Bleach?

A

AAffordable

New member
We have been in the business for only two years and are very new to it. We use bleach to clean everything from concrete to wood houses and decks. It seems to do a good job and does not hurt plants. I was wondering if there is any sugestions on cleaners that work better on concrete and wood? Is it worth it spending the money on these so called commercial cleaners or solvents? Is there anything that can be used to clean a deck free of mildew and not take the sealer too?
 
chems clean not pressure

Why put bleach on anything unless it's to kill mold? As far as i know bleach has no cleaning powers[i could be wrong.]
There are a ton of soaps just for cement cleaning.
Jon here just uses hot water and he prob cleans more cement then any other poster on this site.
As far as cleaning mold off decks with a good finnish on them try an oxi-bleach.
efc38 from www.woodstrip.com ask for Russ.
Also Tracy at www.sunbrightdecks.com
there are lot's of good folk's here that sell them.
There are a number of reasons not to use bleach on wood. They say it brakes down the laglin[spelling].
That is the gluttons that hold the wood fibers together. Oxi-bleach wont do that and is safer to use.
 
I see you are in North Carolina, try your local Northern hydraulics stre for a product called CPR it is a great wood cleaner. If they dot carry it call Xterior Pressure washing in Garner NC and get some from the. Home depot also has a good wood cleaner it is about 23.00 per gallon (can't remember name off top of head). It needs to be dilluted with water. 1 gallon will do about 2 average decks. I mostly use water only on concrete and it works good. once in a while i will use muratic acid. if i can be of any more help please e-mail me.

Sopowerclean@aol.com
 
Sopowerclean said:
. Home depot also has a good wood cleaner it is about 23.00 per gallon (can't remember name off top of head). It needs to be dilluted with water. 1 gallon will do about 2 average decks.
Sopowerclean@aol.com
Click to expand...

I buy my cleaner from Greg at Timberseal. www.deckguide.com Any store bought chemicals you will pay tremendous amounts of money for. If you can, mail order them.........you'll get more then you need at first, but it will come out to be alot cheaper in the end.

You will also need brightner to spray on after you're done washing the deck. It will look much better that way.
 
The most economical way is to buy the raw chems in bulk and mix them yourself. Here is a very efficient deck cleaner that is made up of three widely available chems. You can mix up your own for less then half of what you will pay from anybody on the net. Not to knock anybody who sells the mixes, but anybody who is serious about this business should at least look into mixing their own brews. I have increased my profit margin tremendously by mixing my own chems when possible. It only takes about 15 minutes to mix up 50 or more pounds. Here is the recipe:

80 % sodium percarbonate
10% soda ash
10% sodium tripolyphosphate

After combining the above ingrediants, you only need to use one level measuring cup per gallon of water. It mixes very well in cold water, so you bring it dry to the job site, and mix exactly what you need. You will get results equal to any ready mixed preparation available, for about 60 cents per gallon.


Good luck!
 
As Mike mentioned about brighteners....you really need to use them. Buy granulated citic acid in 50# pails for about $55.00. Mix 4 dry measured ounces in a measuring cup to each gallon of water. Works beautifully, and is not hazardous, as oxalic acid is.
 
The biggest watchout in mixing your own chemicals is not to pre-mix a large batch of granules to mix into smaller amounts of liquid later. In otherwords, don't mix all your separate components into a 50 lb. mixture from which later you may want to use smaller portions to make a liquid mixture. You just don't know what percentage of each you're really getting when you scoop out a cupful. (Think about that.) That's also why pharmacists don't recommend taking only half a capsule. I recommend keeping granules separate, then mix it as you need it into a liquid.
One more thing - make sure all your components say by volume.
If 2 are by volume and one is by weight, you have some calculating to do. If they're by weight, the density is most likely different for each (requires weighing and calculating).
And if you mixed it wrong and it still works, well maybe you got lucky or wasted your money on some of the components you really didn't need. (I'm not a chemist, but I stayed at the Casa Marina the other night.)

Clorox disinfects and brightens (puts white spots on your jeans, and makes your red clothes pink).

Also don't forget when purchasing certain acids thru mail order, (including oxalic acid) UPS has a $20+ surcharge for hazardous package shipments. It's still probably cheaper then most, but maybe not all.

If you're in a pinch and can't wait for 2-3 day ground shipment, places like Sherwin Williams sells deck & fence cleaners along with Home Depot and Sears. Sears Hardware sells Wolman Cleaners for $14.99 for 2.25# which makes 5 gallons good for 500 to 750 sqare feet. I just used some of it at my own house on a cedar shadow box fence recently. I had a lot of moss, mold & mildew on the back of it.

Good Luck!

Regards,
 
Sopowerclean,

Are you cleaning or etching with muriatic acid?

At a 1:2 (water) mix your etching.
You are taking off the top coat.

I recommend something other than a straight 30% muriatic acid for cleaning.

Here are a few concrete cleaners from my files:

Bio-Clean (www.strata-Int'l.com)
BioCleanse (www.domrest.com)
Citra Plus - D-Limonene (www.braztec.com)
Citra Solce (www.citrasolve.com)
(CleanCrete.com)
Mr. Muscle & Power Stroke (www.envirospec.com)
Zep (www.zepcommercial.com) or Home Depot
Gator Wash (www.xterior)
SunBrite (www.sunbriteSupply.com)
Super Clean (www.superclean.com) or K-Mart
(www.Addiment.com)

Sodium Hydroxide based cleaners/degreasers.

You can low pressure spray some Clorox on it to brighten it.

"Safety First and Mke IT Last!"


Regards,
 
AAffordable,


You sound as if you are fairly new to the business. I personnaly don't recommend mixing your own cleaning chemicals until you have thoroughly researched and gained some experience with the use of them.
 
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