I’ve got a strong lead for pressure washing a healthcare facility that recently opened. It’s a small 3 story building with a thin parking lot wrapped around the building. My current setup is only a 4/4 cold water so i’ll obviously have to be renting a setup for this. How would you guys approach a job like this? it looks pretty straightforward to me. They just want the exterior walls and parking lot cleaned. it’s a new building so there aren’t any serious stains on the building but i haven’t taken a look at the parking lot yet. my main concern is with surface cleaning the parking lot, do i want hot water 8gpm, cold water 8gpm? or will hot water 5.5 do the job. Do i need a water reclaim system for the parking lot? there are sewers where i can see the water flows to at all parts of the parking lot. I’m not even sure where to go to rent such a machine, everywhere i’ve looked so far only offers hot water 4.5gpm or 5.0gpm max. haven’t even seen a 8gpm rental. i’m in the north texas DFW area if anyone knows a place. as for the building, i plan on soft washing with an X jet and extended wand. unless i can find a rental that has a good soft wash setup.
8gpm machines would be ideal. I don’t see any reason to try and source hot water machines unless they specifically pointed out oil stains then you might as well do the whole lot if you’ve got it. Take plenty of SH with you.
you think the X-jet + extended wand is a good strategy for the building? like i said i don’t have a soft washer at the moment but i don’t think i really need one.
Reclaim varies by county. The City of Houston requires it but Montgomery county next to it does not. I won’t do commercial work inside Houston due to that.
You can find them at northern tool or in my case it was at a local distributer’s store. not sure what the brand name is but it’s maybe 20 feet high fully extended. it’s basically like holding up a pole, but i won’t need a lift because of it.
the building is 2 and a half stories, i figured i could reach from the ground but project manager was insisting to me that he gets us a lift so i told him we have a 24ft wand. if i don’t need it then i won’t use it
If he is insisting on paying for a lift I would let him. Nothing like putting your eyes on something up close vs from the ground. Also allows for you to spray more without a giant extendable wand.
I’m another one that says get that lift and throw that extension wand in the garbage. Just thinking about using that thing makes my back sore. You shouldn’t even need a lift unless there are some heavy stains you need to get close and personal on. If you can’t see the roof from the road I wouldn’t even try and sell him on it. It looks like a flat roof that nobody can see so he won’t care about doing it.
How dirty is the building? What kind of stains are you dealing with?
If you must rent a lift try to find one with Outriggers (jack legs) preferably hydraulic outriggers. An articulated boom lift is better suited For pressure washing than a telescoping boom lift. I have worked both types of lifts since 2001 in tree service work. I own a 2003 Niftylift TM40 articulated two booms plus a job to the basket which I bought on eBay…it is “my right hand man” and I have learned how to do all the maintenance on it including the Kohler Command Pro CS6ST. Do not rent a scissor lift for pressure washing unless you are on level concrete.
