A Few Questions on Pressure Washing

[Grahams 14]

Hello, My names Connor, I just graduated high school, and have pressured washed neighbors driveways and some other clients for the last 5 years on and off. I always just loaded it all up in a truck or trailer, unloaded on site and did it that way. It works good but doing it by myself makes it a little difficult and time consuming. I have a 13 h.p honda with 4gpm pump and 20 inch surface cleaner. It does a good job.

However I just recently found a good deal on a trailer package and bought it. For $850 I got a 10ft enclosed wells cargo trailer, same washer and pump but stationary(pump needs rebuilt), a big guy surface cleaner, a 220g water tank, a 65g chlorine tank, 2 reels 1 for pressure hose, other for garden house hook up to chlorine for roof cleaning. The chlorine has an electric pump to doing roofs. I think it was a decent deal.

Heres a few questions:

1. Is it better to run a stationary washer? The only concern i have is that when I do pool decks it would have to use a lot of hose, will I lose pressure for my surface cleaner?

2. Should I hook up to their water(always have before), hook their water up to my tank, or just run off their water directly?

3. My worries with the tank is I have a stock s10 4.3 and with a full tank of water, I feel it would be harsh on my truck as well as gas milage wise. Is the tank worth it?

4. Can a 4gpm run a big guy(28inch) with no problems? I tried it on my pressure washer, and felt it wasn't spinning fast enough( bearings are good).

5. For roof cleaning, the guy said he used dish detergent and chlorine, he spray it on and then just washed it off. Is that right? Whats the proper way?

The trailer is full there no more room for another washer. So just give me some advice on what to do with my stuff, what to sell and what not. I do residential stuff and normally by my self. I really want to get my trailer set up so all i have to do is have a job lined up and haul my trailer there with no set backs. I was to increase my job speed, and work as efficient as I can. Thanks for your help!!

[Timo 25]

I hope you like shellfish Connor because now that you've graduated high school the world has just become your oyster.

You got a good thing going on there. You've come to the right place. Some of the deepest institutional based cleaning knowledge in the world is contained within this board.

The very first thing that you must do: Listen, then follow these instructions very carefully. Fill out your signature. Got it? Good. You'll get along better here, plus it's the rules.

Big guy - perfect surface cleaner for an 8 gpm pump. Will not work with 4. Unless you walk standing still. Hang on to it but don't carry it around in your trailer.

Yes, you do lose a bit of pressure in hose length. That's okay though because before you know it, you'll have a 5.6 gallon machine to run your operation with.

Carry fifty gallons of water in your tank. First thing on the job, say hello to the client and hook up your hose to their spigot. By the time you get everything setup, you'll have enough water in the tank to get started. Plus, you can bypass your PW'r back to the float tank so it won't burn up when you let off the trigger for a while.

Roof cleaning. You're not going to do any tomorrow so start reading up on them now. Take your time, you'll get there.

Hollar back. (after you get your signature up of course)

[John T 744]

I hope you like shellfish Connor because now that you've graduated high school the world has just become your oyster.

You got a good thing going on there. You've come to the right place. Some of the deepest institutional based cleaning knowledge in the world is contained within this board.

The very first thing that you must do: Listen, then follow these instructions very carefully. Fill out your signature. Got it? Good. You'll get along better here, plus it's the rules.

Big guy - perfect surface cleaner for an 8 gpm pump. Will not work with 4. Unless you walk standing still. Hang on to it but don't carry it around in your trailer.

Yes, you do lose a bit of pressure in hose length. That's okay though because before you know it, you'll have a 5.6 gallon machine to run your operation with.

Carry fifty gallons of water in your tank. First thing on the job, say hello to the client and hook up your hose to their spigot. By the time you get everything setup, you'll have enough water in the tank to get started. Plus, you can bypass your PW'r back to the float tank so it won't burn up when you let off the trigger for a while.

Roof cleaning. You're not going to do any tomorrow so start reading up on them now. Take your time, you'll get there.

Hollar back. (after you get your signature up of course)

Perfect!! Use the search feature here because there's a wealth of info that's almost endless.. And keep us posted on how your doing--Good luck.

[apsurfacesolutions 17]

Welcome Connor, as the others have said spend a lot of time reading on this and other pressure washing forums. We run a 20" surface cleaner off a 4 gal 4000 psi machine with 200' of hose for pool decks no problem. Don't haul water if you don't have to. For the 4 gpm machine we have a 65 gal float tank that we arrive on site with between 15 and 20 gals in it. Like Tim said when you arrive on site hook right into the customers water. If you don't have a float valve on your tank get one. I would mount the pw on the trailer makes life much easier. For now you don't need the 225 gal tank. Use the 65 gal tank for water and get your sh in 5 gal containers. Once you get a bigger pw and truck you can use the bigger tank.

[Grahams 14]

Thanks for the info guys! So this is where I'm at. Take the 225 gallon out, ( I have another 100 gallon I could use) because I would like to have a solely chlorine tank. Keep the big guy, but there's no way my 4 gpm is going to work? My 20inch surface cleaner should work with 200ft of hose out, if I had to do a pool deck and the trailer was in the street. So is leaving a pressure washer running for a little while without using is bad for the pump? and that's where the float comes in handy?

For roof cleaning, I did extensive research and found a really good chemical mix is "apple sauce"? Basically for 100g, use 65g water, 35g chlorine, 12lb borax, 12 TSP and just spray it on, let sit for 10 minutes then rinse. Seems easy enough. I really want to start doing the roofing thing. Ill take a few pictures of my set up once it stops raining here.

For getting jobs, the fastest way to get jobs is door to door asking on like a saturday. Do people still do this, I know it's illegal in some places, but it helps get jobs when you can tell them the price and what not on the spot.

[apsurfacesolutions 17]

For roof cleaning I usually mix up 60 gal batches this is enough to do on average one roof with maybe 10-15 gals left over. We use 15 gals sh and 45 gals of water. Which is a 25% mix versus the 35% sh apple sauce mix. This mix cleans most roofs. We have been using Fresh Wash for a surfacant .75 ounces per gal of mix. Don't carry more sh than you need for a couple of days heat and sun cause it to degrade faster. We stopped buying it in 55 gal containers. And now only get it in 5 gal jugs. It's much easier to handle for us and the price difference in this market is not that much. Not many people use TSP anymore that's an old formula you found. I don't think many use borax anymore either. Check out Fresh Wash or Roof Snot to replace the borax and TSP.

Feel free to give me a call.

[Grahams 14]

Alright thanks for the advice!

What is everyone typically charging to do a roof? I know some people look at the sq footage but for me it would probably be best to just guesstimate the cost from looking at it. That way when I go to their door I have a price in mind. There is a big gated community near me, and there roofs are all dirty, mostly tile roofs however. Is that harder to do than shingle?

[soapwarehouse 14]

Connor you will find some great info here and everyone will tell you how they do it, but in the end always go with what will work best for you. This months issue of the new eClean Magazine is all about roof cleaning and will show you a few different methods all in one place. eClean Magazine | The professional contract cleaner online resource it is free to subscribe. I wish you luck and if I can help with any questions about some different chemical combinations other than the ones you have already found give me a call.

[Cullen Adams 15]

It is not advisable to pressure wash a shingled roof, instead you will need to use an appropriate cleaning agent. Most tiled roofs can handle a bit of pressure in conjunction with a good cleaning agent.

Good luck with your new business Connor.

[stevenp322 14]

Welcome Connor! Love to see that your starting up your own PW business, the more people in the industry the better!

Edited June 22, 2012 by stevenp322