Does anyone have any issues with certain colors of vinyl siding while soft washing(or power washing). I know for me we wont touch the baby blue color siding. Every one we see has a white residue that when hit with ANY water pressure leaves marks and lines. If customer has the baby blue siding…we pass. I also noticed on the light beige that no matter how long we rinse…it seems some of the solution finds it way into the vinyl seperations, voids etc. it then leaks out but leaves brown stains on siding. I have to walk around with a spray bottle and rag and remove it. these are the only 2 I ever came trouble across. Does anyone else?
Also I have a red vinyl house next week to soft wash…never did a red one…any one have any issues problems with that color? Thanks
Do you soft wash?
I use the x jet and the 12.5 solution
Try downstreaming for a softer softwash. It will help with those funky colors of siding. Occasionally you will still have a few runs, but with a downstream softwash it’s less of a problem.
Try to keep the water flowing down the house. For instance, if it’s a two story house, rather then shooting up, allow the water to arch and fall onto the siding. This will prevent a lot of water from going into those weep holes. For some reason bugs carry dirt into those weep holes and it will drip for hours. If you can keep the water flowing down the house, it’s a lot less of a problem.
IF you do get these ugly drip marks you have to be careful in how you remove them. If the house is oxidized, and you use a rag or brush to remove them, you could have a worse problem when everything dries. The rag can remove the oxidation, changing the shade of the color. The fix would be to brush the entire house, not fun! The best way I have found to remove these is to apply a thin mist, again, allowing the water to flow down the house. You gotta get em before they dry though. If they dry, you’ll have to resoap the house.
If a house is badly oxidizing you have to be careful with the amount of pressure you apply. Although the pressure from an x-jet may be safe in general, there is still enough pressure coming out to remove oxidation even if you’re standing a good distance away from the house. On the flip side, if you’re using a softwash tip and downstreaming, if you’re 6 inchs away from the house, you’re going to do the same thing. You just have to be very careful. Having a waxy additive in your mix can help slightly - it’s not going to make it look like new, but it does look a lot better when you’re done. And then there are a few houses that I have passed on cleaning they were so badly oxidized. I probably could have cleaned them, but didn’t feel like assuming the risk.
These problems are not on every home, only a select few. So don’t let this scare anyone away from downstreaming or softwashing.
What Micah said.
I think if you try down streaming you will put your xjet in storage.
The help I have got here has made me want to do more PW jobs. Thanks for all the past help, I now like PW houses.
Micah- when you say oxidation, how does it manifest itself? The dark grey wood?
The thread is about vinyl siding. The oxidation manifests itself as a chalky film on the surface. Wipe your hand on the siding- if the color comes off the siding is oxidized.
Thanks. I’ve seen that. Good to know.
Soft Washing by definition does not involve a pressure washer at all. Soft Washing is the use of an agricultural style spraying system to deliver a bleach based cleaning solution to a surface in which the cleaning solution does ALL of the cleaning. Then ONLY a garden hose is needed to rinse away and webs, nests and remaining dead algae stains.
In this scenario you would not mar or stripe up the vinyl siding. The color should not matter at all.
Sometimes any siding or even soffitts get soiling and mold behind them and rinse, rinse, rinse they always seem to keep leaching gold residue. Yes sometimes the best plan is to just walk the job with a rag and remove the residue.
Don’t ever turn down work just because there may be a few obsticals. Were in the great depression and every job is precious!
AC
More people soft wash with pressure washers or other gas-powered machines and large orifice nozzles. I’ve tried both and downstreaming is much faster and allows for use of less concentrated cleaning solutions.
Yep I agree with Thad. SoftWashing is SoftWashing. A 12v pump is great for roofs, but isn’t for every job.
When I started softwashing, I didn’t even own a pressure washer. I washed houses and roofs only with a 12v delevan. When I made the transformation to downstreaming with softwash, my production time doubled. I can wash houses in half the time softwashing with low pressure by downstreaming than I did with just a 12v. Also, I noticed that I was getting things cleaner with low pressure even though it was very low PSI and high GPM from rinsing with the Pressure washer because most surfaces need some little bit of pressure from the rinse. Using a pressure washer the right way can make all the difference in the world.
Although you COULD rinse the house with a garden hose, doesn’t mean you should. If a customer sees you washing away the grime with a garden hose, they might think they can do it themselves. Using a large PW, something a typical “homeowner” wouldn’t buy can help justify higher prices and a more professional appearance.
