Concrete Cleaning - Certified SoftWash Roof Cleaning

western pa roof cleaning · Freshmen Member

Concrete Cleaning

AC Lockyer · Administrator

Rob,

Spray the edge from the grass in, not from the drive out! Other than that we are launching a huge web based training effort at the Tampa NCE event. You are gona love it!

AC

western pa roof cleaning · Freshmen Member

Thanks AC, we'll try it.

R & J

Chris Francis · Sophmore Member

Way I clean concret driveways and side walks is by using the surface cleaner first then put down my cleaner last I wash the cleaner off been doing that for years has not kill grass at all.

western pa roof cleaning · Freshmen Member

thanks!

Schall Bradley · Sophmore Member

Trying to nail down some pricing, what are ya'll getting for driveways, sidewalks, whole house and fascia/ soffit on a brick house ?

Michael Derose · SoftWash Systems Certified Applicator

Well how long does it take you to do those items? What is your overhead cost? What type of equipment do you have? Do you have any employees? There are a multitude of things that factor into pricing. You need to figure out what you need to make an hour and then base your pricing on that. I strive for around 2-300 per hour.

Laurie Benjamin · Lead Tech Certified

What about when youre done and its all dried up and rain falls, remember what you said about the sh and dew on the roof. Can this cause the same problem if there is grass around?

Danny Cronauer · SoftWash Systems Certified

I am sensing Laurie is a plant nazi like myself. I have come to the conclusion, I water rinse and treat the best I can but, somethings are just gonna die. Just need to make enough money to cover the loss.

Laurie Benjamin · Lead Tech Certified

lol@ Plant natzi..

Doug Rucker · UAMCC Officer

All Aspects Ltd wrote:
What about when youre done and its all dried up and rain falls, remember what you said about the sh and dew on the roof. Can this cause the same problem if there is grass around?

Yes absolutely

Laurie Benjamin · Lead Tech Certified

Ok so what is the prevention.....?

AC Lockyer · Administrator

All Aspects Ltd wrote:
Ok so what is the prevention.....?

The bleach will degrade after a few days. You just hope for either a big rain or no rain. Sun showers can cause damage because they get the chems running but dont dilute.

AC

Laurie Benjamin · Lead Tech Certified

I realised that i could not find any video on the net where someone softwashed concrete so i decided to do one of my own...Check it out

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUGgb4PP2wE&feature=plcp

In this video i used a 2% SH solution with GW..Thats why it took a bit longer, but it is poof that softwashing does also work on heavly stained concrete..Thanks AC!
-- Edited by All Aspects Ltd on Wednesday 19th of September 2012 12:10:33 AM

-- Edited by All Aspects Ltd on Wednesday 19th of September 2012 12:13:14 AM

-- Edited by All Aspects Ltd on Thursday 20th of September 2012 12:15:10 PM

John Smith · Lead Tech Certified

That link just loops back to this page for me

Laurie Benjamin · Lead Tech Certified

Gotchya..problem fixed..

Laurie Benjamin · Lead Tech Certified

All Aspects Ltd wrote:
I realised that i could not find any video on the net where someone softwashed concrete so i decided to do one of my own...Check it out
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aUGgb4PP2wE&feature=plcp

In this video i used a 2% SH solution with GW..Thats why it took a bit longer, but it is poof that softwashing does also work on heavly stained concrete..Thanks AC!
-- Edited by All Aspects Ltd on Wednesday 19th of September 2012 12:10:33 AM

-- Edited by All Aspects Ltd on Wednesday 19th of September 2012 12:13:14 AM

-- Edited by All Aspects Ltd on Thursday 20th of September 2012 12:15:10 PM

Steve Salley · Junior Member

Laurie
I liked you video as it shows how good and effective softwashing is:

My only comment is I do not ever demonstrate my superior system of cleaning with a pump up sprayer, because that tells the homeowner they can do this themselves.

Just my opinon though.

It is always amazing to show how non pressure chemical only cleaning is truly the best way to clean exterior surfaces.

Mike Laskowski · SoftWash Systems Pro Staff

Rob,

Follow AC's suggestion about working from the edge in for plant protection. I also use a 3% (versus 4%) with green wash (to open up the bloom so you can use less SH) and softwash only and the results are amazing (just have to walk away and come back in 10 minutes to get the wow factor). The big upside to using a softwash only approach is that you won't damage the concrete. During the concrete's curing process a protective glaze forms on the outside layer and if you were to powerwash this surface you could potentially damage this glaze during the cleaning process. Once that glaze has been compromised the concrete can begin to leech out and loose its structural integrity and become brittle and crack. Softwashing preserves and protects the service life of the concrete surface (SELLING POINT). Thats my two cents at least...

AC Lockyer · Administrator

Good tip Mike.

AC

Mark Fermoyle · Lead Tech Certified

Lauri,
Did you do that using CH or SH?

Laurie Benjamin · Lead Tech Certified

I used CH. But that was a while ago... The mix was abit weak...Now it happens almost right away.

Doug Ford · Junior Member

Yep I did a sample job for an investor we clean houses for and did his back pation with the soft wash method and it took me literally 20 seconds to spray the concrete and by the time we were finished with the house the concrete was clean. This guy is not looking for sqeaky clean but just to help him sell his houses. I started working on his roofs and showed his gc our house cleaning work and talked about how much time it would save him and his crew and he was stunned at our work, then I moved to concrete and now I have turned $250 job into a $450 job and it only takes me about an hour more. Now remember this guys calls me about once a week for a new cleaning job so I give him a discount. He is also well connected in the investor community.

Tim Teed · SoftWash Systems 5-Star Professional

The best bet is to not oversell the results and manage expectactions. Take a before photo to remind homeowner of what it looked like after the job is done. Some stains will not come out of concrete, but it will be a huge improvement. You might get some browning of the grass along the edges, but it will come back. Remind to prewater the grass and plants before coming for the cleaning. We are disinfecting and killing the bacteria so it is possible for some minor browning. As part of the sales close explain the damage pressure washer might cause and say to homeowner "Don't you agree that is is better to have a little brown grass that will comeback instead of damaged concrete that would never comeback" Try to get in the habit of asking the customer to agree with you as part of the sales close. examples....Can you believe some companies skip the step of neutralizing the overspray....So wouldn't you agree it is better to treat GCM as a pest with a cleaner instead of just using a pressure washer that cleans by abrasion at the surface....etc

Mark Fermoyle · Lead Tech Certified

All Aspects Ltd wrote:
I used CH. But that was a while ago... The mix was abit weak...Now it happens almost right away.

So, are you still using CH exlusively, Laurie?