We removed a bunch of dead vines, and they left behind a lot of very attached remnants all around the house. We tried hitting them with just some water and soap, which helped a little, but still required a lot of manual scrubbing to get off. I've been planning on ordering some terra wash to use on oil stains on driveways, and was wondering if terra wash would help in this situation with the vine remnants.
it might help a little bit, but agitation, scrubbing, hand picking and even a little pressure will most likely be needed. Sometimes the vines will actually damage the surface where they attach to it. You need to make notes on your quotes and set the customers expectations. If they want it removed charge accordingly.
Even with a good hot water pressure washer, some of those may not come off without damaging the brick, as brick can be softer than concrete. Those are one of the hardest things to remove. As Tim stated, set the expectation that you will remove as much as possible without damage, and that painting may be necessary. A side note would be to let the customer know that vines are pretty hard to kill, and they will need to probably trim and treat the vines multiple times before they don't come back.
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Chad A. Eneix, President, Water Dragon Inc. chad@waterdragoncleaning.com
Any of your vertical cementitious surfaces are going to be softer and more prone to damage than a horizontal cementitious surface...that's one of the reasons we SoftWash. The "glue" that holds them to the surface does not respond much to bleach/soap/emulsifiers, i.e. cleaning solution. As stated, the pressure washer will help, as will elbow grease and a medium bristle brush.
Thanks for all the great input everyone. I informed the customer that it may take some aggressive measures to remove them, and the brick may need to be repainted in spots, and they were ok with it.
