    I have a tank I'll be placing in the bed of my truck so the elevation drop should be sufficient. I hate to sound like a dummy but what's NPT and HPT? Thanks for the fast reply. Dennis Schlabach Mountainaire Power Washing Knoxville
  10. I've got a 4gpm, 4,000 psi cold pw that I've always hooked to the fawcet and let 'er rip. I'm looking at a job that won't have water available close by and want to avoid the pressure drop from running too much hose. I've got a water tank available to use but am not sure how to go about this. My unloader apparently needs positive water pressure in order for things to work. Can I go with another unloader? If so, what type do you recommend? Or, is there another way to make this work. Also, the feed will be 2 inch at the tank. How do I reduce this to a common hose fitting in order to connect? Thanks. Dennis Schlabach Mountainaire Power Washing Knoxville
  11. I've got a 4gpm, 4,000 psi cold pw that I've always hooked to the fawcet and let 'er rip. I'm looking at a job that won't have water available close by and want to avoid the pressure drop from running too much hose. I've got a water tank available to use but am not sure how to go about this. My unloader apparently needs positive water pressure in order for things to work. Can I go with another unloader? If so, what type do you recommend? Or, is there another way to make this work. Also, the feed will be 2 inch at the tank. How do I reduce this to a common hose fitting in order to connect? Thanks. Dennis Schlabach Mountainaire Power Washing Knoxville
  12. I've wondered what others do about moving items around a house to be cleaned. Do you give a different price if they have prepared the house for cleaning or is the power washing guy expected to pull away all the misc junk in order to fully access each wall? Thanks. Dennis
  13. question about pressure washer brands

    I've researched this for a while now and it seems the Pressure Pro and the Water Cannon are essentially the same machine. Does anyone know any reason to buy one over the other? It seems like they are the best bet for a 4 gpm cold water unit.
  14. I hate power washing

    Ok, enough lurking. How do you scrub the gutters without an extension or ladder? Are you just talking about applying your cleaner and rinsing?
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