The Best Liquid Dishsoap For Roof Cleaning

Apple Roof Cleaning

Roof Cleaning Instructor
I am Chris of Apple Roof Cleaning Tampa, the founder of the Roof Cleaning Institute. I want to share my discovery with all my fellow Roof Cleaners.


We have been using this everyday, on both tile and shingle roofs, and it rocks! We buy it at Family Dollar Store, they have 44 oz Original scent NON Antibacterial Liquid Gain Dishwashing Soap for 3 dollars a bottle! One of these per 100 gallons of mix seems about right.


It is also strongly scented. It appears to be totally chlorine compatable (after all, it has Ammonyx IN it) combined with Sodium Laurel Sulfate, that is also totally compatable with a roof cleaning mix!


You can use more (or less) then 44 ounces per 100 gallons of mix. Just for kicks, we threw 3 of the 44 ounce bottles of it in 125 gallons of roof cleaning mix on an 8/12 pitch shingle roof, and it stuck like glue!


Then, we put 4 of the 44 ounce bottles in 100 gallons of mixed chlorine and water on a Friday afternoon, and took the weekend off. On Monday, we cleaned a couple shingle roofs with THAT mix. It was still real soapy, and cleaned great. We noticed NO weakening of the mix at all!


I feel very confident about suggesting it. Theoretically, it should have worked, because all it's ingredients are compatable with Chlorine, unlike any other liquid dishwashing soap. But, we never rely on Theory, w/o actual on the roof testing. Original Scent Green Liquid Gain Dishwashing Soap works, it works very well, and will not eat your mix up. Plus, it is cheap, and readily availiable, when you need it!





Here it is http://www.ilovegain.com/gain_original_scent_dishwashing_liquid.do
 
Definitly gonna try that one out. Thanks Chris!
 
Tony I am going to guess that it would be fine since they are both on the same end of the ph scale and due to the fact that sodium hydroxide is a by product of the manufacturing of sodium hypochlorite. But what do I know? Maybe we should call Jim and have him run it by the epa in all of our areas and make sure! LOL (jUST AFTER HE RUNS OUR CREDIT REPORTS, CRIMINAL HISTORY AND TAX RECORDS) Again! lol

On a side note I have noticed that fragrance soaps mixed with sodium hydroxide can create a stout odor that will choke the piss out of you but its not toxic, it just seems to amplify the smell of the sodium hydroxide
 
What about this "high PH"......ACID BRIGHTENER

that Robert Hinderliter talks about in his presentation he shows to regulators.

I wonder if there are any other "misconceptions" in that presentation? lol

hinderliterph.jpg
 
How does this soap hold up to Sodium Hydroxide?
I have no idea Tony. I very very seldom use Sodium Hydroxide, and I have never tried Gain with it. Ultra Gain Green Original Scent is basically Lauramine (Ammonyx) and Sodium Laurel Sulfate, also known as SLS. Since both are stable in high PH Chlorine, one would imagine they will also be stable in high PH Sodium Hydroxide as well. But, Viton is basically "Chlorine Proof" and not good for Sodium Hydroxide, so go figure ?

Heck, Ultra Gain is only 3.00 for a 44 oz bottle, and if you have some Caustic Beads or Liquid Sodium Hydroxide, hook some up, and let's find out:)
 
I use caustic with dawn frequently and it works great. But I mix it onsite and never store it.

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Green Ultra Gain Original Scent SHOULD be just fine with Caustic. Surfactant wise, it has one of the same surfactants in it as Dawn, but it also has Lauramine in it. Lauramine is the generic chemical name for what we know as Ammonyx.

The Liquid Gain has a very strong, nice smell intentionally added to it. It is by Far the strongest smelling dish soap you can imagine.
It is made by Proctor and Gamble, the folks who make Dawn and Tide. In fact, it is the first new liquid dish soap from them in 34 years! It was intentionally aimed at the Hispanic Market, here in the USA. It seems they prefer a very strong scented dish soap.

I am not Hispanic, but I prefer a strongly scented surfactant to use in my roof cleaning mix. Not JUST to mask the smell of the Chlorine when Cleaning. I want a strong smell for when it rains, and all that dried roof cleaning mix comes off the roof! Using the Gain, customers have been impressed with "nice smelling suds" coming off their roof. We no longer hear this "WTF did you do, just dump a ton of Bleach on my roof" ! Or this "Why did you charge me 875.00 to clean my tile roof ? All I smelled was bleach after it rained"

I know it may "sound stupid", but we feel that what happens AFTER the job is left, can make a difference in repeat business, as well as referrals from our customers.
 
UPDATE!

Had the guys try it today, it worked great, we used 2 - 28 oz bottles in 100 gallons of mix and it smelled great and stuck like glue!

3000 sq foot shingle roof and 45 gal of mix is all it took to do the job mixed 35/65

Great Info Russ
 
Were did you guys buy the Ultra Gain from?
 
Were did you guys buy the Ultra Gain from?


