Well, I was asked by my brother in law to get some algae off their house. I’ve watched a buttload of videos and read thru here quite a bit. I plan on trying to get the 12.5% but most likely will only find 10% here in Nebraska. It’s vinyl siding so from my reading I should be able to go straight 10% going thru my downstream injector with a surfacant. I have a 4.8GPM machine and since I am planning on using 200’ of hose (should I get more than that?) I am going to use the 1.8 orifice injector. I have read that I should let it dwell 10 minutes before rinsing. Painters tape and plastic over any electrical outlets, should I have them power off at the circuit box as well?
Anything else I should know? This is something that I may get into as well, especially since all my fleet contracts have paused service during this darn COVID-19 epidemic.
You don’t have to have them cut power. Just be sure to tape the meter box to keep any water out.
You’re correct. Let dwell about 10 minutes or until the mildew and algae turn brown. There are times you might have to hit it twice with mix. Be sure to keep it wet and don’t let it dry. That especially goes for windows. It’s sometimes best to only do two sides at a time just so it doesn’t dry. If it does just reapply mix, let dwell, and rinse. If the front door is painted be sure to pre wet the door, apply mix to the surrounding area, and instantly rinse the door. Some colors are worse than others when it comes to SH fading the paint.
Pay attention to which direction the siding overlaps. You want to spray at an angle in the direction of the overlap. When spraying allow the water to rain down. That will help prevent water from getting behind the siding and causing leakers to run out of the weep holes afterwards.
If your just playing around with this house wash stuff look into an M5DS nozzle, combines all this into 1 by just twisting it. You would take out the downstream injector line out of the mix bucket to rinse.
You don’t have to carry a bucket around with the M5DS twist. It’s not an xjet it’s just a twist nozzle. You can also get it as an xjet though. You still use your regular down stream injector. I have one but I don’t care for it. I prefer my jrod. If your brother in law’s house is one of those old two story farm houses with an attic the M5 might not reach the top. It doesn’t have a tight enough pattern for a stream to reach as high. I get more reach with my jrod.
When you click the link I posted there’s a drop down arrow right under the price. That will list the sets for different gpm.
I’m a dumbass. I was trying to click the picture, not the link. Will that shoot to the roof with my machine? And here is the dumb dumb question: From left to right in that picture what are the different nozzles used for? Here is my guess. Far left is rinse low, second from left is apply soap low, second to the right is rinse high and the far right is soap high
Most only use two out of the four nozzles. It comes with one low pressure stream, one low pressure fan, one higher pressure stream, and one higher pressure fan. The reason they come with 4 is two are low pressure which will draw soap and two are higher pressure which won’t allow the injector to draw soap. Reason being is it’s suppose to keep you from having to walk back to your truck to remove the soap line from the bucket. Although, most think the two higher pressure nozzles are too much psi for washing vinyl so instead of using them to stop the draw of soap we just walk back to the truck and pull the soap line out of the bucket of soap and use the lower pressure nozzles to rinse. That’s why a lot of people use a remote valve like the Schertz Box. You can use low pressure to soap or rinse and instead of walking back to the truck to pull the soap line you just push the button on the remote control which turns the injector soap line off. The higher pressure nozzle that comes with the jrod can sometimes come in handy to wash stubborn mildew off of 2nd story gutters but you want to be careful. The higher pressure fan is great for blowing leaves off of driveways or sidewalks. They’re both just too much pressure for rinsing vinyl.
You shouldn’t have any issues with hitting the top of a two story house. If you need to you can always get a little more reach at the peaks by throwing on a long wand. I just use a little 6 inch wand most of the time but also have a 79" wand if it’s really windy or a really high peak.
If this is your first house, be aware that it may take all day. After a dozen or so you would get dialed in and start really chipping away at the learning curve. I trust with your familiarity with your equipment you should have no problem getting there quickly. However, this first one could be a little frustrating. I just hope it isnt your last! Gotta see that rubber scrubber convert to the dark side.
Prewet the glass if its in the sun then apply your sh. Just apply the sh and don’t rinse until it already looks clean. Rule of thumb is if its still green its not clean on the microscopic level that is. You can get that Jrod but as you saw the soap tips are key. I have a 4.8gpm in the barn I used to run I liked the 0040, 1540, 2530, and 1510 for flat surface work and such. Can always get a 0030 and go up a few thousands with a drill press until your happy too. If the house has lichen spots just stand back and use the 0040 on them during the soaping and finish the rest during rinse when they have turned white. Step back and check the bottom lip of drip edges too they are a bugger.
@GeorgeNicholson leave the rubber scrubbin to @Hotshot and @dperez and come get some of that residential cake, boy does it taste sweet, some even come with double chocolate on top, mmm nom nom
Dont fall for all that hooey George, That cake will make you butt big and youll be washing in your glitter crocs and listening to Kenny G all day frolicking around looking like @marinegrunt
