gutters

[Atlantic Power Washing 14]

well guys i am happy to say that i think i found somthing that works.......i used R-109 mixed at 5 lbs. per 10 gallons and added about a quart of HD-80 and sprayed it on full strength......15 sec. dwell time and rinse..no scrubbing...gutters looked brand new...i did this on three houses today and i was very pleased with the results and the best part about it is the price, it works out to about less than a doller per gallon..

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

That's great Tom! :)

[Atlantic Power Washing 14]

thanks Beth...you mentioned the HD-80 thing in our phone conversation last night, so i figured i would give it a try today with the R-109..

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

If you have any pics, feel free to post them here or on the forum called The Scrap Book.

It's good to have you here Tom, look forward to reading more. Glad you joined! :)

Beth

[lipw 14]

The other day I washed a house and told the customer the gutters would come (cleaner) but not perfect, well to my suprise whe I went back to seal his decks he told me he was not happy with the wash when I asked him why he told me I could have gotten his gutters cleaner I assured him I could not and he proceded to spray windex on his gutters waited 3 seconds and wiped them off with a towel. To my suprise they were perfect. Has anyone ever heard of useing ammonia on gutters?

[Atlantic Power Washing 14]

No I’ve never tried Windex before……What I have found before in the past is that there are some gutters that will come clean very easily (newer subdivisions less than 2 years old without a lot of trees) and some that are next to impossible to clean ( over 10 years old with a lot of trees) It seem that the more over flow the gutter has due to whatever reason such as steep pitched roofs or being clogged with leafs, and the longer the black streaks have been there, the harder they are to clean. Most of your degreasers like simple green, spray nine, 409, grease lightning, all work ok, but who wants to pay $7 a gallon and then have to scrub them out by hand? Like someone else said, you would have to charge around $1 per ft.

What I like about the R-109 HD-80 recipe is that it is cheap and easy to apply…..just get you a hose reel, 120 ft of 3/8th chemical line, a straight thru gun with a 3/8th coupler on the end so you can attach different lance lengths, and a 15 gallon shur flow tank, use a 15 degree tip on the end of the lance.

I only do the front of the house and I don’t charge extra for this service since there’s no guarantee that the black steaks are going to come out every time. I do this because I know they will call me back the next time they’re ready to have their house cleaned….½ my business is from repeat customers.

Check out my website that Beth designed, she did a great job!;)

[Waterboy 14]

Tom

-Is the R-109 from Steve Rowlett? This sounds like the what I am looking for and I was going to order the HD-80 from Beth anyway.

[ron p 500]

r-109 comes from Delco.

I used to use R-109 but for my work i now use BROWN DERBY i love this stuff.

[One Tough Pressure 580]

Ammonia is a good stripper. It can and will do some damage to painted surfaces.

Did you wipe or scrub the gutters that he was able to get clean? Sometimes the no touch cleaning approach does not produce favorable results.

Tom,

Nice looking website. See your a Ford Man also.

[Guest rfitz]

Well, after months of trying out alot of products, I finally have

found a cleaner that when used 100% with a pump up, you can just

apply, dwell and rinse to gutters, maybe about 1-1.5 min dwell

cost is approx. $8.00 a gallon with shipping, but now I can do gutters

in half the time...

Not sure if I can use the name...?

[Beth n Rod 1,279]

Rob,

If you have found the key to beautiful gutters, please share it. :)

Beth:groovy:

[Guest rfitz]

The Magic cleaner is allbrite from sunbrite,

trust me when I say magic, dirt, blk streaks and all comes right off

no brushing, stuff is awesome...

Hope this helps

[Dale 16]

Rob,

Does it work for removing oxidized paint from aluminum gutter/fascia/soffit? I'm looking for something to spray on and hopefully rinse off.

Thanks,

Dale

[Guest rfitz]

Hi Dale,

It worked great for that, and also, I have found it to be almost a

clean all chemical, for houses you can downstream it at 20-1 and it is

awesome, and works great on concrete surfaces too, you just have to play with it, and see what combinations work best for you, but it sure is nice

just being able to have 1 cleaning chem on the truck....

