Suggestions on Cleaner

We are starting a HUGE townhome complex on the 21st of April. Approx 280 townhomes (row homes). They have general dirt, cobwebs and bird poo on them, NO mold, moss, algea, or mildew. Very simple - but time consuming. We are going to have one unit "soaping" and another unit following behind rinsing. The rows range from 60' length x 40' depth to 240' length and 40' depth.

We were just planning on using our simple house wash mixture, but I am taking suggestions.....I was thinking of trying Simple Cherry or Power House - but I don't want to get carried away in cost of the manufactured chems.

I am looking at approximately 214,000 surface sq ft of vinyl siding. :eek:
 
We are starting a HUGE townhome complex on the 21st of April. Approx 280 townhomes (row homes). They have general dirt, cobwebs and bird poo on them, NO mold, moss, algea, or mildew. Very simple - but time consuming. We are going to have one unit "soaping" and another unit following behind rinsing. The rows range from 60' length x 40' depth to 240' length and 40' depth.

We were just planning on using our simple house wash mixture, but I am taking suggestions.....I was thinking of trying Simple Cherry or Power House - but I don't want to get carried away in cost of the manufactured chems.

I am looking at approximately 214,000 surface sq ft of vinyl siding. :eek:
I suggest looking into an old school homemade cleaner like bleach with some TSP and a little bit of Borax added.
The TSP is a remarkable cleaner, and used in low concentratios will not be a problem.
The addition of Borax will KEEP Mildew AND Insects off the walls, and you can mention this as an added feature.

Whatever you wind up using, I would at least add some Borax to.
Borax adds mildew and insect protection to whatever you use.
 
I have limited experience with Simple Cherry but have used Power House a lot. I have used it on Stucco, Vinyl and Hard board siding with very good results. It is available in a 55 gallon kit that can save you on freight.
 
We use alot of borax - it is one of our secret ingredients. Although the weather is sooooo dry here we dont have mold, mildew or algea, nor the bugs....but it is a great cleaner all around. I figure that I will throw our normal house wash recipe together for this job- it will be alot cheaper and probably more effective that the manu chems. Thanks for the input guys!;)


Nicole
 
If you do use the TSP in your mix be sure and rinse,rinse rinse the windows, and then rinse again. TSP will leave a mess on windows if not properly rinsed. Talk about a nightmare, as it is real work to remove that white film. Especially on so many houses. I think it was Chris from Apple that mentioned a long while ago about another good easy mix type of cleaner. Chlorine and sodium hydroxide. I have been using it and it works amazingly well. I use 7 gallons 12.5% chlorine 2lbs. of sodium hydroxide and 28 gallons of water to make 35 gallons. I might add that I apply the mix with a roller pump and not with the washer, so this is the final product mix. This mix works well for me, others may have to adjust to the area you live. Will not remove black streaks on the gutters, you'll need a butyl based cleaner like Castrol Superclean. Using the Castrol at 50% strength is usually strong enough. (If that wasn't you who mentioned that mix Chris I apologize to you and whoever did mention it, I think it was you though)

Jeff
 
We are starting a HUGE townhome complex on the 21st of April. Approx 280 townhomes (row homes). They have general dirt, cobwebs and bird poo on them, NO mold, moss, algea, or mildew. Very simple - but time consuming. We are going to have one unit "soaping" and another unit following behind rinsing. The rows range from 60' length x 40' depth to 240' length and 40' depth.

We were just planning on using our simple house wash mixture, but I am taking suggestions.....I was thinking of trying Simple Cherry or Power House - but I don't want to get carried away in cost of the manufactured chems.

I am looking at approximately 214,000 surface sq ft of vinyl siding. :eek:

dont charge more than $29.95 and get some bleach and a car wash brush and a garden hose and you should be ok !


hahahahahahahaha
 
A product like Simple Cherry will cost you a couple dollars per house. Since you should be getting around $20,000-$30,000 for the project, the chem cost shouldn't hurt your bottom line. I don't advise using home brews on a condo complex (No MSDS and no insurance company will cover liability)
 
A product like Simple Cherry will cost you a couple dollars per house. Since you should be getting around $20,000-$30,000 for the project, the chem cost shouldn't hurt your bottom line. I don't advise using home brews on a condo complex (No MSDS and no insurance company will cover liability)
Good Point Ken!
We only clean roofs, mostly residential, so we seldom run into this.
 
If you do use the TSP in your mix be sure and rinse,rinse rinse the windows, and then rinse again. TSP will leave a mess on windows if not properly rinsed. Talk about a nightmare, as it is real work to remove that white film. Especially on so many houses. I think it was Chris from Apple that mentioned a long while ago about another good easy mix type of cleaner. Chlorine and sodium hydroxide. I have been using it and it works amazingly well. I use 7 gallons 12.5% chlorine 2lbs. of sodium hydroxide and 28 gallons of water to make 35 gallons. I might add that I apply the mix with a roller pump and not with the washer, so this is the final product mix. This mix works well for me, others may have to adjust to the area you live. Will not remove black streaks on the gutters, you'll need a butyl based cleaner like Castrol Superclean. Using the Castrol at 50% strength is usually strong enough. (If that wasn't you who mentioned that mix Chris I apologize to you and whoever did mention it, I think it was you though)

Jeff
Ken Fenner will remember that mix, as will all the old timers from the Delco board.

It was a good, all purpose mix "handed down" from the old timers.
It is not my invention.

Apple Sauce is mine, but it is a dedicated roof cleaning mix.
Since we only clean roofs, it is un tested in other areas.
Although diluted, it will clean up a house exterior w/o pressure.

But, in the exterior cleaning field, I have nothing to compare it to.
I just know it works well for roofs.
 
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