Please help me about roof cleaning chemical and tools

bigshark

bigshark

New member
I know there are many conversation/arguments about roof cleaning, for sure the best way is the soft wash setup, I just bought a van and pressure washer. I don't have a budget for soft wash setup and I have a client asking about roof cleaning. And really I don't know anything about it. I need help with:

What kind chemical or mixture I should used?
What process should be used for the best result?
If its ok with x-jet, which one is the best?

Please if you guys can help me about those questions can be great. Private emails welcome. info@belugacleaning.com
 
Soft Wash set-up is not that expensive. Check out the 12 volt set ups. There are a lot of threads and post on this. Search Delavan and Shurflo pumps
 
Run mixture of 12.5% sH (30%) & water (70%) thru your pressure washer. Add a big squirt of Dawn Dish Hand Soap (apple blossom) and some guys add borax or tsp.
Mist on shingles with black nozzle from several feet away. On a normal ranch with roof that is easy to walk, the entire job should be walking back and forth, misting, moving, misting again. You will see the mold transform when the sH is doing its job. If you take your time and mist lightly, especially on a warm day, runoff should be non-existent. Rinse the runoff or have ground guy help with tarps. Rinse, rinse, rinse the runoff and watch the gutter downspouts. Especially the windows, as well as any copper on/near roof. Some guys rinse the roof, I don't. Tell customer after a few rains the stains will wash away; if not, call you for re-application. Run water through all your hoses for several minutes after you are finished.
I get $275-$550 for average to almost Large homes. Take pics & show us what you are dealing with.
Ask JL about the xjet, I don't use one. I read somewhere that he is the condo king or something like that.
Worry less about the "process" and worry more about not damaging anything with that Hot sH. Mist at the bottom and work your way up.
Read everything you can find on this board about roof cleaning.
Clean roof. Cash check. Repeat.
 
Plenty of info in this section...chlorine and water. .mixtures depend on what your cleaning...cant xjet it it would be too week you need a dedicated pump. .there relatively very cheap..you can use a garden hose to spray it..you can use a 2 dollar spray nozzle or a pvc ballvalve and a 1/4 meg tip to apply. .you can use a trash can to mix in...I could magyver a roof cleaning setup for under 200.00 but its definitely not something you can do with your existing equipment you listed so your gonna have to invest something. .the better you buy the longer it will last. .and do some reading everyone here can tell you havent spent the time in this section to read or else there wouldnt be this question. .sory I know thats being a dick but there is probably 20 posts on this stuff within the last 2 years. Theres so much more to know abiut roof cleaning than one thread could give you..read some and find out how we are easily profiting over 200an hour to spray a little bit of soap and our customers are begging for us to come out. .do it right and your phone won't stop ringing. ..search terms...chemical pump..apple sauce...roof snot...soft wash systems...sodium hypochlorite. .apple cider:) surfactant. ..mix ratio. ..and find someone I your area spraying roofs and see if you could help them for free one day to learn the process of how to be efficient. .youtube soft wash...dont kill plants and dont kill paint on house. .holy crap good luck I remember my first roof...they had new sod around very downspout one week later...lol...dont do that
 
btw I can't take credit for that recipe. Perhaps Chris Tucker deserves credit for that? Oh no, I've opened another can...who actually came up with the recipe? Ron, we need a new thread to fight about this, too.
 
A pressure washer has no place in roof washing. Don't run that 30/70 mixture through your pressure washer unless you want to ruin it. Look into a 12 volt servants system such as from PressureTek.com. Xjet will not get the solution strong enough for chargeable results.

