Clean It Up
UK Window Cleaning Forum => Window Cleaning Forum => Topic started by: Adam_london_uk on March 28, 2009, 04:26:34 pm
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for a newbie would somebody mind telling me the basic kit I need.
A jet washer and an extended pole with a brush on the end?
Im grateful for any help.
Thanks
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Absolutely do not need a jet washer. The mains supply gives more than enough pressure.
For polycarbonate roofs, a cheap water fed pole (connected directly to the custy's outside tap) and brush and a bucket of diluted TFR is quite enough.
Method:
* Soak the roof and guttering with water.
* Dip your brush in the bucket of TFR and scrub the roof and gutters working it in well until you can see the gunge turning to liquid.
(Pay particular attention to those fiddly bits at the end of the roof spars. They can be difficult to clean and may pop off and fall into the gutter. You then need ladders to get up there and get them out and re-fit them. And be very gentle with the ridge cappings (fiddly bits on the ridge) and finials (pointy bits at the ends). These can be delicate. The secret is to scrub gently. I rest the pole on the roof edge and use a gentle side-to-side movement and also a slight twisting movement to gently agitate the solution into the crevices. Once the gunge is completely liquefied, rinse off quickly.)
* Rinse of with copious amounts of water.
* Finish off the sides with your regular window washing method.
You may prefer to work in sections on hot days to prevent the TFR from drying on the roof.
For glass roofs, you need pure water. The same technique works.
IMHO glass roofs are a nightmare since they show every particle. You can get the roof spotless and two minutes later it's covered tiny particles of wind-blown debris. My advice to a newbie would be to avoid glass roofs at first.
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Thanks mate thats really helpful. I need a jet wash anyway so I may as well hook that up right???
Also what happens if the customer does not have an outside tap?
Can you recommend a cheap water fed pole just enough for conservatory roof?
thanks :)
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It's not recommended to use Jet wash on Con roof's as this can cause damage to the seals and can also leak water under the Finials. Polycarb roof's also have a UV coating on them and high pressure washing can damage this.
Simply use a brush with water and some none caustic TFR if really heavy soilage.
(I was messing with you on the other post Adam, but you may get it if you read the last line of your post prior to mine) ;D
Wayne
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I have no experience of this, but I suspect that the pressure of the washer will simply blow all the connectors apart.
If the customer has no outside tap, how will you run your pressure washer?
I'll probably get howled at for this, but I'd suggest a Harris 5m pole from B&Q, and a Bentley brush. To attach the brush, push and twist it on to the black plastic end of the pole and hold it in place with a self-tapping screw.
Find out how to make a Bentley brush into a wfp brush.
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I have abit more money than that mate but thanks.
Is a backpack system more suited for this? Anybody recommend a budget one?
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Long time no see Wally ??
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Pittmonkey cheers for that lol.
So are you saying I do not need a wfp system if im just cleaning conservatory roofs?
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wally the pics on your site are great. do you use wfp on polycarb roofs?
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You dont need a WFP but they certainly make the job a whole lot easier; constant running water, no need for the customer to have an outside tap and much easier to reach.
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wally the pics on your site are great. do you use wfp on polycarb roofs?
I try to be as economical with my pure water as possible. If there's a tap available and I can use the customer's garden hose, I'll use tap water for the entire job - top and sides. Then, I'll finish it off any glass with pure.
If there's no tap or it's otherwise too much messing about, I'll use pure for the entire job.
And I agree with mlscontractcleaner, wfp does make the job a whole lot easier. It's just that I'm not too worried about it taking a little longer with tap water and then pure. Others would be.
You could quite easily start off your business just using tap water and finishing off the side windows with a mop and blade. As you get spare cash, invest some of it in an RO setup and go the whole hog.
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thanks for that.
So what is some good equipment I can buy straught away that will plug into the customers tap?
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thanks for the replys I learned loads yesterday and have desided that wfp kit at this moment in time is rather overkill.
I suppose my main question is now what to do if the customer has no outside tap. Can I buy some kit that connects up to there kitchen taps?
I would rather buy a water fed pole that I can attach various head with out any DIY does the harris not allow me to do this?
Any recommendation I want to pop out today and try and buy it :)
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You can buy waterfed poles from many stores, caravan dealers and car accessory shops with a bush attatched that will plug straight onto a hose pipe - cheap as chips but probably slightly short. The problem comes when the conservatory glass needs cleaning and any windows above the conservatory you have just splattered. Tap water if left to dry often leaves deposits on the glass even when clean.
