SH on canvas awnings. Success!

Kansas City Tent & Awning sent me the cleaning instructions for awnings. They recommend 1 part SH to 16 parts water and 1 part woolite. Essentially <0.625% SH. Didn’t have woolite. Used Elemonator and mixed my SH down to their recommendation. It’s 98 degrees here so I hit it twice in the recommended 15 minute dwell time.

Turned out great. No discoloration. Then I got curious and put a drop of straight 12% SH on a hidden section inside the awning. No change. Left it there for hours. Rinsed it. Still no change. Hopefully that’s helpful to some of you that run into awnings in the future.

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I just got a call about some canvas awnings so I’m glad you posted this. Do you charge by square footage or an hourly rate? If you do charge by square footage, what’s a reasonable price per square foot? I’m aware that there are a ton of variables that play a roll in determining pricing, but I’d at least like a ballpark estimate because I don’t come by awnings too often. Thank you.

This was an office building. We were there for two days. Dryvit and brick, walkway, awnings, and windows so the price I would give you on this wouldn’t be a good representation, especially since this is commercial and not residential. With commercial we factor in access, municipality business license if we don’t currently have one in this particular city/town, access to water, etc. Currently, with all expenses factored in our base rate is $140/hour, but our minimum to even hook up the trailer is $300. If I was only asked to do these three awnings, I’d like take a bucket of mix, a garden hose to rinse, and a soft brush on an extension pole to dip in the bucket and charge $100/awning and be finished in 90-120 minutes max.

I know that’s a long answer, but at $100 bucks for a 10 foot awning would shake out to $10/linear foot. Hope that helps.

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You not only answered my original question, but also about four more I was pondering in the back of my head. I’m just starting out in this business and I’m trying to learn as much as I can. For me, the more detailed the better. Thanks for the insight!

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WE have cleaned a lot of awnings and we just use our normal house wash which has about 10% (by volume). Spray it on, let it dwell and rinse off. Job done!

@bonefish What do you do when the moss and lichens are on there about a 1/4 inch thick? I’m on some awnings now that are giving me fits.

I do alot of awnings on the coast. Mildew and black streaks are easy. Lichen and baked on bird droppings on the other hand are a pain. I use Winsol Deep clean. It works wonders. Available at wcr.

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Oh I forgot to mention that when you do get the lichen off, the canvas will be stained/ dereriated underneath. Let your customer know beforehand.

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I’ve never run into those critters in Houston but if I did, I probably would pass.

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@squidskc how would you go about this. It’s my first commercial job bid so I wanna make sure my hw mix will be OK on the awnings. Can I just DS like I do on a house and just rinse?
BTW it’s painted brick

If that’s stucco/EIFS you’ll need something stronger most likely. It doesn’t look that bad though. I’d probably ask to test a section and see what downstreaming does on maybe a 6 foot wide swatch.

Do you DS straight 12%? What’s your injector’s ratio?

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I withdraw post from the other on after I found this one lol

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I just saw where you said painted brick too. I’m bad at following directions today. DS should be fine.

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No I have only been able to get my hands on 10% but I am setting up my 12v pump system so if needed I can make mix as strong as I need to.

Test a section DS ing where the removed letters were. If it works then no need to waste SH.

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Oh it’s not habitat for humanity any more. That’s a old pic off google maps

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Just the front with awnings I’d probably charge $800. That’s a small store front. Half a day and I’ll fish the rest.

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Gottcha. Thanks I knew I could count on you lol… I gotta ask about the flat work he didn’t say anything about it just store front.

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