Give Tracy a call at Sunbrite and tell him I sent you...

Hope this helps

[Paul B. 523]

AllBrite is a great product (speaking from first hand experience).

The ingredients in AllBrite and Gutter Shock are very similar. Gutter Shock contains an extra ingredient (Sodium Hydroxide) that AllBrite does not, giving it a bit of a cleaning edge in performance (as far as I'm concerned).

I've tested (touchless and brushing) AllBrite, Gutter Zap, Gutter Shock, Ripper I and Krud Kutter (to name a few) for gutter cleaning from straight to 1:4 dilution and have found all of these products to work in various degrees effectiveness on removing black streaks from gutters. What works for each person could be different due to regional phenomenon. My results were different from Robert's as I could get great results at 1:2 or 1:3 dilutions with some, but not all products. My picks for gutter cleaning in Southwest Ohio are (in order) Gutter Shock, Gutter Zap, Ripper I, Krud Kutter, AllBrite.

Ammonia is a degreaser and ammonia based products such as Windex with Ammonia will clean the black streaks from gutters but will not be as visually effective or financially as cost effective as any of the other products mentioned above.

[Atlantic Power Washing 14]

Another great product for removing black streaks is Purple Stuff from USA Pressure. This is not the same purple stuff from the auto parts stores, it is 10 times stronger! I mix it 1:3 and apply it directly to the gutters and rinse, no srubbing necessary.

I have never tried Gutter Zap or Gutter shock but i have tried Ripper. In my opinion, the Ripper did not work at all to my satifaction.......I ended up using it for somthing else other than gutter cleaning.

[Guest rfitz]

Although there is good money in house and gutter washing,

I couldnt make a decent living doing it alone, I get a few calls here and there

for these services, but without wood care, I couldnt survive, maybe 5% of my business is house and gutter washing...

[Atlantic Power Washing 14]

I do about 50% house washing, 30% deck cleaning and sealing, 20% commercial. I perfer house washing over anything since that's where i make the most $$$ (over $100 an hour) so natually i markit it the most.

[Paul B. 523]

Diversity is definitely a plus in this field.

[Guest rfitz]

Just curious how you get so many housewashes, and how long you have been in biz ? I would much rather wash houses than do wood, my price per hour is much better washing houses, than doing wood, about 1/2 to be exact

would love to see how you market your services..?

[Atlantic Power Washing 14]

I have been in bussiness for 6 years now....I have an ad in two different phone books, and the local paper. I keep my ads as clean as i can without alot of mumbo jumbo. If an ad is too busy, the eye will automatically move to the next ad. I state what i am selling first, then my name at the bottom.

My adds read: Exterior House Washing

Deck Cleaning and Sealing

For rates and Info vist

www.atlanticpowerwashing.com

ATLANTIC POWER WASHING 540-785-9828

My ads are black with yellow lettering, stands out alot better. also when choosing a name, always choose a name that starts with A, That will put you at the top where most people start, anybody with the name X-terior Power Washing doesn't get alot of calls from the phone book. I also make sure all my calls are answered by my wife who has the most frendly and professional phone manners i have ever met. People don't like talking to recorders, so usally the firt resonable estimate they get, they will schedual the job.

[Paul B. 523]

Good Marketing information Atlantic!

[Aplus 525]

It is possible that products achieve varying results geographically due to the hardness of the water supply.

[Paul B. 523]

Good point Tony, I agree completely.

[ron p 500]

if your going to BRUSH,then ive never come accross a gutter with factory finnish that wont come out like brand new by useing BROWN DERBY.[very little brushing]

$150 for 110 gal. of concentrate.

you cut it 50/50 for gutter's.

that's about $1.50 per house.

beat that.

i also brush all the alum window trim and downspout's

so maybe $3 per house.

[Guest rfitz]

I have heard good things about brown derby,

and that is a good price, do you also use that as your house wash at maybe

20-1 or something else, I want to eliminate having a bunch of cleaners around,...? I would like just 1 good cleaner for most things..