You guys are real passive aggressive on here huh, I’m a year in, I’m in the midst of upgrading. I’ve done a ton of patios, never experienced this before.
I don’t agree with the notion of “over lap,” if I have a surface cleaner spinning in a circular motion how would I have these lines?
I came here for advice, not a lecture.
Thank you!
If I left lines from moving too fast, they would be circular lines? How would a circular device leave straight lines?
Am I missing something?
Also anyone reading this, any product suggestions? Pre-treat — post-treat?
It leaves straight lines because you are moving it in straight lines. They will not leave circular lines unless you hold it in one spot. What nozzles are in your surface cleaner? Most store bought ones come with #2 nozzles, and if that’s the case, your little 2.5 gpm machine is only putting out 1500 psi. That’s not going to clean a patio that looks like that.
If my surface cleaner is 15” how would it leave a 4” straight line? My little machine outputs 3000PSI, once again thank you
When you move it forward, the sides of that forward motion on the surface cleaner get hit for a longer duration vs the front of the circle surface cleaner. Therefore you get lines. Happens all the time. Bad tips can cause it too.
But here there is still a ton of dirt left. Next time just move MUCH slower and do a good pretreat and post treat. This isn’t fully clean. It’s still dirty and you need to go back or hire someone to finish it
None of us even use near that much. Most Of us use 500-2500 max. GPM is how you clean better and faster not PSI. Psi causes damage. We use soaps to loosen the dirt not psi.
Post treat and pretreat would be 1-3% SH mix. Soap helps for pretreat. Not needed for post
I think someone half-■■■ power washed it a few years ago, then let it get filthy & I only clean off the first layer.
I’m going back to go over it because I’m not satisfied with it, I wasn’t when I finished.
I just don’t agree that I caused the lines, I think they existed prior to me cleaning off the top. It was a mix of dirt, moss and some spots had mildew
If you read my post, I pre-treated it prior to washing & got off the first layer.
Only reason I left it like that is because it was dark when I was done
Dude. You need to let go of that pride of yours and accept that you didn’t fully clean it. You did a bad job. Period, you even said you self you took a first layer off… then left because you were probably
Tired. This took you hours when it would take one of us probably 30 minutes.
In this post you see ZERO lines. It’s evenly dirty, where the pot was you can see.
In this one, you didn’t fully clean the dirt off, you left clean lines where the surface cleaner was longer but between the lines because you were moving too fast you left a light shade of dirt. Because the surface cleaner didn’t spend enough time over that middle section. Plus you still see the outline of the pot.
You can’t come to a professionals forum when we do this for a living and have seen and done it all and expect us to believe you. A homeowner’s word that took his washer and decided to start washing for some income and knows nothing about washing. Yet.
You left this dirty. Those lines are from your doing, not someone else’s. Please just accept it, swallow it, and do a better job. Treat it again, GO SLOWER, and post treat with the same mix and leave to dry. Then update us with after pics.
Again, we don’t know you, your a username to us. But if you want a real answer and not cuddles then take the blunt advice and make use of it
You talk big for a 23 year old, I posted for advice on how to finish the job off as I haven’t had this issue before.
I only left that day because it was dark, worked til night 
They don’t teach reading comprehension in the south, country boy
Will post update when it’s finished, special thanks to @marinegrunt and his advice.
Thanks!
No, that’s the max rating on the machine. Your nozzle size determines the actual PSI it puts out. You’re only 2.5 gpm, so if that surface cleaner has #2 tips in it and two of them, you’re only going to get about 1500 psi. That gpm and pressure you have is not near enough to effectively run a 15" surface cleaner.
If you are going to call yourself a pressure washing company, go buy a real pressure washer asap. Put it on a credit card if you have to. Once you know what you are doing you should be making a minimum of $100/hr, so it will pay for itself quickly.
No tips on it, Ryobi 15" and I actually pull $100 an hour already, I’ve been in business since May 2020. The reason I posted here is because I treated & cleaned that patio as I normally do and I was absolutely surprised at the condition.
The phrase “Post-treat” is new to me, I haven’t encountered a property where I had to post treat.
My setup is small (for now) but absolutely operational, this is not completed work this was me asking for help.
Here’s a full scope:
Ryobi 3000PSI 2.5GPM + 25’ telescopic pole
15" Ryobi surface cleaner attachment
I generally use ZEP products for treatment
I just started to put together a trailer in the last couple weeks, I have literally never had a patio that I treated & washed, then saw bizarre lines after. There’s clearly multiple layers, my confusion pertained to that.
Age doesn’t matter. I’m 23 but I tell people much older than me what do in my military career field because I have the experience and they don’t and they are willing to learn since they see I know what I’m talking about.
I’m young yes. But I know what I’m talking about because I have the experience behind me to back it up. Especially with something as small and simple as this matter of dirt being left behind.
You have no experience, and even if you were 50, if someone with experience is telling you what needs to be done and it’s correct information, younger or older giving the advice, I’d listen to it. Again. Being hard headed and insulting someone’s personally won’t get you far. You won’t be on here long like every other homeowner who comes here, gets told what to do but doesn’t want to listen, insults a username on the internet, then disappears and ends up not pursuing the business and storing their washer back in their garage where it belongs. Hope you clean better next time.
After taxes, business expenses like equipment costs (which you don’t have), licensing, accounting, insurance, fuel, etc, your looking at $30 an hour probably. If even.
It’s been a year and still don’t know what the heck this is?..
If you have been in business for a year you must have lots of jobs under your belt and lots of experience right? Yet can’t save a dime for a better setup to not steal homeowners money by leaving the dirt that called you to remove
Now I know you damage homes and don’t know what softwashing is.
. Multiple layers of what… it’s light dirt buildup. It’s not mud nor caked up grease like a restaurant entryway or dumpster…
^^^
Okay now I’m done.
Last thing I’ll say with this. Jay, read more. You just joined yesterday. Your learning starts now. Throw away anything you learned before and go through the residential category on this forum. You will end up throwing away the Ryobi washer, wand, hose, surface cleaner, and that extension pole. All homeowner crap. Needs to stay at home
Smdh. Maybe this group isn’t the nicest bunch to a stranger asking silly questions but we did try to help. Also, plenty of southerners on here, including me, most of whom I consider very intelligent, kind, and helpful.
What a moronic statement. Go away, flea.
I second most of what everyone else has stated. As a follow up to equipment, I too run a 15" surface cleaner, but the tips are replaceable on mine. I run a 3.5 gpm machine, so slightly larger than yours, but I know that the striping you see is from moving too fast with too little of machine because it happens to me all the time. I found out that pre-treating and post-treating help out tremendously. Im not certain what your housewash mix consist of but depending on the severity of the buildup of mildew and such on the driveway/patios sometimes housewash mix isn’t going to cut it. With the smaller gpm unit I (and you) will have to have every bit of assistance we can get. I suggest looking up on this forum the terms pre treat and post treat, read about a dozen threads fully, even if their 100 posts long each, and you will feel more confident in being able to leave the job in a manner that you’d be proud to show off.
To get everyone off your back, all you have to do is follow the proven and sound advice that they are giving, re-do the cleaning, take another after shot and prove to all that you can do it correctly. I don’t care if your machine left the stripes or someone else left the stripes. You left a job uncleaned, even if you had every intention of coming back to try again.
Read, read, read, implement, try again, prove to yourself you can do it. Collect paycheck, move on to the next one. Welcome to the forum and good luck to you.
