Good afternoon guys, id like introduce myself first. I’m Kyle, I have a small powerwash company in NJ, still new to the business and trying to learn. I’m looking for some advice on cleaning a building we’ve been working on. I’ll try and attach some pictures to help clarify.
The building is 40 feet high and rough block face to it. The top of the building, behind the front entranceway is very dirty, and we weren’t able to reach it with a lift or get a ladder in there. So far I’ve tried x-jetting with no proportioner straight 12.5% from the 5 gl can with 6 oz elemonator. It did seem to lighten the stains, but without direct pressure it’s not able to completely remove the dirt. I tried hitting with a shooter nozzle. We are using (2) 7gpm 4k psi hot water water machines. I also tried a chemical called heritage from ecochem, applied undiluted with a 12v system. That also didn’t seem to give us great results. Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Thank you.
are you using 12.5 sh? If so that should clean right up with a 3-3.5% mix .
Yo Kyle.
That right there is by far one of the worst materials to clean.
You need a strong mix and you need to get up close and personal in some of the bad areas.
Its a very porous material and the mold digs in deep.
Multiple applications will lighten it up decent, but sometimes you need to bust out some pressure on those nasty areas.
Give me a shout if you want.
A 12v would make it go a little quicker too.
Hey Kyle, welcome! I’m interested in this as well.
I had one similar two weeks ago we did in conjunction with a bunch of soffit repairs. We started with a normal progression, soak, soap (roughly 4%), rinse. Didn’t dent it. Soaked again, soap (same) and rinse.
Went to xjet no proportioner with 12.5% let it sit and had slight results.
Decided to have another go at it at the end of the week when the repairs were completed. After talking to one of our distributors, they were under the impression a couple of factors were in play: 1) change up surfactant (went with eco, better hang time), 2) don’t presoak with the xjet. Their theory was since the building was never cleaned before, that stuff was down deep. Pre-soaking “filled the sponge” if you will and any application was basically hitting the surface only. We let it dwell until it was tacky, soaped it again and then followed with an extra long rinse.
While the results weren’t perfect, that expectation was preset in the proposal. We also tried pressure after but it didn’t work since it wasn’t on the surface.
Kyle, You just gave up to early. Sometimes takes multiple applications. Looks like a flat roof building. Got to be access somewhere. Get on top and spray down.
Looks like a ledge on the front that’s only about15’ high. But you need to be hitting it with a strong roof mix 3.5 - 4%. Hit it, let dwell about 10min, hit again , etc.untill it’s about gone and then rinse with you shooter tip so you can get some pressure on it. Watch out for all that landscaping though. You really need some type of direct application - 12v or whatever.
I clean split face block all the time and with the right mix they usually clean up pretty easy.
It is a flat roof, I can walk it and spray the inside edge good idea. I’ll try using my 12v and a 4%ish mix and let it dwell a little longer next time. I assumed that’s what about the ratio of straight 12.5% sh xjetted with no proportioner would be roughly but it must not be as strong as I thought?
Thank you for the help.