From OP;
We have been using this everyday, on both tile and shingle roofs, and it rocks! We buy it at Family Dollar Store, they have 44 oz Original scent NON Antibacterial Liquid Gain Dishwashing Soap for 3 dollars a bottle! One of these per 100 gallons of mix seems about right.
 
Kool Thanks for the info guys. We have been using JOY for years. Its almost $7 a bottle.
 
UPDATE!

Had the guys try it today, it worked great, we used 2 - 28 oz bottles in 100 gallons of mix and it smelled great and stuck like glue!

3000 sq foot shingle roof and 45 gal of mix is all it took to do the job mixed 35/65

Glad you and everyone else like my little discovery of the Ultra Gain Green Original Scent Brother Russ. Sometimes Russ, I can't believe myself, One would think that for as long as I have been cleaning roofs, I would be burned out, and have lost interest in new and better ways to do the job we all depend on to feed and provide for ourselves, and those we Love. But I haven't, and I still get excited when I find something cheap, and readily available, that actually works. Man, after it rains, that chit makes lots of great smelling suds that come off the roof. Customers see and smell the suds, and feel they have got their moneys worth. I never hear this anymore "WTF have your guys done to my roof, sprayed a supermarket full of bleach up there" Plus, any surfactant helps increase the pumps life, by providing lubrication!
One of my RCIA guys took some Roof Snot, and mixed it and the Gain together, said the chit thickened up pretty good!

LOL, my brother, whoo works for me, added 3 of the big 44 oz bottles to one 300 gallon tank. But the dumb fuk put it in with the 115 gallons of pure chlorine BEFORE he added the water. he will never do that again. When he tried to add the water, the chit looked like a bubble bath Russ, suds coming out the top of the tank! Hey, he is new, and still learning!
 
From OP;
We have been using this everyday, on both tile and shingle roofs, and it rocks! We buy it at Family Dollar Store, they have 44 oz Original scent NON Antibacterial Liquid Gain Dishwashing Soap for 3 dollars a bottle! One of these per 100 gallons of mix seems about right.
This is what we have found as well Timothy, both from our use of the Liquid Ultra Gain, and feedback from some my Roof Cleaning Institute guys. Of course, it is cold up North now, so I am not getting as much feedback as I would like. But, so far, All feedback has been positive. When I discovered it, of course we tested it for several months before going public with the good news. But, I firmly believe that All of us (You Guys), is smarter then one of us (Me). I very much value everyone's feedback here, and I thank you for it.

It is clear to me that Ultra Gain Green Original Scent Liquid Dishwashing Soap is going to become THE roof cleaning surfactant of choice. One day, years from now, anyone who is in this thread, and provided feedback, will be able to point to this thread with Pride, because all of you were here on the ground floor of this important discovery, in the world of roof cleaning!

Tim, the amount of Gain can be increased from the suggested 1 big 44 oz bottle per 100 gallons of roof cleaning mix. Just to test Chlorine Stability, and watch out for surfactant separation, I purposely dumped 4 of the 44 oz bottles, in only 100 gallons of mix. It seemed to totally mask the chlorine smell, and made a gel like mix that just stuck to the roof shingles, like freaking Glue!

Remember, the Ultra Gain is 100 percent chlorine stable, and there is no need to worry about it killing your roof cleaning mix. Don't be scared to simply use more if you get a really steep roof. The more you use (up to a point) the thicker your mix will be, and the more the smell of the Gain will replace the smell of the chlorine.

Now that feedback from others(very important to me) is coming in, and it has all been positive, I am looking at some chlorine compatable stir in thickeners for the Liquid Gain!

But,, for now, until I do more testing, if you require a thicker mix, simply add more.
 
Good thread Chris. Your as passionate today with roofs as I remember you were when I first discovered Powerwashing bulletin boards in the late 90's. If memory serves me correctly you coined the phrase "Love" when discussing Sodium Hypochlorite being used in the roof cleaning mixture. It was guys like you who talked about Chlorine "love" with there cleaning mixtures that I went from using only pressurized water to bleach in my house wash mixtures to trying chlorine and diluting it to whatever strength I need.

There was a time I would even use a chlorine mixture on wood restoration jobs which worked fine. Then I was told to use a neutralizer afterwords because the chlorine does throw the PH of the wood off ever so slightly and it will brighton more so with the neutralizer. Now all wood restoration jobs we use Sodium hydroxide.

I met a cool dude Rick Petry who was at a few Roundtables over the years and also was at my house last year. He is known by some of us as the Bleach Bandit but you are the Chlorine King:)

Few names back then was Rick from Prowash,Les Howerton( might be spelling his name wrong but he was great thru emails helping me along) Lance Winslow(u could write a book about this guy who I exchanged a few emails with as well discussing some of the things he was doing then such as the Carwash guys), Bigboy, Scott Stone who is still here on PWI and of course David Olson who has since passed away. Good memories.

Ok back on track looks like you have a winner with that liquid Ultra Gain mixed in with " the love".
 
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