Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: hank jr on May 31, 2019, 09:18:28 pm
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Hi everyone, can anyone point me in the right direction on wer to learn about driveway cleaning and softwashing?
I want to expand my window cleaning business into an exterior cleaning business.... (Smudger's doing the same type of business)
any tips or advice would be greatly appreciated.
Thanks for your help!
Much appreciated.
ps any tips or advice on a decent pressure washer and techniques would be appreciated too.
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Ask on the general cleaning section, they love a newbie over there. Extra points for being a window cleaner doing some power washing on the side.
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Ask on the general cleaning section, they love a newbie over there. Extra points for being a window cleaner doing some power washing on the side.
OK will do thanks.
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the general cleaning section is far less aggressive than it once was - some recent thread will point you in the right direction
Darran
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Thanks, seems a lot quieter over there....
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Obviously be aware of poor pointing before you begin, unless you intend to repoint afterwards as well.
Yet generally, I would wash and then apply Hypo soft mix, about 3 - 5% dilution depending how bad the lichens are, add a suffactant and a scent to mask the smell. Apply, leave and then rinse off.
However the specifics on this will be on numerous threads on the pages mentioned above.
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Obviously be aware of poor pointing before you begin, unless you intend to repoint afterwards as well.
Yet generally, I would wash and then apply Hypo soft mix, about 3 - 5% dilution depending how bad the lichens are, add a suffactant and a scent to mask the smell. Apply, leave and then rinse off.
However the specifics on this will be on numerous threads on the pages mentioned above.
Thanks Nathan, I can always rely on you to help me out :)
Do you do pressure washing as well as windows?
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Yep, pressure washing, soft washing of house render etc and then obviously Conny roof cleans n fascia cleans.
I'm currently looking into roof cleaning at the moment
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The simplest way would be to grab a watering can, add sodium hypo and water (maybe start with 1-4 mix) and pour on the sandstone.
Leave for a fair few mins.
Rinse off with a hose.
If that doesn’t shift it all, add more sodium hypo to the mix and try again.
That is literally how simple softwashing can be 👍🏼
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The simplest way would be to grab a watering can, add sodium hypo and water (maybe start with 1-4 mix) and pour on the sandstone.
Leave for a fair few mins.
Rinse off with a hose.
If that doesn’t shift it all, add more sodium hypo to the mix and try again.
That is literally how simple softwashing can be 👍🏼
Really? Wow I like this softwashing malarky! Screw window cleaning :)
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Yep, pressure washing, soft washing of house render etc and then obviously Conny roof cleans n fascia cleans.
I'm currently looking into roof cleaning at the moment
Thats a good move mate, did you just learn off here then put it into practice at work? Im a bit bothered of destroying someones property in some way ha ha
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Yep, pressure washing, soft washing of house render etc and then obviously Conny roof cleans n fascia cleans.
I'm currently looking into roof cleaning at the moment
Thats a good move mate, did you just learn off here then put it into practice at work? Im a bit bothered of destroying someones property in some way ha ha
Jet washing is easy enough really, especially if you start off with decent equipment to begin with. Ideally 15-21 ltr per min machines, turbo nozzle (which are amazing) and fsc (flat surface cleaners) make light work of anything. Practice makes perfect, as to the amount of pressure and distance from surface you need to hold. Mostly it's common sense really...... 😂 You've probably come across people's attempts with karchers n cheap machines, leaving stripes all over the place or even circular patches on fences where they couldn't resist using a turbo to perhaps rinse the wooden side fences 😂😂
Hypo/soft washing was a lot of research into the safe ways of using. 😂😂 Stay away from American videos as they don't seem to care about drift Hypo falling wherever it likes 👍
As different surfaces n cleans need a different strength mixing up.
Roof cleaning looks easy enough as it's a combination of the above two, but I'm looking into the IPAF's. So I can hire and control various platforms to get me to the heights required and be fully insured etc to do so. (mostly because of all the gutter clean jobs I've done and you just know that regardless of how good your gonna clean those gutter, all that moss on the roof will soon end up back in it lol
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The simplest way would be to grab a watering can, add sodium hypo and water (maybe start with 1-4 mix) and pour on the sandstone.
Leave for a fair few mins.
Rinse off with a hose.
If that doesn’t shift it all, add more sodium hypo to the mix and try again.
That is literally how simple softwashing can be 👍🏼
It wont do as good as job as pressure washing then applying hypo though.
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The simplest way would be to grab a watering can, add sodium hypo and water (maybe start with 1-4 mix) and pour on the sandstone.
