What not to do on wood!

I lost a job recently, because I would not use a surface cleaner on a deck. The home owner said the other pressure washer was going to use a surface cleaner and could clean it faster and cheaper than I could, but he would rather give the job to me if I could get closer to his price. I told him that was not the correct way to do it, and if I was going to do it I wasn't going to use a surface cleaner.

So I he let the other company do it. I need to go check on it to see how it turned out.
 
This only happens if you DO NOT KNOW HOW TO DO IT properly - same as using any other tool.
 
Those overlaps, rings and swirls sure are prrrrrrty. hahahahahahaha
 
Kory did you fix it your wand at low pressure?
if you are careful you can smooth it out
 
Can someone actually post what the "right" way is? I've read this from dozens of people who apparently use one...would love to hear methods. Tip size, speed, direction, etc.
 
bigchaz said:
Can someone actually post what the "right" way is? I've read this from dozens of people who apparently use one...would love to hear methods. Tip size, speed, direction, etc.
Click to expand...

Not sure how the other guys do it, many have wheels on theirs, mine does not. Anyway, when I get just about to the end of a row I tilt the surface cleaner up toward the direction I just came from at about a 45 degree angle, move it along the wall to my next row, then as I slowly start to move away from the wall I lower it back down. This allows me to "feather" it in and not have a super clean swath next to a wall.

Also, always make your runs with the boards, not across them as seen in that first picture.

When I get into corners of walls I usually try to make circles to keep the machine moving. If you ever let it stop, you're doomed and will have to spend the time to feather it out with the wand.

Speakiing of that, I use the surface cleaner first, then come back and "cut-in" with the wand. Tried it both ways and cutting in last seems to work best for me.

Good luck, if you can master it, it will save you time. :groucho: If not, it will cost you!!!! :banghead:
 
Theoretically...you can't turn the bar of a surface cleaner at less than 2000 PSI. The recommended pressure to use on wood is about 500 PSI. You would have to size your tips to drop your pressure down to about 500 PSI. On a 4 gpm machine you would use size 6 tips on a 2 arm surface cleaner. Also...when cleaning wood you want to go with the grain. Same thing they teach you in shop class when sanding wood. The problem with a surface cleaner is that 80% of the motion is going against the grain.
 
When I first started Powerwashing in 96 the first 4 yrs I used a surface machine on some decks(Usually the larger ones) and NO Chemicals. Around 99 or so I learned about the chemicals on these bb's and now no matter what size wood deck we do we can do it faster and better with the right chemicals. The blasting days are over.
 
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