Learns me PLEASE!

R

Randy Ward

New member
First post so try not to ream me too badly here ladies and gents!

Starting a pressure washing business with my friend and not business partner, he is on here Alfredo but I have jumped on here as well to try and get a better understanding of the chemicals being used.

I see that most of you are basically using bleach for a majority of your mixes for house, concrete and roof wash. All 3 just happen to be the market we are trying to break into here and I am just trying to get an understanding of how effective, how safe and how plant friendly all of this is. One mix in particular I have seen come up numerous times on here as well as other forums I have been lurking on while at work over the past month or so is Applesauce. Granted the amt of water vs the amt of chemicals being used does help to dilute the solution down but you are still spraying essentially bleach, TSP and Borax on these surfaces which in turn end up on grass, plants, trees, flowers etc. All 3 of which will kill plant life in various different ways which after the amount of effort, time, sweat, cursing and money I have spent on my yard...if a cleaner killed it I would probably go off my hinges and throw a temper tantrum in my front yard giving my neighbors one hell of a show. My main question is at what point is the dilution little enough to not cause any issues with plants, grass, animals, flowers etc? if that point even exist.

Just speaking with the guy I purchased my equipment from in a little town close to here last week (he runs a chemical supply company) essentially told me that he would not sell me any chemicals because they are not needed. His business aside from repairs it literally probably %95 of the money being brought in at that company yet he tells me at most even cleaning his house he used 2 gal of outdoor bleach over a fairly large 2 story house, heat and some ext on his wand. After a few horror stories about roofs being cleaned by a guy locally in a very very affluent neighborhood is probably the one that stuck out the most. Guy is contracted to clean the roofs of several houses (keep in mind if you find a house in this neighborhood under 600k you have struck gold), cleans the roofs and starts getting phone calls of the owners wanting his head on a pike because he has completely obliterated the plant life around their home. The main advise I was given to do nearly all cleaning is %100 water.

Again, I can see the fact given that in some situations a cleaner like bleach would be needed but by reading a lot of forums it seems as if a lot of contractors are spraying bleach on these houses and businesses like they throw out dollar bills at the strip club.

Anyone have some concrete on paper information with some form of research of any useful information that shows these sort of mixes is not going to cause lots of harm to plant life? Not to mention I love the outdoors so the thought of me putting these additional poisons in the ground that could contaminate the ground or ground water makes me wanna puke a little. I know that a lot of you have been doing this for some time, have created, tampered with and have tried and true results for these mixtures but at the same time what sort of issues have you ran into? This of course is in no way shape of form ment to insult anyone, call you out etc so please dont take it that way because all I am trying to do is expand my horizons. I am by no way shape or form a hippie of any sort and hopefully not putting myself off in that manner...simply wanting to be able to get the job done without using a ton of chemicals.

With that being said the equipment we currently have is
1. Landa skid belt driven with 3500 PSI, 4.7 gpm, and diesel fired coil
2. Landa Direct drive that is mobile (extra money spent, more productivity avail) also at 3500PSI 3 ish GPM and diesel fired coil

will more than likely be adding an electric pump setup in the future but time to pay make some money to get back the money that has been put into those 2 machines, accessories, trailer etc.

Any help, info, input is more than greatly appreciated! Rather than have 1 person to go to seeing their point of view I believe its best in this situation to get as much information as I can and making a well informed decision instead of the first opinions I come across :D
 
From the tittle looks like you fit right in!! Playing a bit of poker right now so will get back to you. Plenty of guys that will help.
Randy Ward said:
First post so try not to ream me too badly here ladies and gents!

Starting a pressure washing business with my friend and not business partner, he is on here Alfredo but I have jumped on here as well to try and get a better understanding of the chemicals being used.

I see that most of you are basically using bleach for a majority of your mixes for house, concrete and roof wash. All 3 just happen to be the market we are trying to break into here and I am just trying to get an understanding of how effective, how safe and how plant friendly all of this is. One mix in particular I have seen come up numerous times on here as well as other forums I have been lurking on while at work over the past month or so is Applesauce. Granted the amt of water vs the amt of chemicals being used does help to dilute the solution down but you are still spraying essentially bleach, TSP and Borax on these surfaces which in turn end up on grass, plants, trees, flowers etc. All 3 of which will kill plant life in various different ways which after the amount of effort, time, sweat, cursing and money I have spent on my yard...if a cleaner killed it I would probably go off my hinges and throw a temper tantrum in my front yard giving my neighbors one hell of a show. My main question is at what point is the dilution little enough to not cause any issues with plants, grass, animals, flowers etc? if that point even exist.

