I ds'ed my first moldy house today

[Jarrod 22]

Today I downstreamed my first moldy house. Usually I X-Jet but I wanna switch to ds’ing. My mix was 4 gal. Of 14% bleach, and 1 gallon of soap. It was 68 degrees today.

I was a bit disappointed with the killing power of the mix. It didn’t seem to kill the mold nearly as easily as X-Jetting. The mold stayed green and was harder to rinse off. I think I waited 5 minutes b4 I rinsed. I never really timed the dwell time. For a 1700 sq. ft. house, I used about 2.5 gallons of mix.

The house turned out fine, but I was expecting the mold to die a horrible death much faster & easier.

How can I fix this? Is this normal?

Thanks for the help.

[PressurePros 249]

The houses are still too cold Jarrod. What soap are you using? A little TSP and sodium metasilicate in the mix helps.

[John Orr 206]

Several factors could have lead to your disappointment - orifice size of your downstreamer (not the tip size) and the tip size as well as its length. Personally, rather than trying to change any of that, I would run a hotter mix - less soap, more love. Are you heating your water? If you can, 110 to 120 degree water will make a huge difference - even in warm weather.

68 degrees is plenty warm. I wash starting in the mid 40's with no problems. 68 is perfect.

[Jarrod 22]

Ken, I'm using E-Plus. It was pretty warm today. I broke a sweat. I'm pretty sure that E-Plus has S.M. in it. Ill add some TSP next time. Thanks.

John, I'll try heat next time. How about 5 gal of love and mix my powder soap in it instead of a concentrate? Thanks.

[Christopher 102]

John, What about heating it a little hotter like to 140? Will it make a big difference to the 110-120 degree or not worth it?

[Christopher 102]

Jarrod, How are you mixing the E-Plus? I have some and not sure on mixing it. I will be downstreaming it.

[COOPER 14]

I usually only use about a half gallon of soap in my downstream mix. Just enough to get a few suds out of it and let the 12% cling to the side of the house. I usually run my heat at about 120 degrees on houses. Also what kind of downstreamer do you have? I like the General Pump brand. There may be a better one as far as draw rate, but it is the best one that I have found.

I have noticed that my mix doesn't seem to work as good with the 8 gpm machine as it does with my 5.6 gpm machine. My guess is that it is being dilluted more with the 8 gpm machine. I am working on making my own downstreamer as soon as I have the time to play with it again. If it works right it should draw A LOT more chems than most on the market, and be more durable too. If it works you will be able to change hose barb sizes to get large amounts of chems if needed, or go down to a small one for regular cleaning. Maybe it will work. My father in law has access to a machine shop, when I can catch me and him both off work we are going to machine one out. This time of year that is tough.

[Mike Sweerin 14]

Hot water is the key. As you found out cold water will work but it just takes longer.

[Jarrod 22]

Jarrod, How are you mixing the E-Plus? I have some and not sure on mixing it. I will be downstreaming it.

Hey Chris, I mix 1 box with 55 gallons of water. I put 1 gal in with my bleach.

[Jarrod 22]

Also what kind of downstreamer do you have?

quote]

I have a long range ds'er. It's on a reel with 200 ft. of hose.

As far as results go, I really think I like the X-Jet better. I'm gonna try a few more houses with the d.s. method. If it doesn't work out, I'll go back to the X-Jet.

That being said, I think ds'ing is easier.

[John T 744]

Also what kind of downstreamer do you have?

quote]

I have a long range ds'er. It's on a reel with 200 ft. of hose.

As far as results go, I really think I like the X-Jet better. I'm gonna try a few more houses with the d.s. method. If it doesn't work out, I'll go back to the X-Jet.

That being said, I think ds'ing is easier.

For me personally I tried the downstreaming for years and went thru quite a few injectors with all the chlorine that ran thru them. Once I discovered the x-jet and the strength that I could put my house mix on the downstreaming became ancient history..I like my chemicals strong so I can kill the mold fast and clean the house even faster..this more then pays for the extra amount of "Love" that I use..

[COOPER 14]

It is just personal preference between the x-jet and downstreaming. For me downstreaming is the easiest way for others the x-jet. I can clean just as fast as you guys that use the x-jet and not have to carry the extra hose and bucket around, but before I found these boards that is all I knew (downstreaming) so I got plenty of practice then. The x-jet does have its purpose on my trailers and does get used regularly (mostly for concrete), and it is very good for residential. Its just not the best way for me personally. Now, I do find some drawbacks to downstreaming also. Most of the downstreamers out there are junk to me. The only one that I have had any real luck with is the General Pump one. If I had to use any other then I would definately use the x-jet. That is the one reason that I want to make my own downstreamer.

I can mix my house wash mix like I said above and fly through a housewash. Then if needed, I have a gutter cleaner that is stout enough to downstream straight and usually not have to scrub the gutters.

[mas3372 14]

For a 1700 house I would be at about 4 gallons. If the weahter is warm, I would think that perhaps you are skimping on the soap or the downstreamer is not drawing enough. I too have x-jetted and downstream and for me, downstreaming is the way to go.

[Jeff 232]

I love my Xjet

Do you guys really use hot water on mold & mildew house washes. It just seems like an added expense. Mold & mildew come off with chem, why heat?

