I’m new to all this and I’m wondering what’s the best organic or epa approved natural cleaners. It’s a big selling point up in the PNW area and will also make me stand out among the competition, so I’m trying to find (or possibly make) a natural cleaner and post treatment. Most people up here just do straight water cleaning.
My friend was telling me about GreenSeal certified products but he used to work for EcoLab, so I’m hoping to get some info on best way to organically/naturally clean driveways.
SH is safe for the environment. Think about it. They put it in drinking water, we swim in it, we clean with it, etc. You’re not going to find anything that works as good as SH for getting rid of organic growth.
I’m claiming total ignorance about SH, my friend who worked at EcoLab was explaining in some detail as to how bad bleach is, but he could’ve been saying that to his customers just to sell his products, lol.
There’s a lot of “green” or “eco-conscious” people up in this area. They wont even salt the roads when it snows up here.
Maybe I need to read up on SH so I can get some eductation.
Thanks in advance for pointing me in the right direction
Oh, nice! Congrats and well wishes to you and your business! Let me know if you need anything as well! If I don’t know the answer, we can at least learn together
SH can cause damage but that’s why we use highly diluted mixes for the majority of our cleaning. Plus after about a week, SH will break down into basically salt water once it’s been exposed to the elements. It’s safe if you use it the right way. But if you’re ignorant and don’t watch what you are doing it can cause damage like burning plants or corrosion
My thing about bleach is that knowing my area, I can already hear the concerned people in this area who, like I stated before, don’t even put salt on the roads when it’s icy and dangerous. If I tell them it breaks down into saltwater, I’m back to square one.
My dialogue with my customer should (hopefully) include words like “organic”, “100% Biodegradable”, “all-natural”, and so on. Some people don’t care, but I know my area, they’re not dumb and they ask questions.
Agree with innocent, the customers that won’t salt the roads are not the customers you want to clean for. I thought the same thing in my area but have had little problem running into customers who care, most of those people don’t even get their house cleaned in the first place.
While it’s nice to sugar coat it, I really try to be upfront and honest about what we are using to clean homes, and explain to them the reason we use SH and the many benefits it has. Much better to be upfront about it instead of storming out mid job and bothering you because they smell bleach
I don’t think he only uses only water on houses anymore. Just driveways. The benefit of post/ pre treating driveways is it hides your lines and Makes the finish product last a lot longer and be much more uniform. You can always offer a only water cleaning and inform your customers of the risk/reward of each option.
There’s a reason 99.9 percent of the professionals use SH
Here’s a comparison for you of what my driveways looked like before I started pre treating and after both were done with the same machine and surface cleaner
So the answer is that bleach is the only answer? OK, I guess I need to arm myself with more knowledge about why it’s safe so I can be prepared if customers have questions.
Hey I want to thank you all for your help! I know I’m asking some dumb questions and testing your guys’ patience but I’m thankful for you guys taking time to answer even the dumbest noob questions. I appreciate it!
And it’s not always the best but almost always the best when you’re cleaning siding. Occasionally you just use a surfactant with no SH in limited circumstances.