Leave for a fair few mins.
Rinse off with a hose.
If that doesn’t shift it all, add more sodium hypo to the mix and try again.
That is literally how simple softwashing can be 👍🏼
It wont do as good as job as pressure washing then applying hypo though.
Painfull
https://youtu.be/rfytcEJZ-K4
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The simplest way would be to grab a watering can, add sodium hypo and water (maybe start with 1-4 mix) and pour on the sandstone.
Leave for a fair few mins.
Rinse off with a hose.
If that doesn’t shift it all, add more sodium hypo to the mix and try again.
That is literally how simple softwashing can be 👍🏼
It wont do as good as job as pressure washing then applying hypo though.
I’m working on the basis it’s too soft to pressure wash, but that would also be my preference if it was doable without damage.
Softwashing alone should be fine though, no reason it won’t bring the sandstone back to its original look.
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The simplest way would be to grab a watering can, add sodium hypo and water (maybe start with 1-4 mix) and pour on the sandstone.
Leave for a fair few mins.
Rinse off with a hose.
If that doesn’t shift it all, add more sodium hypo to the mix and try again.
That is literally how simple softwashing can be 👍🏼
Really? Wow I like this softwashing malarky! Screw window cleaning :)
Its not quite as simple as that. If you think it is youre going to come unstuck, which may prove very costly.
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The simplest way would be to grab a watering can, add sodium hypo and water (maybe start with 1-4 mix) and pour on the sandstone.
Leave for a fair few mins.
Rinse off with a hose.
If that doesn’t shift it all, add more sodium hypo to the mix and try again.
That is literally how simple softwashing can be 👍🏼
What a load of BS - that will never clean up to. decent standard with pressure washing
Darran
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The simplest way would be to grab a watering can, add sodium hypo and water (maybe start with 1-4 mix) and pour on the sandstone.
Leave for a fair few mins.
Rinse off with a hose.
If that doesn’t shift it all, add more sodium hypo to the mix and try again.
That is literally how simple softwashing can be 👍🏼
It wont do as good as job as pressure washing then applying hypo though.
Painfull
https://youtu.be/rfytcEJZ-K4
Agree - waste of chemical - get on and turbo the bl**dy areas then treat with chemical - job done in 1/4 of the time he spent on that - ah well we see it differently I suppose
Darran
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The simplest way would be to grab a watering can, add sodium hypo and water (maybe start with 1-4 mix) and pour on the sandstone.
Leave for a fair few mins.
Rinse off with a hose.
If that doesn’t shift it all, add more sodium hypo to the mix and try again.
That is literally how simple softwashing can be 👍🏼
It wont do as good as job as pressure washing then applying hypo though.
Painfull
https://youtu.be/rfytcEJZ-K4
Agree - waste of chemical - get on and turbo the bl**dy areas then treat with chemical - job done in 1/4 of the time he spent on that - ah well we see it differently I suppose
Darran
I love how it was a video on how to do it, I honestly don't know why he decided to post it. A lot of faff and waste of time.
Nope I agree, it could have been done in no time at all, that small area. I'm one for the turbo, (love the thing) /fsc first and remove as much ofthe surface dirt as possible so the Hypo can do its job on what's left, then a final rinse.
Posted vid i saw, to counter act the comment of just using a watering can to sprinkle on and it's that simple. Yep, watch all the chemical just rinse of as there's no suffactant either..... 😂
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Of course if it’s pressure washer ‘able’ then that’s the way to do it.
But if it’s soft stone and you can’t, then a softwash is the alternative. I’ve done it on Customers sandstone window ledges, works great. Watering can, hypo and water, simple.
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The simplest way would be to grab a watering can, add sodium hypo and water (maybe start with 1-4 mix) and pour on the sandstone.
Leave for a fair few mins.
Rinse off with a hose.
If that doesn’t shift it all, add more sodium hypo to the mix and try again.
That is literally how simple softwashing can be 👍🏼
It wont do as good as job as pressure washing then applying hypo though.
Painfull
https://youtu.be/rfytcEJZ-K4
Agree - waste of chemical - get on and turbo the bl**dy areas then treat with chemical - job done in 1/4 of the time he spent on that - ah well we see it differently I suppose
Darran
I love how it was a video on how to do it, I honestly don't know why he decided to post it. A lot of faff and waste of time.
Nope I agree, it could have been done in no time at all, that small area. I'm one for the turbo, (love the thing) /fsc first and remove as much ofthe surface dirt as possible so the Hypo can do its job on what's left, then a final rinse.