Just speaking with the guy I purchased my equipment from in a little town close to here last week (he runs a chemical supply company) essentially told me that he would not sell me any chemicals because they are not needed. His business aside from repairs it literally probably %95 of the money being brought in at that company yet he tells me at most even cleaning his house he used 2 gal of outdoor bleach over a fairly large 2 story house, heat and some ext on his wand. After a few horror stories about roofs being cleaned by a guy locally in a very very affluent neighborhood is probably the one that stuck out the most. Guy is contracted to clean the roofs of several houses (keep in mind if you find a house in this neighborhood under 600k you have struck gold), cleans the roofs and starts getting phone calls of the owners wanting his head on a pike because he has completely obliterated the plant life around their home. The main advise I was given to do nearly all cleaning is %100 water.

Again, I can see the fact given that in some situations a cleaner like bleach would be needed but by reading a lot of forums it seems as if a lot of contractors are spraying bleach on these houses and businesses like they throw out dollar bills at the strip club.

Anyone have some concrete on paper information with some form of research of any useful information that shows these sort of mixes is not going to cause lots of harm to plant life? Not to mention I love the outdoors so the thought of me putting these additional poisons in the ground that could contaminate the ground or ground water makes me wanna puke a little. I know that a lot of you have been doing this for some time, have created, tampered with and have tried and true results for these mixtures but at the same time what sort of issues have you ran into? This of course is in no way shape of form ment to insult anyone, call you out etc so please dont take it that way because all I am trying to do is expand my horizons. I am by no way shape or form a hippie of any sort and hopefully not putting myself off in that manner...simply wanting to be able to get the job done without using a ton of chemicals.

With that being said the equipment we currently have is
1. Landa skid belt driven with 3500 PSI, 4.7 gpm, and diesel fired coil
2. Landa Direct drive that is mobile (extra money spent, more productivity avail) also at 3500PSI 3 ish GPM and diesel fired coil

will more than likely be adding an electric pump setup in the future but time to pay make some money to get back the money that has been put into those 2 machines, accessories, trailer etc.

Any help, info, input is more than greatly appreciated! Rather than have 1 person to go to seeing their point of view I believe its best in this situation to get as much information as I can and making a well informed decision instead of the first opinions I come across :D
Click to expand...




Text me for info on Milwaukee event. 480-522-5227
 
The gist of it is Use bleach and just don't get it on the plants. If you miss the house when spraying, rinse the plants with water and practice your accuracy

Sent from my DROID BIONIC using Tapatalk 2
 
I'm the new guy too but what I have learned from this site has seemed to work so far. With no chemicals, I think you're going to take a lot of time to clean and risk damaging property if all you're relying on is pressure.

I was told that wetting down the surrounding plant life first saturates the ground, root system etc and the plants take in the clean water. Once the chemical overspray hits the ground it's dilluted because the ground is soaked already and the plants can't drink anymore water so they don't take in the chemicals. In the rinsing process, soak it down again to push the chemicals below the root system and out of harms way. I haven't gotten any calls yet so what I've been told to be a tried and true method is working. Welcome to the site and best of luck. Like I did, you will find the info you need on here to get the job done.
 
if its running off the roof or surface how would you keep it off the plants and or grass? i mean honestly after reading more about the chem cocktail it seems more like something id spray on my neighbors yard during a feud to kill their grass. does anyone run into issues with dead plant life? you can practice your aim all you want but at the end of the day you will end up with runoff on the greenery which is either 1 going to kill it slowly or 2 kill it at the drop of a hat and have customers bashing your company to no end around town.
 
i really dont mean to sound like a wise ass...but if your soaking to have the plants take in more water than they need your 1. going to be there a while especially here in the south when its dry and hot all summer 2. going to turn their plant areas into a mud pit which is pretty common practice when it gets hot and 3. are going to have plants that require varying amounts of water which with leave some with too little, some with too much and then some just right. once the chemicals hit the ground they are going to go nowhere fast, additional water is going to just add more water and maybe slosh is around a bit. once it dries you will still have the chemicals there in there dirt, on and around the plants and basically waiting for disaster to happen while hoping it doesnt. the earth does a great job at filtering water which we drink as ground water and aquifers but someones yard is not going to process that little of water in that manner to even be able to break down and separate. granted plants thrive on varying degree's of PH but more ornamental plants your just asking for an angry phone call or a summons to court.

Wetwillie said:
I'm the new guy too but what I have learned from this site has seemed to work so far. With no chemicals, I think you're going to take a lot of time to clean and risk damaging property if all you're relying on is pressure.

