Bagging downspouts

Scott D.

Member
What is the proper method of bagging downspouts? What kind of bags work best, what kind of tape to tape it to the downspout, how to dispose of it, etc...

Ive never done it before, but have a hotel Im doing tomorrow and I think bagging would really be a good idea.

Thanks.
 
What is the proper method of bagging downspouts? What kind of bags work best, what kind of tape to tape it to the downspout, how to dispose of it, etc...

Ive never done it before, but have a hotel Im doing tomorrow and I think bagging would really be a good idea.

Thanks.


I dont bag many downspouts but when i do i use the heavy duty industrial bags. Then just dump the bag into a empty container and take it with you, or you can even downstream that chemical onto any flat work you are doing.
 
I dont bag many downspouts but when i do i use the heavy duty industrial bags. Then just dump the bag into a empty container and take it with you, or you can even downstream that chemical onto any flat work you are doing.

Thanks Nick. what if I just pumped it back into my chemical tank? It should still be good since it is just them chemical that did soak in right?
 
Thanks Nick. what if I just pumped it back into my chemical tank? It should still be good since it is just them chemical that did soak in right?


I wouldn't do that, it will be contaminated with whatever it ran across, mildew, and roof granulars, dirt..etc,if you down stream it from a seperate container with a chemical injector and filter you will be good to go.
 
I started bagging downspouts 2 yrs ago. It's actually a big selling point and shows the customer that your going to take the extra care needed to protect the runnoff from damaging grass and plants. Nicks right don't re use it. It's not worth a damn anyway. If you get some on you when removing the bags (and you will) you will notice that 95% of the time it has already broken down and will not even burn. If we are doing their concrete we just dump it on there. (not that it does any good) Most of the time I will let it go in the gutter while running their garden hose to flood it as a precaution. At that point there IS nothing left of it.
 
Larry, If the chems that run off are not worth anything then is there a reason to even bag it? Are you doing it for the selling point or do you believe that there is enough chem to still kill the grass or plants even if you water it down. I have not had chance to do a roof yet and I am still trying to figure out if I want to bag or not.
 
Larry, If the chems that run off are not worth anything then is there a reason to even bag it? Are you doing it for the selling point or do you believe that there is enough chem to still kill the grass or plants even if you water it down. I have not had chance to do a roof yet and I am still trying to figure out if I want to bag or not.
The initial runnoff going into the bag will still be hot and will seep into the ground and will definetly damage the root systems of plants, bushes etc. After sitting in the bags for 45 min to an hour it breaks down quick. One cause for this is that under normal conditions the roofs we spray are already very warm, if not hot, which causes the sh to heat up quickly. Once inside a plastic bag it will heat up even more and break down twice as fast. Normal active life on a hot Roof is only about 30-45 min and in the summer on a 140 + deg Roof -even less. Do I use this as a selling point? Yes! But also as a preventitive measure. I have seen what letting the sh run off into the soil which contains root systems for plants and shrubs can do. Within 2 days I have gotten calls that plant life is dead. The only other way is to have a constant flow of water drowning the area where the downspout comes out but that isn't always an option when there are multiple spouts and you need your ground person following you to rinse walls to prevent overspray getting on walls and ruining paint. Much easire to take a few minutes to bag. Plus customers do love you for it. Since I've been doing it I have had ZERO plant damage. :)
 
Hey i have another question for you Larry. I know it all depends on the size of the roof but. Lets say a roof size of about 2000 sf. how many gallons do you think you have at the end of the job that need to be disposed of? What I am trying to figure out is how many bags, and or what size of a container do I need to dispose of the chems in.
 
We use heavy duty bags and duct tape. Since we don't rinse (no I'm not starting that again) we get very little in the bags. We lay a 5 gal bucket on it's side and roll it in to avoid a break and dispose of later.
 
Curious, what are you bagging, just the run off from the intial application of sh, or the entire rinse process. Typical roof for me, front side only, probably uses 3 or 4 hundreds gallons of water, no way to bag all of that.
Just the initial runnoff. I Don't rinse. Mama Nature does that for me.
 
Home depot has contractor bags, they're in a yellow box, read the fine print and be sure to get the 3 mil thick bags.

We only use them if we can dump them out on site, a wooded area or something. We don't do enough concrete to make keeping it worthwhile.

I would be real careful running it down the gutter, that's a huge CWA violation. I don't want to get into a reclaim discussion, but that's a lot of sodium, and if you're using TSP you're causing other problems too.
 
We only bag in very rare circumstances or when I must for a dog and pony act.

I don't have a prob with runoff from gutters.

If your mix makes it down to the gutter and then runs through the gutter system and kill plants after it has made it's journey either it is very dry/drought conditions or you are using waaaaaay to strong a mix IMO <---of course.

We did five roof cleanings in Tampa Palms last week in a HOA bundle package.
They all had been "burned" before.

I told them I wouldn't except a dime until they were convinced the plants were ok.

Every single one of them are set up on a maintenance plan now. :D
 
we have bagged the down spouts, but i like the garden hose up the gutter the best. i've had a few the we've used a gal winshield washer jug. attached to a 1 1/4 inch sump pump flex hose to move the waste to wooded areas, works well with a garden hose in there too, just cut the bottom off, kind of a big funnel. i don't like to haul away waste water. home owners may let you use 4 inch drain clean out to dump. i checked with epa. its ok in Ohio.
 
Stuffing a running water hose in a gutter during cleaning effects water pressure of the whole house.
Some houses with low water pressure will have little water left for taking care of the other plants, if a running water hose is left in them.
Providence Lakes has great water pressure, especially Watermill :D
I love cleaning roofs in Providence Lakes ;)
 
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