Killing of certain plans, loss of leaves after cleaning. - Certified SoftWash Roof Cleaning

Kevin B · Freshmen Member

Killing of certain plans, loss of leaves after cleaning.

AC Lockyer · Administrator

Kevin,

Have you taken the Plant & Property Protection Module yet?

Also remember the Three Ds

Divert, Dilute, Decontaminate.

AC

Chris Madden · Lead Tech Certified

Kevin B wrote:
Hi All:
I am new to the industry. I have done a couple of jobs. I have problems on two of the jobs with plants that were very close to or touching the house and a couple from run off.
I used a 100 gal. total mix. = 15 gal of SH(12.5%); 64 oz green wash and the rest water.
The one job was a full house cleaing - roof, siding, porch, and walk way.
The other was two sides of a house and porch and walkway.
I rinsed all plant life and grass before starting, did cleaning, rinsed cleaning and plant life, and then final rinsed all plant life after.

The full house job got interupted by a tunderstorm and I did not get the plant wash completed. Went back next day and completed along with a few minor spots missed.
Lost several plants, flowers and tress.
The partial house I forgot to complete the plant wash. Both days were extremely hot and humid. From talking to a couple of people and reading topics/posts - I believe I need to take breaks and rinse more often since it was so hot near 100 degrees and 70-90% humidity.
Anyway, want is the best to protect in first place and is there anything to do after they are dead or dying, droping leaves? - Like adding Plant Wash after the fact again.
Is covering the best or use PW first?
Please provide help.
Thank you.
Kevin

Hello Kevin,

Welcome to the community!!!
Your mix is fine for roof cleaning, But if you used that strong of a mix on a house wash, that is why plants were damaged.
Waaaayyyy to strong for vertical serfaces, especially were plants are around.
In a 100 gal mix I use 2-3 Gal of SH total and 64 Oz. of Green Wash. I make my house wash weaker than most, but I found
my sweet spot for the algae I deal with on a daily basis. It works great and Noooooooo plant damage.
I highly recomend AC's training modules. They are a wealth of knowledge and will save you a ton of money in your business.
You will get a return on your investment many times over.
I would start with the Plant & Property Protection Module, It will save you money on your next jobs for sure. Will you be replacing
the plants/shrubs for your client?

Chris

Ray Burke · Community Member

I second what Chris said! Not time to elaborate right now, but basically your mix was at least twice as strong as it should have been.

AC Lockyer · Administrator

I asked about the module because i wanted to see what base of knowledge you had. Have you visited the mixology page?

AC

Kevin B · Freshmen Member

Thank you all for the information.

As I said I am new to the industry, someone was giving me some guidance and has kind of dropped off the face of the earth for me.

So I am am basically learning as I go and get started.

I will get right on taking that module.

I did review and have a copy of the mixology page and went inbetween the 1% and 2% Cleaning solution - it appeared to cover all the surfaces I was cleaning.

And yes it looks like I will be replacing plants, possible shutter painted and a re-seal of a driveway for the one customer.

Thank you again.

Chris Madden · Lead Tech Certified

Kevin B wrote:
Thank you all for the information.
As I said I am new to the industry, someone was giving me some guidance and has kind of dropped off the face of the earth for me.
So I am am basically learning as I go and get started.
I will get right on taking that module.
I did review and have a copy of the mixology page and went inbetween the 1% and 2% Cleaning solution - it appeared to cover all the surfaces I was cleaning.

And yes it looks like I will be replacing plants, possible shutter painted and a re-seal of a driveway for the one customer.
Thank you again.

Kevin,

I hate that happened to you, I can assure you that most, if not all here have learned something the hard way in this business.

There should be no reason for any member here to go through the learning curve again. Read and take in as much as you can,

take the Modules as you can, and get on here and ask for some help. We are all here to help one another, and some day you will be

answering questions and helping someone get started in this business.

I am ALL ABOUT the least amount of SH as possible to get your task at hand completed. Always start your mix weak and add to it if you need to.

You can not take SH out of your solution once it is in there. Start at 1/8 to 1/4 of a percent and see if it cleans the surface you are working on.

