Hey guys I’m new to here. I have a problem with a house and wondering if someone can help? So I had this one house wash and before I washed the house I checked to see if the vinyl was oxidized and nothing rubbed off. So I did my normal downstream wash and rinse like crazy!! I came back a few days later and noticed that parts of the vinyl was chalky. I’m new to this business and I don’t want to keep making this mistake. Is there something I can do to not cause this vinyl to not look chalky? Thanks
Do you have pics? What color was the house. Was it on every wall or just 1 or 2? You can make the oxidation on dark colored sidings more pronounced. I’ve had it happen a couple of times. Search blue vinyl siding.
Post your before and after pictures. Tell us what your process was. What do you use in your house mix. You have to paint us a picture or we are just taking shots in the dark.
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Unfortunately I have no pics. The house is a light yellow vinyl siding. My mix is 1 gallon bleach 12.5% 2 gallons of water and 3 oz of eLEMONator. I downstream my mix from the bottom up and let it dwell for 3 min. Then I rinse like crazy from the top down. Then after I do what John Lange says and let it rain on it one last time to make sure any dirt from under the vinyl gets rinsed off. So that’s my process.
And from what I can tell just from the sides that get a lot of sun.
Oh vey!
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That’s alot of surfactant and sh. That’s good formaybe stucco, but still too much surfactant.
If I’m down streaming through my pressure washer dosent that dilute my mix by a lot?
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Yes it does. You should have an of what ratio your pulling though. If not do a test. Don’t listen to John Lang he spreads a lot of poor information as do a lot of guys who feel the need to make a YouTube video on every job lol.
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@anon37135677 What do I need to do a test? When I do the test what should I be looking for? And thanks for the advice I really appreciate it!
What type of machine? What tip are you using. Does the siding look chalky no matter what direction you are looking at it. It’s very possible that you removed a lot of oxidation and the spots you see are what you missed. This could be from the chemical dwelling on the siding to long. Could be damage from a previous contractor. With seeing it hard to give you good advice.
But I will tell you that you have no reason not to have before and after pictures INK IS CHEAP AND YOU PHONE DOESN’T CHARGE YOU BY THE PICTURE. I promise it will save you behind one day.
Downstreaming 2 gal water, 1 gallon SH, and 3 oz surfactant is too strong of mix and too much surfactant? I guess I have to start over…lol
Even with a 4gpm pump and 2.1 injector that should be fine. It may be a little weak.
Sometimes a house wash can make an already oxidized house look worse…especially on the sunniest sides. I always look for any weird variations in the color and lines in siding where the studs are…if I see anything I explain to householder it won’t come out and will take before pics as well.
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I use 1gal sh and 3galwater and a splash of surfactant. Does really well, never a problem on VINYL. And That’s 10%, absolutely no problems. Not even dead vegetation. Ill measure, but I believe thats 1oz of surfactant, no abundance of suds, which means cleaner windows for me. It was a learning curve.
What GPM/PSI are you running? Hose length?
3oz of surf is quite a bit.
You must wash some clean houses lol. If you ever have streaks left on the window it’s because you didn’t rinse well enough or let it dry. The amount of surfactant doesnt really have anything to do with it.
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That’s not entirely true about the surfactant. And no on clean houses, all green. I did 1 so bad that it algae “ate” the paint. That house I did use 12-15% sh. Ever since I reduced the surfactant, no streaks, and I owe that to IBS and how he uses small amt of surfactant, at least that was what I got from his advice to others. My comment about the OP recipe, not oxidation.
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I believe it’s a bit different when you’re adding surfactant to 65 gallon tank compared to a 5 gallon bucket… I could be wrong though. If it works well for you don’t change a thing.
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That isn’t that hot of a mix in my opinion and definitely not to much elemonator. Again, in my opinion. And that DEF isn’t a hot mix for stucco. But to each his own. I’m at least an oz per gallon of elemonator and still not that many suds many times. I don’t feel like its as “sudsy” this year for some reason.
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It’s not as sudsy for sure now. I use little, but stick the gun in the tank occasionally to mix it up
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If a house isn’t chalky before a house wash can washing a house cause that chalky look?
Yes sir
