Hey everyone ! My name is Anthony. I’m new to pressure washing, I’m starting out small with a Dewalt 4400psi. A friend of mine has a window washing business and his client asked for pressure washing of their patio; I am unsure of the tile/paver material and how safe it is to pressure wash. I do have a surface cleaner, I’ve only done a driveway so far. I guess my question here is (I’ll attach pictures) how would any of you pressure wash this patio and with the house being stucco how careful would I need to be to not get any chemicals on the house (sodium hypochlorite) or does it need any chemicals at all? I know this a lot to ask but the house is like a few million so I don’t want to ruin anything. Thanks in advance.
Don’t walk away…run away.
I mean that in the nicest way possible, but this isn’t a job to start out learning on…unless you are in a market where the demand for this type of wash is in high demand.
I would venture to say that most of us start on vinyl sided homes and concrete driveways, not on what may be expensive stone /tile.
If you really want to do this, ask the homeowner what type of stone/tile this may be and hopefully they know. And if they don’t, ask if they know the name of the company that did the install and track them down to find out more about the stuff. Stucco can usually take bleach just fine, but if you are concerned about the paint on any surface, perform a test spot somewhere with a concentration higher then what you intend to use for the wash and see if there are adverse reactions.
Also, what are you trying to pressure wash off? What “stains” are they expecting to be removed?
If you damage something, how will you make it right? There’s a strong chance a client like this will ask for insurance, and if not, they are likely expecting you to have insurance in the event you damage something.
There’s nothing wrong with starting out, we’ve all had to do it, but one thing you will learn is that saying “no” can often be the best thing to do in certain situations.
If you know of a larger washing company in the area perhaps talk to them, refer this job to them, and in return ask for them to allow you to shadow on this one to gain knowledge. Perhaps, one day they’ll throw you a bone on something that they may not want to mess with.
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It doesn’t even look dirty, what are they expecting? If it’s just dusty and dirty with a little bit of algae, just throw a light house wash mix on it and wand it off at 1000 psi or so. I had a similar customer with a travertine pool deck they wanted done, but just a bit dirty. That’s what I did, and you could see dirty water rinsing away and they were very happy with it. Bring a leaf blower and squeegee in case you have water pooling up. Bring a deck brush too. Any spots that are extra dirty, just give it a light scrub with the hw mix on it.
Any staining they want removed or anything that doesn’t look normal, run away. Just rich people wanting dust rinsed off, easy money. Not every job is going to require expensive chemicals, high pressure and decades of experience. Sometimes it is as simple as a quick rinse that people don’t want to do themselves.
Thanks guys for the responses. I was told it is Porcelain and some mosaic tiles. Hope this helps
Sorry I’m new. When you say a light house mix … you mean some surfactant right ?
yeah, you probably aren’t ready if you don’t know what he means. I would read here a little more and then ask some questions. The people here will get you squared away so that you don’t make mistakes and potentially get sued on day 1.
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I use either a 0.6% SH mix (19:1) with about an oz. of elemonator per gallon of SH, or about a 1.2% mix (10:1) if it’s pretty green. For the travertine I did, I believe I used the 1.2% but still pretty light on the SH for any stone.
I’m just a part timer, but I’ve been doing this for going on 7 years now. Best advice I can give you, if you’re not 100% confident, don’t mess with it. Stick to vinyl homes and older concrete and you’ll good. There is no shame in turning down jobs. You’ll get more respect from customers if you explain the risks involved and turn down the job, than if you take their money but do a half ■■■ job
I’ve cleaned porcelain tile, a bunch of it. I just used house wash and around 1700 psi and worked great….i have a pressure reducer on my 24” surface cleaner. Much success!
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