Clean It Up
UK Floor Cleaning Forum => Carpet Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Shaun_Ashmore on March 16, 2009, 10:06:28 pm
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Did anyone see tonights edition? Mike halliday would have loved the trailer mount Pressure Washer.
Shaun
PS I'm sure it will be on play back tomorrow if you missed it.
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Proper Job. ;D
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The brass neck on that fella at the end when confronted ,people likethat will never change they have no concience.
He will just carry on under another name in another arear.
Andy Locke.
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People like that don't change their name they just work out of area for a bit then come back, people have short memories.
Shaun
PS Andy I have some velvet stage curtains to onsite clean what do you think?good vac down and dri pro with towels??
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If there geniune velvet shaun I would say yes thats about the best you can do.
Thats what I would use.
Regards Andy Locke.
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I was wondering how many power washes Kill weeds come back a week latter power wash come back following week apply surface protection.
I believe that is what they said is the correct method
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Fish and Chips at the Ritz.... ;D ;D ;D
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Hi
So he's done about £200 worth of work & charged £580 can Trading Standards not do something about these people ?
Dave
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David,
dont thing trading standerds can or will do much, as far as I can see if a custy has been quoted a price and agreed it doesnt matter what can be charged.
but, in this case in paticular I would say yes , a case to be answerd as blatant lies ref. sealant not applied when he stated it had been.
In my personal experience when quoting for pressure cleaning , i suggest weed killer if they are in abundance, then a return visit to clean , how ever as soon as sealant is mentioned custys shy away from the sealant as this can add a large amount to bill, especialy if using a top quality sealant, so generaly most go for the straight forward clean ,no sealant.
Geoff
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We're the same as Geoff in that we offer sealing as an option. This almost doubles the price and so we don't recommend or push it (apart from when working on PIC). Most customers go for the wash, weedkiller and sand. Another problem with sealing is the UK weather! Makes scheduling the sealing a nightmare and costs a fair few lost days.
We apply Sodium Chlorate (weedkiller) immediately after washing and this, as well as resanding on a return visit is included in our basic price. Applying weedkiller at this stage is not ideal (weedkiller tends to work better when the leaves are soaked) but does give better results than not using at all. This is always explained from the beginning.
We try to keep disruption to a minimum and thoroughly clean any mess that we create, splashed windows, garage doors, etc.
Incidentally, Sodium Chlorate is banned as from next year so we're looking at realistic alternatives. All sensibly priced suggestions are more than welcome.
Finally we never accept payment until the customer confirms total satisfaction with the results. The vast majority of our customers come via recommendation so our way works well for us and ultimately therefore our customers.
Just watched the Rogue Traders on i-player; the trouble with people like this is they give all traders a bad name! This guy couldn't care less. I have no idea how people like this live with themselves; ripping people off, especially as in this case an elderly lady.
There are words to describe but no need to type as you already know what they are!
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://www.bbc.co.uk/iplayer/episode/b00jcrmc/Rogue_Traders_Series_7_Episode_3/
Speed it on to 38 minutes
Shaun
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Ian,
a number of years ago my job was crop spraying ,
basicly it was the spraying of crops for any number of reasons, ie. pest control, fungicidle control and weed control amongst others, alot of this was done by air using helicopters, now the only solution for controling weeds by air was infact cccp mixed with deisel , " and what a good job that did " nothing else was used because of safty issues. this mixture was used to control bracken in scotland, yes a weed! " a weed , any unwanted growth " not ideal for spraying on paving etc either ;)
but , the bes t by far for controling weed was round up , a systemic killer, meaning it takes time and transfers through the weed and into the root, kiiling it capability of regrowth , unlike a number of others, gramoxone etc, these just got rid of the visible growth on contact , but the conditions for any of these to work needed to be dry as the systemic took up the potion into its system, " a bit like the plant having a good drink" usualy a couple of weeks ideal for full effect.
So the conditions need to be dry, but not arid without rain been imminent for 24 hrs .
cant understand why your saying the weeds need to be wet, not disbieliving you , i havnt used soduim clorate to be honest, this is a granule is it not ?
geoff
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i read ians post as...
you need to soak the leaves with weed killer, but because he cleans first and weed killers after, its better than nothing at all.
nothing about the weed need to be wet before applying weed killer.
thats how i read it anyhoo.
derek
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Ian,
a number of years ago my job was crop spraying ,
basicly it was the spraying of crops for any number of reasons, ie. pest control, fungicidle control and weed control amongst others, alot of this was done by air using helicopters, now the only solution for controling weeds by air was infact cccp mixed with deisel , " and what a good job that did " nothing else was used because of safty issues. this mixture was used to control bracken in scotland, yes a weed! " a weed , any unwanted growth " not ideal for spraying on paving etc either ;)
but , the bes t by far for controling weed was round up , a systemic killer, meaning it takes time and transfers through the weed and into the root, kiiling it capability of regrowth , unlike a number of others, gramoxone etc, these just got rid of the visible growth on contact , but the conditions for any of these to work needed to be dry as the systemic took up the potion into its system, " a bit like the plant having a good drink" usualy a couple of weeks ideal for full effect.
