Hey folks! So I’m new to the business owing side, and I am very skeptical of buying a ton of chemicals and trying different things on different properties as I do not want to cause any damage etc.
I’ve been pressure washing for about a year now for someone else, but he always kept his chemicals in black jugs with no labels. I was set to take over the business for him as he was moving to a different state and left me high and dry (no pun intended) and wont return my texts etc. I knew what kind of money he was making, and I did most of the labor for him and decided to start my own. I went and purchased a trailer, 200g tank, 3600psi 3.6gpm pump with chem injection and a few chem jugs, surface cleaner, T Nozzle etc etc. I have not bought a heater yet, but I’m planning on investing in one once I pay off the trailer (at my current rate of butt-kicking should be paid off next month. Business is booming!)
The only problem I’m currently running into is Oil stains. I have tried some simple-green de-greaser that I had laying around the house, a brush, and hit it with the turbo nozzle and the stain lightened, but is still noticeable. This stain has been in my drive way for probably 10+ years so I’m not even sure its actually removable?
Hot water and this are the only thing I’ve found that will remove oil stains 90% or more. Aside from that you can crush kitty litter or oil dri into a stain with a cinder block and pick up a majority of it if it’s reasonably new.
My girlfriend can attest to the fact that crushed kitty litter and a cinder block will soak up fresh oil. After freaking out about me losing a quart (or more) of oil on our driveway she woke up to no more oil stain.
I changed all the oils in our machines last night and had the plug fall out of a pump while I was trying to drain a little off and then had oil run right out of the right side of a Honda while putting it in the left side and had no idea. It was like a Mr. Bean episode changing oils last night.
Awesome thanks! I changed the oil in my truck and knocked over my bucket and had 15 quarts of old diesel oil everywhere. Kitty litter worked great but i didn’t try it on old oil stains. I’m looking into getting a burner and I’ll grab some of that zep tonight and try it out!
@squidskc I have a job tomorrow I’m washing Brick patio which has one grease spot from a oil fryer. That’s really the only reason they want it all washed.
I’m not gonna be using pressure due to I don’t wanna resand. My plan was to spray with hw mix and use a broom and agitate and rinse off and be done. My question is, would that zep heavy duty Degreaser be OK to use on that one spot about the size of a 5gal bucket? Also with just using the broom to agitate and soap tip for rinse?
I didn’t get any pics today due to being in rush to get to my sons birthday dinner on time. Iv been looking for the best way to go about this but I don’t have time to order Ebc due to they just called this evening and they need it done no later than Tue. So I remembered seeing this post and thought I’d try it if it worked. I can get 1gal of zep heavy duty Degreaser from Lowe’s for $10.
OK yea I’m using cold water and I also seen u say something about that one as well. I explained It probably wouldnt take it completely up but I would try my best due not having hot water pressure washer and that I would be using no pressure at all. He said he understood.
If you have a thermos for hot water for that one spot, I’d probably pack it. The first oil spot I ever removed was on my dad’s driveway with the assistance of a tea kettle.
Well now that’s not a bad idea. It really not far from my house, so I could actually boil up about five gals of water and take it with me in a bucket and rinse that one little spot. Thanks squidskc I’ll make sure to get before and after pics.
Have not been on the forum long but if you pull the MSDS(SDS) of most of the cleaners you will find that many can be mixed at a fraction of the cost with little risk and great monetary savings.
If you look at Zep HD or Zep purple you will see Glycol Ethers as the main active. Specifically 2-butoxyethanol.
This chemical is so profoundly used (Tide Pods, LA Awesome Cleaner, Fantastic…etc) that if you can do simple math to do the dilution for pre treatment sprays or down stream injection- you can buy 100 per cent Technical Grade 2 Butoxyethanol under the name of “Butyl Cellusolve” for 30 dollars per gallon. Being a weak acid you will see bases added to cleaners such as Trisodium Phosphate to raise the pH sufficiently to degrease. TSP at a 1 per cent w/w dilution with water will yield a pH of 12.
I know this all has been discussed at great detail but the ability to mix one owns cleaner is a huge money saver as one gallon of concentrated (100 per cent) can yiield 10 gallons of , say. ZEP HD- as Chemical companies most always mix at the low range stated on the MSDS. This is my experience as being a Chemist with a MS in Chemical Engineering and a PhD in Pharmacy.
The more technical aspect is how basic( or caustic) your solution is and that is definitely task specific.
I am curious how many guys decide to mix their own as much money can be saved and you do not need a degree in Chemical Engineering to do this?
Just as an example of chemical cost markup…Monsanto sells 41 per cent RoundUp
(Glyphospjate 41 per cent) for $125/gallon and the generic can be purchased at 12 dollars per gallon yet a gallon of pre diluted Roundup cost 20 dollars/g at lowes. The one gallon of generic concentrate can be diluted to make 1000 dollars worth of diluted Roundup so the markup is staggering.
Just curious how many guys, whether you are making 200 or 2000/ day are making the simple dilutions rather than pay Landa or Lowe’s (etc) for diluted solutions that you must dilute nonetheless?
This is an area that money can definitely be saved , regardless of how much revenue you are generating.
OK @squidskc & @Jordie …so I picked me up a gal of zep purple this morning. So I’m reading up on this and just curious how u guys are applying? Bubble.guy I see ur using it straight and scrubbing with a brush having good results. Which that’s probably how I’ll go about this one Lil grease spot today on these brick. But for future reference, say I have a bigger job and need to do like a whole driveway. Can I downstream straight nondiluted from a tank or do I mix up like the bottle says and just use a pump sprayer to apply only to the grease spots?
Heavy areas I pour a little on straight, use a push broom to work it in and dwell while I get the other stuff set up. I x-jet the rest. 6 to 1 all the way down to 2 to 1 depending.
I feel like the hard part for people would be to figure all that out on their own, versus someone saying hey, here’s a chart of how much to mix and what and where to buy, then we would follow it as a recipe
Um… thats… pretty impressive. Between that and your home health care company, sounds like you have led an interesting life. Now you get to play in the water.
Nice info in the post. Seems that more people buy the pre-mixed potions, especially new guys. The ones that mix their own have usually been around for a while.
Your knowledge of chems might come in very handy here, as time goes on.
Just wanted to say thanks for the info on the zep took the grease spot up. I took some hot water with me in two 5 gal bucket worked like a champ…he couldn’t even remember where it was.