I was told that wetting down the surrounding plant life first saturates the ground, root system etc and the plants take in the clean water. Once the chemical overspray hits the ground it's dilluted because the ground is soaked already and the plants can't drink anymore water so they don't take in the chemicals. In the rinsing process, soak it down again to push the chemicals below the root system and out of harms way. I haven't gotten any calls yet so what I've been told to be a tried and true method is working. Welcome to the site and best of luck. Like I did, you will find the info you need on here to get the job done.
Click to expand...
 
I grew up gardening, planting, working in greenhouses as well as few horticulture classes through HS :laugh:
 
The apple sauce mix is pretty much just for roof's. For roof's bag the gutters prewet the plants . Don't create a lot of runoff. Keep a ground man wetting the folage. Flood the grounds with fresh water. The key is to mist the roof several times until clean and not get a lot of runoff. Yes a roof cleaning mix is damn strong, will burn your skin and must be respected. Also most do not use tsp or borax anymore. Just a good liquid soap like gain.
For a housewash it is diluted by downstreaming to less than 1% active sodium hypochlorite and as long as you prewet and rinse plants you'll have no problem.

Pat Norman 662-316-7685
 
whats up and welcome read all we have hear its for the taking. There are tons of info on protocol. Ok lets start. .
First..stop villanizing bleach. Your kids swim In it..you wash clothes in it..you drink water treated by it. Clorox is a billion dollar company for a reason and its not because there killing everything on the planet. I just laugh when I see these eco guys no chemical garbage. I promise with the right chems we wash circles around em.
Second...there are steps you take in order to promote enviromental stewardship while working. Tarp plants and grass..let it pool up on the tarp..then dilute or neutralize with citric acid or plant wash or whatever you want then run it towards the most sturdy area of landscape. Werecycle the bags we take from the gutter doenspouts for walls or concrete. Also your not flooding the roof with this stuff make sure your specific in your application and conservative with you runoff. Ive had gutter bags that were completely dry after we came down off the roof from a cleaning.
Third. .soak..not rinse..soak before during and after..then just for the hell of it run the sprinkler
Fourth..neutralize if its concerning you. AC sells plant wash for nuetralizing the effects of a poorly rinsed landscape
Fifth..search sodium percarbonate..oxi clean..simix..copper sulfate..or any of the other takes months for it to clean eco chemicals out there if your customers sensitive about plants.
Finally test and test...on your own yard..find som grass..pour your roof mix on it in three spots. Dont rinse first then rinse second then soak third...see what happens. .we tell our guys for every gallon you spill dilute with 20gallons of water. Make sure mix doesnt touch dry landscape and make sure mix never dries on anything you dont want it to...research boosters so you dont have to mix so strong and you can save money. .good luck im sure others will help and add some confidence in you about chlorine mix. I put a teaspoon in my redbull every morning..jk dont try that.
 
literally misting it with like a sprayer? most of what i have seen is the roof being doused in this solution
 
exactly the type of info i am looking for...thank you. not trying to say im not touching chemicals but just want to make sure im not going to run into some nightmare scenario with this business...specially before before i am sitting at the table with Donald Trump talking about how we made our millions haha!

palm beach said:
whats up and welcome read all we have hear its for the taking. There are tons of info on protocol. Ok lets start. .
First..stop villanizing bleach. Your kids swim In it..you wash clothes in it..you drink water treated by it. Clorox is a billion dollar company for a reason and its not because there killing everything on the planet. I just laugh when I see these eco guys no chemical garbage. I promise with the right chems we wash circles around em.
Second...there are steps you take in order to promote enviromental stewardship while working. Tarp plants and grass..let it pool up on the tarp..then dilute or neutralize with citric acid or plant wash or whatever you want then run it towards the most sturdy area of landscape. Werecycle the bags we take from the gutter doenspouts for walls or concrete. Also your not flooding the roof with this stuff make sure your specific in your application and conservative with you runoff. Ive had gutter bags that were completely dry after we came down off the roof from a cleaning.
Third. .soak..not rinse..soak before during and after..then just for the hell of it run the sprinkler
Fourth..neutralize if its concerning you. AC sells plant wash for nuetralizing the effects of a poorly rinsed landscape
Fifth..search sodium percarbonate..oxi clean..simix..copper sulfate..or any of the other takes months for it to clean eco chemicals out there if your customers sensitive about plants.
Finally test and test...on your own yard..find som grass..pour your roof mix on it in three spots. Dont rinse first then rinse second then soak third...see what happens. .we tell our guys for every gallon you spill dilute with 20gallons of water. Make sure mix doesnt touch dry landscape and make sure mix never dries on anything you dont want it to...research boosters so you dont have to mix so strong and you can save money. .good luck im sure others will help and add some confidence in you about chlorine mix. I put a teaspoon in my redbull every morning..jk dont try that.
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plus with applesauce type concoction, do you just let it sit and do its thing? rinse with a hose? water broom?
 
