[Peter.]

Hi all,

I have been asked by quite a few customers to clean their UPVC facia boards and guttering, I did one but found it hard work and awkward to clean. I struggled to get the ladder in the right place etc.
I have a Karcher pressure washer and they sell extension tubes, but these do not look long enough to reach the facia board.

Does any one else do this work and perhaps tell me what I need to buy and if they could give me an idea of how much I should charge charge.


Peter.

[Nathanael Jones]

You can get extendible lances for pressure washers that reach up to 24'. It's much much easier than climbing the ladders and cleaning by hand!
Take a look at this website:
www.merrillfoxenterprises.com

He's in the US,.. but he has some great gear, and very cheap too.

There's prob a UK supplier that does the same, just try a google search!

[Old_Master]

All equipment you need is available from us.
see www.omnipole.com
or www.omnipoleshop.com

[G & M]

Hello Peter, we tried washing with a power washer and long lance (spent quite a few quid on both) but found that it was not great so are back doing it by hand.

 We use small vikan car wash brushes and soapy water. We do a section and rinse it with the customers garden hose before it dries. We also use ladder stand offs which we find helpful. I know its hard work but the results are better.
Hope  this helps. Michael

[Peter.]

Hi,


what size double ladder do you use?

I find the hardest part is where there's an extesion with small roof jutting out and as I work alone this looks dangerous!!!

I may not continue with this if I don't feel safe at doing it as all these modern type houses are awkward to work on.

Peter.

[Blackbushe Windows]

Peter,  even the HSE advise - if in doubt don't do it! Your safety is paramount. It's not worthtaking on jobs that are dubious or accessing parts of the fascias that using ladders really prohibits. Also use a ladder stabilising device. There are a number of these around. They will satisfy the requirements for the ladders to be fixed and give you more confidence too! Peter

[Peter.]

Hi,

The trouble with buying more equipment is I will need a larger vehicle. I drive a small Suzuki ignis for window cleaning and this is now full, the back seats are folded down and I just do not have any more room left.

I may change to a transit van. I quite fancied an ex BT van, but when I rang BT direct; they said they have none for sale, yet dealers have ex BT vans for sale??

When I started in January, I thought all I needed was a bucket and ladder, I was so wrong!

[G & M]

Hi Peter, do  you have a shurflo if so why not use it for the hard to reach places such as gable ends etc.
We have started to use ours lately and it works fine.We use a vikan angle brush on the pole which we got from gardiners. It is a great brush for window cleaning as well especially over conservatories, extensions etc. It is robust, light and we have just ordered a few more  for w/c. As for ladders we have a couple of different ones. Michael

[Peter.]

Hi Michael

I went to go on the gardiner site to look at brushes, but found it closed due to illness.


Peter.

[carl stanton]

stand offs a must to have, but to get into the brackets, the hard parts, use small brushes such as a tooth brush, or one of them baby bottle cleaners, depends how far you will go to do the job, i do many of these types of clean's, and success every time