I had a guy tell me the other day that a commercial client doesn’t want bleach on their stucco because it will bleach it out? Isn’t that kinda the idea? If it is molded and mildewed, it obviously needs “bleaching out” right? I have to admit, I haven’t ran into any stucco yet but I know it’s coming. So what do we use? If it’s HW mix, how would you explain to a client what is needed.
Thanks guys!
Aritt,
We are scheduled to do this building in the spring. The entire exterior is stucco. We would never get it cleaned(properly) without sodium hypochlorite.
Hank
Wow! That is going to make for some amazing b4 and a’s!!!
Be sure and post after pics!
They were going to paint over this until I came into the picture. My contact had a dead battery in a packing lot and I gave him a jump. One thing lead to another and we started talking, over coffee, about the truck I had with me. He asked about the tanks, hose reels, etc. Sometimes it’s better to be lucky than good.
Hank
Just finished a 3 story stucco job. You just have to do a better job of teaching your customer. Help them to see the amount of liquid chlorine will in noway be strong enough to hurt stucco and it will in noway discolor it. Also tell them they have two options to get that thick of mold out of the stucco…blast in with thousand of pounds of pressure knocking off countless numbers of granules or worse run a high risk of knocking a hole in the stucco or the soft wash option using a controlled amount of chlorine along with a commercial surfactant that will allow you to safely clean their building at low pressure with no risk to integrity of the building.
Educating our customers and managing their expectations is of paramount importance and at times difficult. Some customers, still to this day, believe that blasting a surface with a pressure washer is the only way. On numerous occasions I’ve had customers sit and listen to everything I say and only turn around and say “Okay, let’s pressure wash it”. It can drive a sane man crazy(ier).
Hank
Sometimes customers will not believe what they hear, but they will believe what they read. Maybe this link will convince your customer:
http://www.stocorp.com/index.php/en/Download-document/3242-Stucco-Repair-and-Maintenance-Guide.html
Good luck-
Chris
thanks for posting great info
This is some great info that you could give as a package to “unconvinced” home owners. Thanx for the post!!!
Sent from my iPhone using Pressure Washing Resource
Agreed. Thanks for posting the link to the reference material.
Don
Fresh Look Pressure Washing
That is some serious mold! It seems that every building in DWG is old.
When a customer says “bleach it out” then they think that the stucco will turn white. You have to educate the customer and assure them that that’s not the case. It’s ok if a customer has concerns about chemicals and so forth, but you are the expert and if a customer tries to tell me how to do my job then I will just walk away.
I hope you provide the after pics of that one!
Bleach is essential for cleaning stucco. Without it, you will not be able to get all of the dirt, mold, and grime off.
The reference materials on Sto.com suggest using TSP to clean stucco. And adding bleach when algae and mildew are present.
Any advice on TSP on stucco.
I don’t know if this is right or not but I heard somewhere they severely deluded the ingredients of tsp and it’s now far less effective.
Most of it’s not even TSP anymore. I tried to get some and now it all says TSP! and in the tiniest letters it says “substitute”. And it’s worthless…
It will change the color. From algae color back to the original intended color
Anyone have experience What is a good mix for cleaning stucco?