Well thats a whole other argument. .lol we dont rinse 90% of our roofs. Of coarse metal roofs we rinse and neutralize. With gutters we just flush the gutters n spouts with fresh water..with out gutters we typically are rinsing the bottom quarter of the roof because we generally wash the fascia and underside of the protruding tile at the edge of the roof..this amounts to a very light rinse down and helps to decrease the chance of the morning dew obtaining a high concentration of salt and residual boosters and algecides. shingle roofs generally needs some time or a hefty flush to look good at time of application. .or at least look consistent. We let all our customers jnow before we begin that its a three step process. .firsy is application. .second is 2 to 3 days of bright sun and 2 to 3 days of rain..in florida thats abojt 2 weeks. I have never had to go back and rinse a roof trust I the soap. By the way..when discussing your procedures with the customer never use the word chemical use soap or detergent. As you can imagine its a stigma we are trying to overcome that we are running around spraying radioactive waste all over america. .lol
 
pay attention my friend ... he said mix a teaspoon in the red bull every morning (still unclear if you drink after mixing or let it sit ... but hey test and test ... I would but I don't drink red bull) lol
 
well since its monsoon season in GA right now, or at least in this part but summer comes weeks without rain. this is primary going to be an after work or weekends deal unless business is booming then it would become a full time job. would be nice to be unleashed from my cubicle permanently! primary the roof will be shingle around here so long as i get that one under control then we should be good to go. with that being said...when your flushing is this a water hose flush or something with more umph behind it?
 
you eat coffee grinds after i showed you it relieves headaches...time for you to go to bed i think lol

Alfredo Mejia said:
pay attention my friend ... he said mix a teaspoon in the red bull every morning (still unclear if you drink after mixing or let it sit ... but hey test and test ... I would but I don't drink red bull) lol
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Maybe you can get some labor for learning with someone that's in your area for about a week or so that is highly experienced. I'm sure it would pay off ten fold.
 
Randy,
Your just where we all started and in reality a "true" roof cleaning educational series of classes and hands on along with customer support is really needed in this industry.
As much as you will learn here, there will be a few things that will not be and those can be your costly mistakes. Those will be the ones that give this industry the "black eye" as we ( fulltimers) have to deal with re-educating the consumer. There is not one specific formula or resource available and you will be winging it OJT. You will kill some leaves or grass, you will have sleepless nights, it is not an easy trade for part time work. You may melt some paint, you may change colors on painted doors or trim, you may offend the neighbors, you may chemically burn your skin etc. etc. You will need to spend time and lots of it getting work for quite some time. It is not an easy industry as it may seem. I could go on for hours as it has been 3 years of learning and each job/customer is different. So in essence to cut to the chase it is not a cakewalk and if your going to get into this industry, educate yourself as much as you can and seek a seasoned pro for some hands on training.. please do the industry a favor if your in it for the long haul..
I hope to give you a better understanding, not to be condescending or disrespectful.
Best of Luck,
Kim Rousseau
Presidential Inc.
 
I would say first to do a lot of reading here in this site, there is a lot of great info here, don't expect everyone to wait on you hand and foot for answers, everyone has to work and the questions you have and will have most likely have been asked dozens of times and answered more than that by contractors that have been in the business anywhere from a year to about 30 years and know what they are doing.

Quit listening to everyone out there, especially chemical salesmen because most of them have never washed commercially. Washing their own house in their spare time, taking their time because they are not in a hurry or don't have more jobs lined up does not really qualify them as someone to give a commercial cleaner cleaning advice. If you want to wash like them, go and learn from them so you can wash 1 house per day, if you want to learn from contractors to wash fast and efficiently then keep on reading here.

Try writing smaller posts as a lot of people might not take the time reading them as they will forget some of the questions as they continue to read, posts with a short paragraph or a few will get you more responses and more will participate to help you out.

There is a lot of mis-information out there, be cautious when people tell you things or when you read things as there are people out there trying to mess with you because you are new, because you don't buy from their buddy (a vendor), you are not in their little group of friends or whatever the case may be.

Good luck.
 
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