Pat Norman 663-316-7685
 
carolinawildcat;306259[B said:
]Run mixture of 12.5% sH (30%) & water (70%) thru your pressure washer. Add a big squirt of Dawn Dish Hand Soap (apple blossom) and some guys add borax or tsp.[/B]
Mist on shingles with black nozzle from several feet away. On a normal ranch with roof that is easy to walk, the entire job should be walking back and forth, misting, moving, misting again. You will see the mold transform when the sH is doing its job. If you take your time and mist lightly, especially on a warm day, runoff should be non-existent. Rinse the runoff or have ground guy help with tarps. Rinse, rinse, rinse the runoff and watch the gutter downspouts. Especially the windows, as well as any copper on/near roof. Some guys rinse the roof, I don't. Tell customer after a few rains the stains will wash away; if not, call you for re-application. Run water through all your hoses for several minutes after you are finished.
I get $275-$550 for average to almost Large homes. Take pics & show us what you are dealing with.
Ask JL about the xjet, I don't use one. I read somewhere that he is the condo king or something like that.
Worry less about the "process" and worry more about not damaging anything with that Hot sH. Mist at the bottom and work your way up.
Read everything you can find on this board about roof cleaning.
Clean roof. Cash check. Repeat.
Click to expand...
Most Pressure Washers will freeze up pretty fast, running any kind of chlorine/water mix through tthem.
Best to have a dedicated chemical roof cleaning pump, like the 12 volt Delavan Fat Boy.
Powerwash.com had them on sale for only 189.00 !
Dawn has been replaced by better surfactants that are more chlorine stable, like Roof Snot.
The best store bought surfactant is Original Gain Ultra Liquid Dishsoap in the Green Bottle. It is 3 dollars for 44 ounces at Family Dollar Stores.
Use 1 - 44 ounce bottle per 100 gallons of roof cleaning mix. 2 to 3 44 ounce bottles of it will help hide the smell, and improve cling, on steep roofs.
For 100 gallons of roof cleaning mix, use 68 gallons water, and 30 gallons chlorine (liquid sodium hypochlorite 12.5 %)

For the newcomer, welcome to roof cleaning! There are a lot of great guys here on PWI, and a lot of good advice to be had!
I don't come here as much as I used to, because I am so busy with my Tampa Roof Cleaning Company, and my 2 roof cleaning forums.
But I can be found here http://roofcleaninginstitute.org/ if you need me, to answer any questions you might have.
Chris
 
Henry,

Welcome to PWI. There will be 3 or 4 SoftWash Systems wrapped trucks at the J. Racenstein Open House this weekend in North New Jersey just a few hours from you. The event is Saturday the 20th of April 2013.

East Coast Office
74 Henry Street
Secaucus, NJ 07094
Phone 800-221-3748

I will be there as well to help with any questions and to teach a class on Softwashing. Call me anytime as well at 407-832-1108.

Thanks,

AC
 
"I don't have a budget for soft wash..."

I downstreamed thousands of gallons of sH in the past thru my old gx. Zero problems. Of course, a pump setup is preferable, but you gotta do what you gotta do. Teach this guy how to fish.
 
Michael DeRose said:
You can't spend 134 for a dedicated pump? Maybe you should re think offering roof cleaning as one of your services then.
Click to expand...

Hahaha:) you funny man. Just I get second van Ford E350, brand new Hydrotek, electric titan hose reel, gray hose. What ever need another extra stuff... When I was saying "I don't have a budget for soft wash." I was thinking about $25k - $30k, truck tank equipments. Really I don't like it cheap stuff, they are not working at all, I learn from my experience. I was looking more info about Xjet, or more easy and effective systems/methods.

Please let me know guys if there is a any good chemical mix and x-jet. And thank you all, I'm reading all answer and I will try them.
 
bigshark said:
Hahaha:) you funny man. Just I get second van Ford E350, brand new Hydrotek, electric titan hose reel, gray hose. What ever need another extra stuff... When I was saying "I don't have a budget for soft wash." I was thinking about $25k - $30k, truck tank equipments. Really I don't like it cheap stuff, they are not working at all, I learn from my experience. I was looking more info about Xjet, or more easy and effective systems/methods.

