Could someone explain what causes the red staining that you see in the photo?
On white siding, it is reddish in color and on brown/tan it looks like dark brown staining. I am using 3-4 gallons of 8.25% SH, 1 gallon of water and 5-6 oz of Eliminator. I prerinse, apply, and give it a good rinsing afterward. It doesn’t show up until after the house is dry, which is usually when I’m outta there. So this causes me to come back and hand wipe these areas, which sometimes comes clean and sometimes not. (Usually takes straight bleach on a rag to get it)
Is it just more rinsing required, I usually take my time and rinse thoroghly, water getting behind siding? This photo is near the bottom of the house, which I know nothing could have got up under there.
Surely you guys that wash more houses in one week than I’ve done all summer have seen this. Help needed!
That’s a leaker. “There must be a break in the siding somewhere that we can’t see” is what I tell customers if they ask. But usually I just tell them that it happens once in a great while and we’ll take care of. I tell them not to take it personally, it happens on the finest of homes on occasion.
But here’s the real deal. It typically only happens for us where the vinyl siding is not original to the house, It is a result of water getting behind the siding and carrying dirt out, usually slowly, sometimes after you leave. Stand farther back. Never pre-wet the siding. Sparay one even coat of detergent and go take a break. Do not allow detergent to dry, especially on windows. Do not reapply soap just because you are impatient. Start rinsing from the top down, slowly and methodically, starting from the last piece of siding that was installed and moving to the other side.
Don’t keep rinsing. The too much water thing is what got us here to start with.
Leakers, yeah, she and I are on a first name basis.
Oh, and you can charge more if you never use a rag. MicroFiber cloth adds so much value to the ears of a client.
Sometimes one of the causes of that is the soap got up in the “weep” holes in the vinyl and the bleach attacks the rusted nail(s) in there.
Builders sometimes go cheap and they don’t use galvanized nails which don’t rust. So because the soap or even just the water sometime hit the rusted nail you see those streaks.
[MENTION=6510]Tim4[/MENTION]
Thanks for the info Tim. I am somewhat confused though on the “never pre-rinse” as you stated and I’m sure I have read other threads saying to always pre-rinse or there will be trouble.
And also, looking back at the 3 houses that have done this to me, all have not been original siding - good point.
I don’t get to go out too often but what I remember is this; It takes a slow count of thirty for the soap to show up at the gun after placing the pick up tube in the soap mixture. When I get to the next wall, I have thirty seconds to spray the landscaping, and then a quick spritz on the windows just to cool them down a bit and to keep the soap from drying on them. I never, ever , ever, never, pre-wet the siding if I can help it. When the soap shows up, I start soaping at the bottom and work my way to the top. And wait. And be patient. Trust the soap. When it has had sufficient time to dwell, remove the pick up tube from the soap and place it in plain water. You now have thirty seconds of soap in the line to touch up any spots that may need it. And wait. You may mist some areas of the wall just to keep the soap from drying and then begin to rinse from the top down.
I know, a lot of words all run together. What do you do different [MENTION=7950]cashriver12[/MENTION]?
Hey, you know that logo file you hooked me up with? I needed it for Howie. Howie fell and broke his shoulder. Now he doesn’t want new yard signs to gain more customers. But if you hear of anybody else looking for more calls from new customers, point them in my direction.
I have the 4 tip nozzle kit from Bob, I start by rinsing vegetation in the area I’m starting and hit the windows on that side also and pre-rinse siding (which I won’t do from your advice). I put my pickup tube in my mix bucket and start applying bottom up with applicating tips, usually doing one whole side at a time. Switch to rinse tip, wait a few minutes and hit some areas again with what soap mix is left in the line (it’s about 20 second delay when going from one to other for me), when starts to run clear water, rinse from top down and hit vegetation and windows good again. Go to next side and repeat.
On my last side, put pickup tube in bucket of clear water and use application tip to do final side rinse and clean out downstreamer, line, gun.
Hope Howie gets to feeling better, and logo file worked out. And will do on the other.
You got it. Except we always rinse with the soap tip. We claim softwash and I often explain that as so soft that a hand placed in front of the water stream won’t be harmed. Our “small” machine is 8 gpm so the rinse tip gets to be a pain in the shoulder after a bit.