So the conditions need to be dry, but not arid without rain been imminent for 24 hrs .
cant understand why your saying the weeds need to be wet, not disbieliving you , i havnt used soduim clorate to be honest, this is a granule is it not ?
geoff
I would agree, weeds don't need to be wet, Roundup is rain fast in around 2hrs. Also how many people doing drive cleaning have a PA1 and PA6A which is a legal requirement for applying pesticides to peoples drive, big fine if caught by Environment Agency, Health & safety executive. I have around 20yrs applying pesticides for National Trust, Environment Agency, and councils. The biggest problem is people using the wrong chemical and it leaching into watercourses through drain etc. Also your insurance would be invalid if anything goes wrong. Even if your applying pathclear from local diy centre you still need a PA1 and PA6A, you can put it on your own drive but not a customers.
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So that makes quite a lot Rouge Traders
Do you require PA! and PA64 to spray flea treatment . ?
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Dereks read my first post correctly; I didn't mean that the weeds need to be wet. I meant that weedkiller works best if the green leaves etc are drenched in the weedkiller solution a week or so before carrying out the pressure washing.
Sodium Chlorate is crystals that have to be diluted in water. We buy it in pre-diluted form as it helps with application; it saves the undiluted crystals clogging the watering can rose.
Round-up contains glyphosate which I do believe requires a licence to spray in any volume. It is also relatively expensive.
As I understood (or maybe misunderstood) a licence is not required for sodium chlorate when applied via watering can.
I'll double check the facts ASAP.
With Sodium Chlorate being banned as of 2010 we have very briefly looked at other options; including licences to enable the purchase and application of controlled herbicides.
We have also considered simply removing the application of weedkiller from our process and reducing our rates accordingly. Not convinced this is a particularly good option though.
Lots to be thinking about.
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So that makes quite a lot Rouge Traders
Do you require PA! and PA64 to spray flea treatment . ?
I need PA1 and PA6A to spray Aphids wich are the same size as a flea in glass houses... ;D
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I must admit, I learned something from the programme, which usefully, can increase my income.
That's to offer a weedkilling treatment a week or so prior to carrying out the pressure washing. I think an earlier post suggested treatin the weeds 'post' cleaning but before is definitely preferable.
The one fly in the ointment is the good old British Weather. If it rains after the weedkiller is applied it may require a further treatment which of course the customer won't want to pay for. The same goes for resanding which I understand can only be done properly in dry conditions.
I treated a roof with a Moss and Algae killing product late last summer,(Did we get a summer ???)
and it of course rained non stop for the next 3 days.
Needless to say the customer was on the phone at Christmas asking what I could do. It meant a return visit FOC to do the job again, but with brushes this time. I did get a 'Thank you' but not even a cup of tea !
"You win some and you lose some" ;)
Les
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Just an addendum to my last post.
Did you note that the law on block paving changes in April ?
Gaps must be left to allow water to soak away rather than sit on the sealed / sanded paving as at present.....even more weed growth then !
Les
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Dereks read my first post correctly; I didn't mean that the weeds need to be wet. I meant that weedkiller works best if the green leaves etc are drenched in the weedkiller solution a week or so before carrying out the pressure washing.
Sodium Chlorate is crystals that have to be diluted in water. We buy it in pre-diluted form as it helps with application; it saves the undiluted crystals clogging the watering can rose.
Round-up contains glyphosate which I do believe requires a licence to spray in any volume. It is also relatively expensive.
As I understood (or maybe misunderstood) a licence is not required for sodium chlorate when applied via watering can.
I'll double check the facts ASAP.
With Sodium Chlorate being banned as of 2010 we have very briefly looked at other options; including licences to enable the purchase and application of controlled herbicides.
We have also considered simply removing the application of weedkiller from our process and reducing our rates accordingly. Not convinced this is a particularly good option though.
Lots to be thinking about.
ian
when youve done the quote, fill up watering can with weed killer, then pass it to the customer who then proceeds under your instruction, to apply it, problem solved, no liscence needed. ;D
2 weeks later pop back and clean the drive.
where theres a will theres a way.
derek
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A nice thought derek but some of our jobs take getting on for 50 + full cans :-)
On these bigger jobs we have at least two applying weedkiller at the same time.
One thing I failed to mention earlier and that I feel gave even better long term results last year. When sealing is not requested we apply weedkiller immediately after sanding rather than immediately after washing.
The idea being to soak the sand with weedkiller and thus help prevent seeds sprouting from the sand and hopefully kill those that start to grow from beneath the blocks.
As long as care is taken not to flood an area this even help bed in the sand too.
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whilst we are on this topic, I was taliking to a custy yesterday about the cleaning of block paving,
he said he had used a product that is simply spayed on and over a period of time , a number of weeks I believe. It cleans itself, he used the terminology " it weathers itself off " !!!
does any body know what this is? is it any good? and how exactly does it work ?
geoff
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Could be Algon or the much more expensive Byotrol.
Only work on organisms though (as far as I am awre).
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I tried a product of this type called 'Simply Gone'.
Quite expensive but that's ok if it does the job. My observation was that it could probably work on light amounts of algae or moss it was not effective on thicker growths.
I won't be buying any more :(
Les