Mud Daubers Galore on Stucco

Anyone have any tips on this one? There are literally hundreds and maybe thousands of mud dauber nests all over this 12-13’ tall stucco overhang. The pictures don’t even do it justice when showing how many there actually are. Does anyone have any magic potion besides scrubbing to get the stains off?

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They’re the bane of my existence @marinegrunt.

We had a 6k+ sqft house wash on the edge of paynes prairie state park, beautiful piece of land. After we got there the wife asks if we can also clean up “some” bees nests. I said of course, without any pause. She shows me a car port area between the house and detached garage. The ceiling was plastered with exposed beams spaced about 4’ apart for about a span of 60’ long by ~30’ wide. EVERY sq in where the beam met the ceiling had clusters of dauber nests and in between the clusters were spider egg sacks. :roll_eyes:

So I went and told my oldest son that I needed him to clean up the carport ceiling area. He said something funny about me and walked over to the carport. Honest truth he was back in front of me looking like he saw a ghost and said, “Dad, do you think you could please clean it?” :pleading_face:

It looked like something from a horror movie, took me at least 4hrs and countless passes of hot hw mix to get it cleaned, and that was after scrapping all the thick clusters off with a 6" scrapper. Lesson learned.

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That sounds insane! It sounds more like one of those termite nests you see in South America or Africa. A huge house like that you would think they could afford to have it cleaned a little more often. I bet you check every little “bee nest” before agreeing to it!

Sounds like your son would’ve went on strike if you made him do it!

With all that practice you could probably knock my job above out in like 30 minutes. We don’t have a Brazilian Steakhouse house but I will take you to the Golden Coral afterwards to celebrate that 74 coming up in a few months. :partying_face:

I haven’t had to clean many daubers from stucco. Do you think the stains will come off okay? I might order some dragon juice and give it a try unless you don’t think I’ll need it. I’ve read it works well on them.

Heck, I would try the dragon juice. That job was a nightmare.

I don’t do anything in 30mins…lol

Strike?! Heck I fire them every week and they still show up the next day!

You’re just that much fun to be around!

Lol…seconds?

Elemonator does a decent job dissolving them, then spray with the DJ and let sit. But even scrubbing, going to still have some stain probably.

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Heck, now a days somethings are nano seconds :drooling_face:

We have more than our fair share around here, and I agree with @Racer house wash mix with elemonator, let it soak in for 10-15 min, the should rinse off. On drivit
It’s pretty difficult to get it all outta the crevices, and can leave a shadow, kinda like gum on concrete, I’ve had luck letting it completely dry after washing the clumps off, then wet it again with HW, and blasting it with my 0*
0040 tip. Good luck…

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I suspect the ‘cement’ used by the wasp when it forms the tunnels is somewhat waterproof. Definitely had my share as a window cleaner.

It’s not bad knocking down the majority of the nest it’s the stain that’s left behind that’s a pain. It comes off of vinyl with a little scrubbing I’m just not so sure about the stucco. I’ve just never messed with the number of nests that this building has. I’ve never used dragon juice for anything so I’m anxious to try it.

Let me know how the dragon juice works if you try it. I haven’t found anything that works other than scrubbing and that doesn’t get it all every time. I hate those dang mud nests!

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I will definitely keep you posted. I’m going to do it in a few weeks. I placed an order for the Dragon Juice yesterday so will be interesting to see what it does. I’ve seen a couple videos of people using it with good results. They still had to scrub a little but not too much. I hope they clean up well. The guy who called me for it is the owner of a commercial real estate management company and manages most of the largest buildings in downtown along with businesses, parking garages, and apartments all over the area. When I cleaned his personal patio I talked him into calling me from now on for his commercial properties and he did. He used one of the million dollar outfits before but for no other reason than they were just the first he called years back. With the dauber job he understands there’s always the possibility it may need painted after cleaning but I’m hoping it cleans up enough to where it doesn’t just as more of a way to impress him with how well it cleans up. Either way I’m sure he’ll keep calling me.

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I completed this job on Saturday. I tried a handful of different chems but the Dragon Juice seemed to work the best. It still required scrubbing but it got rid of probably 99% of the stains. On some of the worst stains it helped to scrub, let sit for a few minutes, and then scrub again. That usually did the trick except for a handful of them. I tried scrubbing with the other chems but they didn’t remove the stains like Dragon Juice.




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I can read the reflection of the door signage in the window’s reflection. I’m calling them to let them know they have a piano nerd washing their business and that they should hire a professional.

Hahaha…This guy owns a few businesses. Commercial real estate management and commercial construction. He remodels malls and large commercial locations all across the Midwest. His other business buys, that’s right, buys buildings like the one below. He also manages commercial properties. He’s been in the commercial real estate business since the 70’s. I’m pretty sure he knows a professional when he sees one. :grin: I talked him into dropping a multi million dollar company to start using me. Anyways, I can’t play one song on the piano. You probably know more about the piano than I do from playing Rock Band and Dance Party or whatever video games you play.

commerce

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Impressive! Great job!

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Great Job man, looks great. Mind if I ask what ratio you applied the dragon juice? Will definitely have to order some after seeing this. Thanks for sharing

Great job! I deal with them as well. I knock of the mud piles with ball valve or if higher, I use the pink tip. Mostly on stucco. For the stain, I just spray 3:1 SH with Arm&Hammer with Oxi, let dwell and rinse the same way as with the mud piles. Works 90% of the times honestly, if they’ve been there for a while, not a chance. I under promise thise anyway…

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Nice job mate - awesome results👍

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It was mixed about 15 parts water to 1 part Dragon Juice. You could probably try 20:1 and get good results. I just filled up a couple inches of water in a bucket and dipped my brush in it just because I had so many to do. A pump up would be the way to go for a few here and there.

I ordered a few new brushes for the job and this one was the only one I really used. It’s made for corners but it worked great for flat surfaces. It’s only about an inch and a half wide.