If it does not, go up to 3/4 or 1 percent. Most of the House Washing I do uses between 1/8 to 1/4 percent SH. It WORKS!!!! and there is little

to NO chance of damage to any plants or painted surfaces (except those with a color tint issue, More on that in the modules)

I wish you well in making right by the customer or customers you have an issue with. Lesson Learned, and get on here and post, that's what we are ALL

here for... One big SoftWashing consulting community.

Don't get discouraged, It will only get better

Have a great weekend Kevin!!!!

Chris

AC Lockyer · Administrator

Kevin B wrote:
Thank you all for the information.
As I said I am new to the industry, someone was giving me some guidance and has kind of dropped off the face of the earth for me.
So I am am basically learning as I go and get started.
I will get right on taking that module.
I did review and have a copy of the mixology page and went inbetween the 1% and 2% Cleaning solution - it appeared to cover all the surfaces I was cleaning.

And yes it looks like I will be replacing plants, possible shutter painted and a re-seal of a driveway for the one customer.
Thank you again.

Call me immediately about the plants and get me pix and names of the plants. I have a hort degree and may be able to help save you some money.

AC

Danny Cronauer · SoftWash Systems Certified

Kevin it sounds like you just went out there spraying and praying. I go into every job scared of plants and property. Pretend that just one drop of 3-4% SH can kill a plant, or ruin someones property.

Do you have a ground guy?

How did you mess up the driveway?

Keep reading, Keep learning. It will all be ok. Modules!

Dan

Paul Freeman · Junior Member

Kevin,

Sorry to hear about your troubles. When I first started out in the exterior cleaning business I got into trouble with plants on a job too. It cost me a lot of money to have a professional company replace all the plants I killed surrounding a deck that wrapped around the back of a house. In the end though, my customer was so grateful that I did the right thing by replacing the plants and finishing the job that he gave me a $400 tip. It didn't nearly cover my costs, but I believe it salvage my reputation in the community.

Your mix was actually a little less than 2%. Check out the screenshot below. I plugged your numbers into the spreadsheet and did a little 'what if' testing on the 'Desired Strength of Mix' field to find the gallons of water you used to get your 100 gallon mix (first Red line). On the second (red) line I just plugged 100, 4, and 12.5 to the LEFT of the = sign, to get the raw material requirements on the RIGHT of the = sign, which would give you a 100gal of mix with a 4% SH ratio per gallon. Ther remaining lines are just there as an example to demonstrate the usefullness of the spreadsheet.

Hang in there, Kevin.

Paul

Edit: Oops! I meant the other Left and Right lol! I fixed it.

-- Edited by Exterior Cleaning NW Florida on Thursday 16th of August 2012 09:07:35 AM

Laurie Benjamin · Lead Tech Certified

Just did the calculation and Kevin your mix was about 4% which is strong for a house....However, Palmento your mix is about a .4% strength.

Chris Madden · Lead Tech Certified

All Aspects Ltd wrote:
Just did the calculation and Kevin your mix was about 4% which is strong for a house....However, Palmento your mix is about a .4% strength.

That is correct. I use between .25% and .5% for all my vinyl and hardi board house washing. It works great for me,

and NO concerns of plant/paint damage.

Chris

AC Lockyer · Administrator

Agreed. You can almost use the left over SH in the bottom of your tank that the pump cant pick up and dilute it to 100 gallons and still clean surfaces like vinyl siding, alum screen enclosures, metal roofs and alike.

AC

Laurie Benjamin · Lead Tech Certified

Metal roofs...lol...We must have a different moss here or maybe Trinidadians neglect their roof untill its thick at certain parts...1% does nothing besides change the colour on our local metal, 1% is for sidings,that was one of the things that made me doubt the softwash in the begining ..... ...I go straight 3% and still have to do a second pass..

Maybe i would brimg some local moss in January...lol

-- Edited by All Aspects Ltd on Tuesday 14th of August 2012 11:02:49 PM

AC Lockyer · Administrator

Arggggggggggg it will be a salty moss indeed!

Pirate AC :P

Ryan Wilkins · Freshmen Member

The only solution for pollution is dilution!!

AC Lockyer · Administrator

The Three D's of Plant Protection.

Divert
Dilute
Decontaminate

AC

Danny Cronauer · SoftWash Systems Certified

speaking of decontaminate, I pour a little bit of plant wash in the gutter and rinse it down. Does it do anything I don't know, I tell myself it should balance the PH of the soil.