Posted vid i saw, to counter act the comment of just using a watering can to sprinkle on and it's that simple. Yep, watch all the chemical just rinse of as there's no suffactant either..... 😂
Nathan, what are you going on about?
Softwashing doesn’t need to be done with a machine, though I was one of the first to buy a roller pump softwash system from Ben at Rutland pumps (before he sold them to the public)
I use my softwash system for most jobs, the point was, the OP doesn’t need a machine necessarily. It can be done very easily with a watering can. You don’t need surfactant, it’s not essential.
I’d have thought you of all people Nathan, would know all about the simple ways of doing things, after all, your flyers, van, backpack gubbins and everything else is usually simple and basic 😎
A standard hard patio etc, then pressure wash every time - for some reason I had it in my head the OP was on about Indian sandstone - his title. 🙄
So on the basis of sandstone, softwash is the way to go if it’s too soft to pressure wash. That is all.
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The simplest way would be to grab a watering can, add sodium hypo and water (maybe start with 1-4 mix) and pour on the sandstone.
Leave for a fair few mins.
Rinse off with a hose.
If that doesn’t shift it all, add more sodium hypo to the mix and try again.
That is literally how simple softwashing can be 👍🏼
It wont do as good as job as pressure washing then applying hypo though.
Painfull
https://youtu.be/rfytcEJZ-K4
Agree - waste of chemical - get on and turbo the bl**dy areas then treat with chemical - job done in 1/4 of the time he spent on that - ah well we see it differently I suppose
Darran
I love how it was a video on how to do it, I honestly don't know why he decided to post it. A lot of faff and waste of time.
Nope I agree, it could have been done in no time at all, that small area. I'm one for the turbo, (love the thing) /fsc first and remove as much ofthe surface dirt as possible so the Hypo can do its job on what's left, then a final rinse.
Posted vid i saw, to counter act the comment of just using a watering can to sprinkle on and it's that simple. Yep, watch all the chemical just rinse of as there's no suffactant either..... 😂
Nathan, what are you going on about?
Softwashing doesn’t need to be done with a machine, though I was one of the first to buy a roller pump softwash system from Ben at Rutland pumps (before he sold them to the public)
I use my softwash system for most jobs, the point was, the OP doesn’t need a machine necessarily. It can be done very easily with a watering can. You don’t need surfactant, it’s not essential.
I’d have thought you of all people Nathan, would know all about the simple ways of doing things, after all, your flyers, van, backpack gubbins and everything else is usually simple and basic 😎
A standard hard patio etc, then pressure wash every time - for some reason I had it in my head the OP was on about Indian sandstone - his title. 🙄
So on the basis of sandstone, softwash is the way to go if it’s too soft to pressure wash. That is all.
Zesty, a bit lemon zesty with this post aren't we mate, a bit sour.
My comments on machinery is a reply to Darren's post.
Just pouring bleach on its own on the slabs without any agitating as suggested in your post and simply rinsing with a hose will not be an effective simple way of doing so a d this is also where the suffactant would help.
Hey mate, is there anything else you want to try n insult of my business, or shall we keep it simple and have a meet up, pistols at dawn 😂😂
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https://youtu.be/SVmm4Npyi-w
https://youtu.be/ZkGMcJy4tps
Of course you might need to brush if with a stiff brush, but not always. This guy has also got a video doing the same thing without any brushing.
You do not need surfactant on a level surface Nathan, the surfactant is mainly used to keep the solution on vertical surfaces for longer. In fact I’ve got to the stage where I only add a small amount to render and cladding, I find it doesn’t really make any difference either way.
So yes, for a soft sandstone that perhaps cannot be pressure washed. A very simple and effective alternative is to softwash it. With a bucket, watering can, or similar.
Obviously any hard surface will best done with a pressure washer, but as the OP’s title was sandstone, I was thinking on the lines of softwash.
This isn’t mere theory Nathan, I’ve done it myself on soft stone, and it works brilliantly 😎
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I don't care if you use a pressure washer, soft washer, hypo or witches brew in a cauldron nothing works better or achieves the same results on stone than pre wetting it, applying a correctly diluted alkaline cleaner, agitating with a soft to medium brush fitted on a Mono rotary machine, allow it to dwell, agitate again then extract with a wet vacuum. It takes a bit longer but causes no mess, reduces clean up, uses a lot less water, zero damage to the stone or the surrounding plants, lawn or buildings and the results are amazing.
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Dilute caustic soda and apply with stiff brush. Allow to cook and then hose off or pressure wash.