Hey y’all! I have been using the method @squidskc uses on awnings and been killing it. Thanks man, you opened up a new avenue for my business! So, it was a beautiful day out today so I jump on the Harley and went looking for businesses that needed their awnings cleaned. I came across this complex that had 14 awnings, each with organic growth and dirt covering each of them. But 2 of them had what looked to be rust stains. I want to present the property owner with a quote for cleaning them all but want to make sure I am knowledgable about the stains first. There aren’t any gutters above them, so im not even sure it is rust. Any thoughts on what it is and how to remove them?
1 Like
Its definitely rust from the corner bead of the building. I would think you could just treat them with same wash maybe need to scrub them but I would be upfront with the owner about your concerns.
SH likely won’t touch the rust stains so you’ll want to use oxalic acid. It’s safe for fabrics but definitely do a test spot in an inconspicuous area just because you never know. They say that bleach will “set” rust stains in fabric so I would work on the rust first before doing the normal cleaning with sh. If someone has cleaned them with sh in the past the rust may already be set in and won’t come out. Wash down with water to at least get any loose dirt and debris off. Use the normal 6-8 oz of oxalic per gallon and go up from there. If needed you can even go so strong that it won’t all dissolve. The undissolved bits will work like pumice when scrubbing with a brush and might help. After getting out as much of the stain as possible proceed with the normal awning cleaning using sh. I’m sure you’ve seen that awesome video that Squids posted awhile back. If not be sure to watch it.
Check with Craig Harrison with F9. i don’t know why f9 barc wouldn’t work but he’d know if it’d affect the awnings materials
Thanks @marinegrunt I didnt even think of oxalic. F9 was my first though but I havent delt with any rust removal yet here in southern wisconsin. This is my first season pressure washing. @Kps0410 I’ll check out if F9 is safe for awnings. I’ve been wanting to compare the two anyways.
2 Likes
