I use it mainly on brick homes, does a heck of a job, but a good surfactant overall. Smells great. Be sure to rinse plants though. I spilled some on my yard and left it, not good, lol. Envirospec has it.
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@Racer so that’s not your go to surfactant for Hardie plank ? …
I usually use elemonator but I’ve read some people say don’t use it on Hardie plank…
I use a citrus d-limonene degreaser in certain situations, but never as a house wash surfactant. Hadn’t heard of that before. Is it in lieu of SH?
yes, you can use a lot less bleach. But more expensive. For example in a fiverr might use 3 gal of limonene and 1 gal of bleach and then 1 gal water. Have a friend up in NC who washes some of the nicest homes in the state around Lake Norman and he maybe uses a drum of bleach /year.
But the Limonene runs about $4 / gal
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Hmmm, I might have to give that go.
I’ll definitely try it thanks.
I figured when it comes to washing large amounts of Hardie board @Racer @florida_condo_cleani @Innocentbystander you guys would know the best surfactants… or at least have your preference.
I 've used several, but I always do a test on smallest section of house. But used Elemonator numerous times with no problem. Just use a slightly weaker mix. Most of your problems will come from the darker colors if you have any.
Elemanator. Delimonene is horrible stuff
Cost me a lot of money the one time I used it
Okay you guys made me feel a lot better about using Elemonator on Hardie plank… I switched to Elemonator 4 months so ago after @charlestonwashing raved about how great it was… it’s done me good and it seems like everyone else feels the same way about it… thanks everybody
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There are a couple of colors that are used in my area that I have had issues with when doing a test spot. Fortunately I caught it before I washed the whole house. Most of the homes I clean are hardiboard. It’s a grey and bluish color from SW. As Racer said the limonene allows you to use less bleach and is what I use on these colors or any that make me nervous. You have to play with the mix to see what works for you, really depends on how dirty the house is.
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Doesn’t necessarily matter if it’s hardi or wood it’s just those colors of paint.
@Skip… that blue gray is the exact color of This Woman’s house… it’s okay though she doesn’t want me to use any s h on it and I’ve already decided I’m going to use elemonator and water… and I’m going to rinse rinse rinse
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I try schedule those type of jobs for early morning while it’s still cool out. If you are using a weaker mix you can let it sit a little longer without worrying about it drying up like you would in the heat of the day.
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Did you directly spray the ceiling with your mix using downstreaming with a Jrod tip?
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Was there mold spores on the ceiling prior to you cleaning?
This is the first time I’ve seen anything mentioned to use other than sh. There are times when I use powersolve and no SH at all. Mostly this is where there is a stained wooden deck or stained wood accents on a house and I am concerned about ruining with SH. While powersolve works, it is definitely slower and does not help much if there is any organic growth. I use a 5 to 8 GPM nozzle in my DS injector so I’m getting about 18 to 1. In your mix of a fiver in the example above is that a 10 to 1 ratio? Also is limonene safe around stained wood? In your mix you did include 1 gallon of sh but I don’t think that would be enough to cause any problems on stained wood. 90% of the houses around me made of hardiboard and I would love to have a different mix for the ones that are brown green blue and red. Going to have to try this sometime!
Is powersolve not a strong degreaser? I’d definitely keep that away from any painted surfaces if so.
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Toby, my rep at Hydro chem systems sold the product to me for these kind of applications. They have another one that has a very similar name and that one is the one to be careful with. Here’s a snapshot of my texts with him about using it specifically on painted hardiboard. I’ve used it maybe three or four times now and haven’t had a problem yet.
Hmm, I wonder if this guy washes.
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That vendor is clueless and now has Sean spouting nonsense on here that new guys won’t know to ignore.
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