Hey all, doing my research on this type of building right now and from what I see on other posts, sh and house wash mix would be the weapon of choice for this job. Would you agree? If not, what do you think would be a better solution? As always, I appreciate you sharing your knowledge and experiences as I am still learning.
The building is all stone exterior from what I can tell. Here are some pics…
Standard house wash mix won’t clean that unless you plan on sitting there for hours and reapplying. Go up to a roof strength mix, or even a little hotter at 50/50. And make sure you have a good surfactant. Two to three apps and a rinse should do it.
Yikes. There’s a ton of glass you’ve got to make sure stays wet though or you can etch it with SH. Especially the amount you need to kill algae.
We don’t DS brick, dryvit, stucco, masonry. I wish we could, but the only thing that works for us on masonry is X-jet with black proportioner.
Thank you for the input guys. This is a job I was called about but i politely declined as it is out of my wheelhouse, but I would like to learn how to do these jobs. @squidskc what do you mean by black proportioner? I do use an x-jet now for residential cleaning.
Where should I buy and x jet from? In sw florida, almost all homes are stucco.
PressureTek
Thank you. It looks like something I can make lol. I need to buy one asap.
Thanks @squidskc I will look into that. Before now I have not used my proportioners, just simply mixed my cleaner in the X-jet pail and went at it from there. I do see the advantage of the proportioners however, and being able to switch strengths in the middle of a cleaning. I will do my homework. Thank you for the tips
Don’t try to make one. lol I’ll show you a prototype of an at the gun injector I built to reduce the sputtering I get from the x jet. It caused more problems than it solved.
Buy the x jet. It’s costs 1/3 of the money you’d make from one small job if you’re pricing right. They’ve made a good product. You’re paying them and their engineers for hours of trial and error and multiple prototypes.
If you wanna modify to reduce sputter I’ll find you a video on YouTube of a guy that’s done it, tried it, made it better. Buy it first and let me know when you get it and I’ll track down the video.
If it’s working for you don’t fix what’s not broken. Recently, for stucco we just pull straight SH with no injector thanks to Clean1.
You get a 50/50 to 60/40 mix that way. But if there’s a ton of landscaping, plants, etc we go back to the black proportioner and just make two passes.
Thanks for that. I’ll be buying one this week.
For some reason I love reading my name in your posts. It’s like a shout out on mtv…haha. Anyways glad I could help. You seem like an awesome guy. I actually discovered the no proportioner thing on accident. I used to pull the hose off my x jet to rinse until I realized that it shoots the the proportioner out and cuts your water flow. Now the only time I ever use the x jet is without a proportioner. First because I lost all the ones I needed and now because I realized I don’t need them. I just cut the sh if I need it to be weaker.
X jet from water cannon delivered to your door $123
Cheapest price I could find. Water cannon has free delivery and they carry much of the same stuff as other venders and cheaper.
I’m not really that awesome. Swear too much in real life and chew tobacco from sun up to sun down… other than that I’m dang near perfect. (This is one of those things I say that would make Emily roll her eyes) All joking aside, thanks for the compliment!
I think you’ve just taught me how to get the proportioner out without using pliers though. I’m gonna try in a bucket with a lid half on.
Are you using straight 12.5 sh when useing the xjet??
Yes. I only use it for stucco/dryvit and masonry. 50/50 is about all that works.
Have you had any problem killing any grass or veg?? With xjeting straight 12.5%
Never. Not even once. I don’t even presoak when downstreaming, but I presoak, mid soak, 2nd mid soak, and rinse when I X-jet straight 12.5%. I carry two huge tarps, a few plastic drop cloths, and about 4 million spring clips for when it’s mostly flowers.
I don’t even know if my fear is warranted, but in my head flowers are a lot more sensitive than green shrubs and things like that.
I think a 3rd mid-soak is totally called for😂