[Christopher 102]

Thanks for the info. Since the Downstreamer will work only when you reduce the pressure so it can draw chemicals and the X-Jet will draw only on full-pressure, What if you just took the tip off the X-jet and put it in the place of the downstreamer and just used a bigger nozzle or wider fan so you are still getting the full (example: 5.6gpm, 3000psi) flow in gpm but the pressure is in a wider fan or less pressure in psi but the same gpm? Just an idea to not have to drag buckets around. If it could work, you could spray as strong (up to 2:1 on some models) and not be dragging buckets around. Has anyone tried this yet? I am sure that people a lot smarter than I have thought of it or tried it. I am wondering if it can work or is working for some people. How can the X-jet work at full rate? Can the X-Jet people come up with a Downstream Injector that gets a better draw rate than what is available today? It seems like it could be done.

[Christopher 102]

I forgot to mention that I have the General Pump Hi-Draw Downstream Injector that Bob sells.

[douseahouse 21]

i'm going to throw this question in on this thread since we're also talking about types of housewash. i have the 55 gallon mix for limonene that was kindly donated by envirospec during the nc round table event. has anyone tried this product and can testify? before i mix i was hoping to have a "heads up" on it as it is supposed to be equivalent to bleach on removing mold and mildew. can i mix bleach with it to give it the extra punch? this will be a prouduct that i can both x-jet and downstream. thanks paul at envirospec for the free product.

rando

[John Orr 206]

I love my Xjet

Do you guys really use hot water on mold & mildew house washes. It just seems like an added expense. Mold & mildew come off with chem, why heat?

Think about your laundry. Washing whites using bleach, you use hot water. The added expense (not really much at all) is well worth the time saved.

To give an example, I just finished an apartment complex yesterday. Six two-story buildings (vinyl with a few molded-over brick fronts or sides) that had not been cleaned in years. I'm not sure of the sq ftg, but each building had 8 apartments and was approximately 200' x 50'. Each building took 2 hours to clean.

[John Orr 206]

I think I would only change the % of love to soap. You were using 1:4, I would try 1:6. If you are limited by a 5 gal pail, get yourself a 15 gal drum. Its not so heavy that you can't lift when full, but small enough to haul around.

[John Orr 206]

John, What about heating it a little hotter like to 140? Will it make a big difference to the 110-120 degree or not worth it?

Be careful of too much heat. Vinyl siding will melt! In addition, when working in colder weather, you could crack windows by "shocking" them - at a minimum, you could damage the seals. Stick to lower temps, they work fine. The only time I turn up the heat is for concrete.

[John Orr 206]

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John, What about heating it a little hotter like to 140? Will it make a big difference to the 110-120 degree or not worth it?

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<P>Too much heat will melt the vinyl.</P>

[PressurePros 249]

When I said the temp wasn't warm enough I wasn't talking about ambient temperature but the substrate of the house. There are a whole bunch of rasons why you may have had issues. The primary one is that it is new to you and you are't efficient at it. Another is your machine.

For the record, I have never used hot water though I'm sure in this situation it may have helped.

Keep in mind that yeah, you can nail a house with 6% sodium hypochlorite and the mold will be fleeing the siding before the solution even makes contact. Bleach is corrosive and drying. Its much better to use the lowest possible dilution and set up your system to work for you, Jarrod. Soap down two sides before you rinse. It has to take you more than ten minutes to soak down two sides of a house. That should be enough dwell time.

[Jarrod 22]

When I said the temp wasn't warm enough I wasn't talking about ambient temperature but the substrate of the house. There are a whole bunch of rasons why you may have had issues. The primary one is that it is new to you and you are't efficient at it. Another is your machine.

For the record, I have never used hot water though I'm sure in this situation it may have helped.

Keep in mind that yeah, you can nail a house with 6% sodium hypochlorite and the mold will be fleeing the siding before the solution even makes contact. Bleach is corrosive and drying. Its much better to use the lowest possible dilution and set up your system to work for you, Jarrod. Soap down two sides before you rinse. It has to take you more than ten minutes to soak down two sides of a house. That should be enough dwell time.

You are the 2nd person to tell me to soap 2 sidec b4 rinsing. Don M. was the 1st. That makes the most sense to me. I like multi tasking.

Thanks for the help everyone. I just wanna get this down so I can show my guys how it's done.

[GymRat 14]

The major problem I find with soaking 2 sides, it increases the risk of the soap drying on windows, and possibly etching the windows.

[PressurePros 249]

John, thats much more likely to happen using an X-Jet. If you you use a good soap (with the right surfactants) it rarely will dry.

I think part of Jarrod's problem is his soap. E-plus is not a great product. It dries very quickly and I found it to be an inferior housewash. The guys that swear by it always are X-Jetters. Downstreaming will let you know if you have the right mix and product.

[mobileoneservices 14]

Jarrod,

I'm a part time power washer, I specialize in carpet cleaning and water damage restoration. For mold clean up inside a home, bleach is not a great choice, here is a link giving more information, maybe this explains why the mold was not as fast to come off as you expected? I know there are tons of papers on stuff like this, but for interior mold, I would not use clorine bleach for remedition. MOLD ACROSS AMERICA - BLEACH WARNING

Any thoughts are appreciated.

Scott