I love flatwork for mindless ease but commercial building softwash makes so much more money for much less time working that it’s becoming a favorite.
I absolutely hate apartment breezeway cleaning with water recovery. I’m a one man show and do the boom and spray method. So every 10 feet or so I’m moving some peagravel pvc booms and vacuum hose and spraying into the scupper. Killer on the back. Takes an hour to setup and the vacuum weighs over 100lbs. 3 story buildings don’t have elevators so you’re always lugging it up and down.
Yeah. I just got a kick out of it. I clipped the end with barb and dropped the hose in there but of course it went in and out of SH and I was dinking around with the injector thinking it was on backwards. Classic shakedown job. Fixed and onto another on the list!
Hey can you explain the boom and spray thing if you see this. The water removal of the breezeways is my main concern I want to be as flawless as possible. And googling brings up lawn stuff lol.
Hi Teddy! Yeah so basically you fill up approx 4’ sections of 1" or 2" pool vinyl tubing with peagravel, zip tie the ends. You lay those 1" tubes along the sides of the hallway in the section your cleaning and lead it into a vshaped funnel made with the 2" tubes surrounding the scupper head. This keeps water from draining down the sides of the walls since most interior hallway apartments lack flashing to keep water out. Works best with a helper, doing it solo kills your back. I do a sweeping straightdown pattern and walk briskly towards the scupper. I applies sufficient pressure and flow to break up most dirt and move debris. Pretreat stains with degreaser before setting up to give it dwell time. Its ok to linger briefly to hit tought spots but be mindful of water buildup, spray it into the scupper frequently.
Ty so much. I was thinking about buying a water transfer pump or two for each section and the ones w the cup and having my partner squeegie towards that. And I also have 12 of those absorbent sock things 4 feet each for the actual doorways. Damn the Lowe’s guy doesn’t know what he’s talking about w all due respect bc he was like “it can’t go through the cracks where the wall meets the floor if so that is the buildings problem” had me all excited that I had one less step to worry about lmao.
And the absorbent socks are too thick to line all the way down the hallway. I’m def in a spot where there a WHOLE BUNCH of grime and nastiness tucked really close to the walls and def gaps where it meets the floor so I gotta figure out how to hit those spots but not flood anyone’s apartment.
Maybe surface clean with the absorbent socks and water transfer pumps then as much as it sucks time wise have my helper prep the next floor while I touch up the sides with a nozzle … idk. Thank God for the Internet lmao bc I’m mid 30s so I try to use logic but that combined with forums and YouTube makes your learning capabilities endless haha.
And ty for responses I truly truly appreciate it and am not being cliche. And I do care, I want to do this as perfect as possible.
Maybe the 1 inch pool vinyl tubing you’re talking about will be thin enough to where I can still get very close to the wall w the surf cleaner. I’ll check that stuff out in person and see what it looks like irl
If you’re spraying out interior hallways and not usung a good recovery surface cleaner or floor scrubber you must use extreme caution in how you clean. Spray technique is crucial to clean efficiently and to avoid flooding the place with excess water. Along walls and especially doors you’ll want to keep your want at a 90 degree angle and let the spray fan quickly blast any crud on the sides and corners away and down towards the scupper. I would put socks only in areas where water may pool due to the foundation, expecially on the 1st floor by stairwells. I always tape up 1st floor doorways where water flows towards and lit dams, socks in front to prevent flooding someones apartment. Here are a few pics of the boom ans spray setup. Can be done with one person but its difficult. Running a recovery surface cleaner would be better bur you absolutely need a helper to keep the sump pump hose for the vacuum from kinking up and to manage all of the hoses and electrical cords.
For comparison here is the recovery surface cleaner setup. Seems easier until you realize how much heavier the vacuum system is and how difficult sump hose management is by yourself. Kinking kept it from pump out water, which you will use a lot more of with this method. Additionally you must make certain the tip sizes are correct to not etch the concrete. Plenty of previous companies left their mark.
