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usarose

Tennis Court Cleaning

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Helping out a local school and a good customer...33,000 sqft Blue and green outdoor tennis courts (5 courts 2 are bad with clay runoff lots of mildew too) I have 10 GMP @ 3000 psi at 200 deg hot water.

Tried just hot a house wash mix 1-4 water (Power House) - not much help (Black x jet)

Tried Lemonene 33 g = 1.164040744 oz to 3 gal water

Stepped it up to 77g = 2.6 oz to 3 gal water.

I am not winning fast - hot water with green tip and also tried turbo nozzle (faster but will lift any loose paint - who can help.

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Bleach is going to help win this one out.
I use a heavy duty degreaser/bleach combination to do the initial wash and for any remnant mildew stains
we use a final bleach bath to finish it off and the thorough rinse.

Surface cleaners will be a great benefit in completing the job if you aren't already using them.

Rod

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Bleach is going to help win this one out.
I use a heavy duty degreaser/bleach combination to do the initial wash and for any remnant mildew stains
we use a final bleach bath to finish it off and the thorough rinse.

Surface cleaners will be a great benefit in completing the job if you aren't already using them.

Rod


Thanks Rod - I appreciate the advice - I have an 18" Steel Eagle with recovery. 4 jets but not adjustable height. I will get some 40030 to reduce the pressure or 40040 so I dont kill the surface. I also have a 28" MTM surface cleaner with 2 nozzles (but no recovery or height adjustment either) That is part of my plan for the next attack as well as a strong bleach house wash. The school is trying to get me more water my 150 gal reservoir is taking 40 min to fill - at 10GPM I burn thru that really quickly.
Thanks again Rod


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Sometimes I use a truck wash detergent after the bleach mix. I feel it loosens up any remaining dirt particles trapped in the textured surface. Also try a deck brush in the run off areas.
Good luck and send some before and after photos when your done


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Rob Rose,

Look into having a pool filling company bring in a truck. Obviously that costs but at least you will have a flow to keep up.

We use them when well supplied homes can't keep up. It's in the verbiage that the customer pays for it directly (keeps us
out of the transaction).
The tanker trucks are usually 3500-4000gallons
Haven't had to use the tanker trailers yet. (thankfully)

 

Rod

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Sometimes I use a truck wash detergent after the bleach mix. I feel it loosens up any remaining dirt particles trapped in the textured surface. Also try a deck brush in the run off areas.
Good luck and send some before and after photos when your done


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Will do - I was surprised at how little info re this type of job.


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Rob Rose,

Look into having a pool filling company bring in a truck. Obviously that costs but at least you will have a flow to keep up.

We use them when well supplied homes can't keep up. It's in the verbiage that the customer pays for it directly (keeps us
out of the transaction).
The tanker trucks are usually 3500-4000gallons
Haven't had to use the tanker trailers yet. (thankfully)

 

Rod


Thanks Rod
I told them to get a hydrant meter as there is a hydrant right there. Closest school water is 400' away which does not help either.
Pool filling company - didn't even know about them. Now I have seen tanker trucks (non potable water for 3-400 a day) from United Rental for road and construction. How do pool filling companies charge - by the hour? I would need them there for the day...$$$ This is a job to help a local school clean their courts and I wanted to be low...


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Hi Rob

Bleach is your friend as most of the problem is mould - If very dirty I'll use a strong mix (about 6%), if not I'll start at about 3%. Your s/cleaner needs to be between 1000 & max of 1500psi - don't be afraid of the overlap. Then rinse a lot, sometimes twice to get rid of all the dirt & paint (I use a 2540 at 7gpm)

https://youtu.be/Dn73yq9V0-c sorry about the link, I can't remember how to embed - i really need to get back here more often

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Hi Rob

Bleach is your friend as most of the problem is mould - If very dirty I'll use a strong mix (about 6%), if not I'll start at about 3%. Your s/cleaner needs to be between 1000 & max of 1500psi - don't be afraid of the overlap. Then rinse a lot, sometimes twice to get rid of all the dirt & paint (I use a 2540 at 7gpm)

 sorry about the link, I can't remember how to embed - i really need to get back here more often



Thanks for the advice about cleaning the courts. I did get the job done - and it came out great.
Courts: Asphalt with green/Blue and white lines.
Problem: Baked on dirt - not mould - was the problem as the drainage was not great and they allowed it to go uncleaned for years. City and mud collected all over the courts and worst was drain areas.
Method: I did it with a 28" surface cleaner - 10GPM at 3000psi/200 deg hot water. By the way - I never used my recovery system as I was using an old (non recovery) MTM / Whisper wash (1 spray bar with a spray tip at each end)- I found some 1/4 8005 (80 deg 5GPM 1/4 spray tips) and we used a monster back pack blower (RedMax EBZ8001) to move the water away from the cleaner to the lower part of the courts.
Use of Chemicals: Bleach / De Limonene / Caustic used in high strength with various spray methods and dwell times - did not scratch/budge the caked in GA clay and mud.
Note: All courts should be designed to drain naturally - from the furtherest point from the drain (highest point) to closest to the drain which is the lowest point. We still had to flush a bunch of water. We didn't damage the courts at all while cleaning and didn't have to watch for overlap marks as we were not under cleaning (barely cleaning) or eroding the surface away leaving racing marks/overlapping lines on the courts.
Rob


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These pictures were taken before final rinse.
I have video - how do I attach? I get network error every time i attempt it. Maybe i must upgrade to the paid taptalk.

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The final rinse is what really makes it, often requires a couple of go's as the silt on the surface, fine sand used for grip & oxidised paint will build up against the hose and only be visible when dry

Excellent job Rob

On 16/03/2017 at 10:38 AM, mike movila said:

John what do you charge for cleaning a tennis court that size. I had a request one time and I did not get the job Client received a lower bid just curious.  Thank you in advance Mike

Drainage and the size of the out of play area can take or add quite a bit of time... as can the amount of mould & dirt. I allow about 4 hours and 5 drums of SH for an average court, but my machine is only 7gpm. A lot of "cleaners" around here, and this is probably why you lost the job, can be cheap because they just use high pressure with no cleaning/mould killing products. As for my price.... my market is not yours, and my $ is not your $ either (I'm in Australia) so you'll have to work off your hourly rate + consumables etc

 

On 15/03/2017 at 11:18 PM, Beth n Rod said:

Yes you do. lol

 

Rod

Cheers

 

 

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Agreed - Rinsing was a huge part of the job and as much time as the cleaning itself if not longer. In our case we had a water shortage - 4 spigots in 1 and still took 25 min to fill a 150 gal tank...(we used 1200' hoses just to fill the tank) down from 60 min plus with 2 spigots. I am still surprised at the lack of posts and info about cleaning courts - try search it - more advertising about doing it than advice on how to do it. Hope this thread helps the next guy which is the reason why we post - help your fellow cleaner.


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