That's why we use pure water.
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thanks i found this http://www.screwfix.com/prods/80890/Cleaning/Window-Cleaning/Extendable-Washbrush
1.8 metres maybe abit short but being unger I imagaine I could just extend that. Correct me if im wrong!
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you could look on ebay for a secondhand wfp, you could probably get a 18 ft one with a brush for about £50.
what ever you do dont use a p/washer to do a con roof, a friend of mine did this, hes a chippy not a window cleaner, and the seals leaked and blew up his £700 lcd tv inside the conservatory.
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guys have alook at this
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/5-METRE-WINDOW-CLEANING-POLE-WINDOW-CLEANING-EQUIPMENT_W0QQitemZ220370023130QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_HomeGarden_CLV_Cleaning_CA?hash=item220370023130&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A1%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318
what do you think?
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guys have alook at this
http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/5-METRE-WINDOW-CLEANING-POLE-WINDOW-CLEANING-EQUIPMENT_W0QQitemZ220370023130QQcmdZViewItemQQptZUK_HomeGarden_CLV_Cleaning_CA?hash=item220370023130&_trksid=p3286.c0.m14&_trkparms=66%3A2%7C65%3A1%7C39%3A1%7C240%3A1318
what do you think?
Yes, it's cheap, but NOT suitable for conservatories. You really do need a brush so you can agitate the water and/or cleaning solution into all the tiny nooks and crannies on the ridge cappings and get into the corners of the triangular panes.
You could even get away without any water fed gubbins. Just a brush on the end of a pole and a hose pipe would do it.
1 - Pre-soak (a section of) the roof using a hose with a spray pattern.
2 - Use a brush dipped in TFR to agitate and loosen/liquefy the gunge.
3 - Use a jet from the hose to rinse off.
Similar to: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NuOkIOfP-B0
Oh, and here's a tip. You'll often find twigs and leaves get blown under the ridge capping. To get them out, remove the brush and wrap a cloth round the end of the pole. Use that to hook the stuff out
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thanks wally.
So I could use a poll anyway and apply the tfr and then soak off afterwards with hose.
Is there not somewhere we can buy special size brushes? for the akward angles?
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Is there not somewhere we can buy special size brushes? for the akward angles?
Don't need to mate. You can get any brush into pretty much any place with a bit of twisting and turning. Simply twist the pole and you can use just the edge of the brush to get into the tightest of corners on a triangular roof pane.
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cheers wally. I think im going to splsh out on this unger setup for the roofs and I can always mess about with it after.
the key for me is to look professional from the start.
Im looking at this here http://cgi.ebay.co.uk/ws/eBayISAPI.dll?ViewItem&Item=220335031905&Category=112579&_trksid=p3907.m29&_trkparms=algo%3DLVI%26its%3DI%26otn%3D2
Will I be able to hook that up to a normal hose etc and get cracking??? I understand it wont be pure water but ok for polycarbs.
Please say yes :)
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It's maybe a tad short at 4 m. You might find that you need step ladders to reach some roofs. I find I sometimes need them with my 5 m pole.
Apart from that, it looks fine.
You'll probably need about 10 m of 5 or 6 mm tubing to go between the garden hose and the pole. You don't want to be dragging garden hose around with you as you work. It's double the diameter, so 4 times the weight due to the water! And you need the connectors to join the 12 mm hose to the 6 mm hose.
You might also want to fit a tap in the tubing near the pole.
Phone those nice people at cleaning spot <<http://www.cleaningspot.co.uk/index.html>> and they'll sort you out with any extras you might need.
And good luck to you.
The overarching advice is:
Keep it simple and keep it neat.
Of course, you need to clean the side windows afterwards. So you'll need an applicator and squeegee plus a bucket to keep your solution in. Use washing up liquid. And a couple of cloths to do the detailing and wipe the frames.
Oh, and one more thing. I wouldn't use a conector to a kitchen tap. If the connector comes off the garden tap, you get wet soil or flags. If anything goes wrong in the kitchen, there's an awful lot of damage can be done by the time you've realised what has happened, got down your ladder (and it will ALWAYS happen when you're up a ladder as far from the kitchen as possible) and dashed in there to turn the tap off!
No outside tap - no take the job.
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thanks wally, bought me pole and sent them guys an email. Will be fun putting it all together now :)