Please let me know guys if there is a any good chemical mix and x-jet. And thank you all, I'm reading all answer and I will try them.
Click to expand...
Pressure washers are for pressure washing, not roof cleaning.
The X Jet will not work well for roof cleaning, you need a dedicated roof cleaning pump. I care not how much money you spent, the truth will set you free, but you may not want to hear it.
If I spent 25 to 30 K for a cleaning rig, and the guy I bought it from did not equip me for roof cleaning, after I spent all that money, I would be very upset!

It is possible to clean roofs with a pressure washer using a downstream injector. However, you need a very small GPM Machine (like 1 to 2 GPM)
My old friend Jeff LeCours "The Condo King" did it.
However, it is very very messy!

The problem with downstream injection is the draw rate is very low, this means the amount (ratio) of the liquid chlorine to water will be very weak.

So, to compensate, we try to increase the draw rate by using a very small GPM Machine.

Jeff LeCours used a 200 dollar Home Depot 2 gpm pressure washer, just for downstreaming roofs.

Trust me, a higher GPM machine will not work at all!

So, unless you already have a very small GPM machine, you are better off buying a dedicated roof cleaning pump.

Any Questions ?
 
X-jet might work if you had 100% SH in the tank wide open. But even if, it's like a 15' line and you won't be lugging a 5er p to the roof line. If you really just spent 30k, make money off what you bought and then get a good roof rig.


Sent from my iPad using Tapatalk HD
 
Apple Roof Cleaning said:
Pressure washers are for pressure washing, not roof cleaning.
The X Jet will not work well for roof cleaning, you need a dedicated roof cleaning pump. I care not how much money you spent, the truth will set you free, but you may not want to hear it.
If I spent 25 to 30 K for a cleaning rig, and the guy I bought it from did not equip me for roof cleaning, after I spent all that money, I would be very upset!

It is possible to clean roofs with a pressure washer using a downstream injector. However, you need a very small GPM Machine (like 1 to 2 GPM)
My old friend Jeff LeCours "The Condo King" did it.
However, it is very very messy!

The problem with downstream injection is the draw rate is very low, this means the amount (ratio) of the liquid chlorine to water will be very weak.

So, to compensate, we try to increase the draw rate by using a very small GPM Machine.

Jeff LeCours used a 200 dollar Home Depot 2 gpm pressure washer, just for downstreaming roofs.

Trust me, a higher GPM machine will not work at all!

So, unless you already have a very small GPM machine, you are better off buying a dedicated roof cleaning pump.

Any Questions ?
Click to expand...
How well do you think down streaming 12-10% straight would work with a 3.5gpm?
 
Air compressor $700 all flo pump $400 Hose $200 trying to teach new man on board the simplest way to do something evidently not gonna happen.Why would you listen to these guys they really havent cleaned that many roofs not.Why dont you just listen to these guys they wouldnt steer you wrong.Its very simple i can even do it.
 
JRHernandez88 said:
How well do you think down streaming 12-10% straight would work with a 3.5gpm?
Click to expand...

It wouldn't.
Jeff L used an xjet, not a downstreamer. He doesnt like downstreamers and doesnt believe in them.
I'm sure that's what Chris meant to say.
 
Johnson said:
It wouldn't.
Jeff L used an xjet, not a downstreamer. He doesnt like downstreamers and doesnt believe in them.
I'm sure that's what Chris meant to say.
Click to expand...
Ahh I see, so then he probably just xjetted straight 12.5% with a small machine. I wonder if that would work with my 3.5gpm. I might just try it and buy this dam xjet already. Wont hurt to try...
 
JRHernandez88 said:
How well do you think down streaming 12-10% straight would work with a 3.5gpm?
Click to expand...
My old friend Jeff LeCours did it, a few times he said.
Contact him, and ask how ?
I do not like X Jets, nor do I like downstreamers either, for cleaning roofs.
I take pride in trying to teach the best ways to clean a roof, not how to "improvise".
In roof cleaning, when you "improvise", it usually mean COMPROMISE, for you and your customer.

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