Power Washing and Roof Cleaning Forum

Dwayne · Member

Playing with chemistry

Liberty SoftWash · PWS Vender

Are you adding sea salt?

John Aloisio · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Dwayne,

most dish soaps have a warning on the label to not mix with bleach. When mixed together they emit caustic and possible carcinogen gases. You will find most of us use soaps made for the industry and even some laundry detergent. Check out all the vendors online and compare the prices. a lot of them will have cover scents and rinse aids for house washes already in the soap.

tjteed · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Respectfully you are wasting your time. Don't reinvent the wheel. Do in this order
1. Marketing. Spend your time figuring out how you can increase value to your customer so that you can charge more. I would rather increase my sell price by 10% than cut cut all of my costs by 10%
2. Efficiency. Proper spray techniques will decrease material cost and get you off the job faster. It allows you to sell more at the higher price.
3. Costs. Now maybe look at how to manage costs better.

There are plenty of good surfactants. I only use Greenwash. If I'm on a steep roof I add a very small amount of Roof Snot.
I highly recommend attending Softwashapalooza in January. All of this will be covered as well as networking with successful cleaners. The UAMCC event by powerwash store the same week is also good, but spending time with AC would be my first choice for someone starting out.

Ed Thompson · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Tims correct. There's a lot of solid, already tested products that are safe and effective. The only problem with the good liquid surfactants is the shipping. I buy 2 drums at a clip which runs me roughly $250 just for shipping. But it's done and I don't have to fuss with home made concoctions. If I was a customer I would be leary if I knew the soaps were home brewed.

Fred W · Guru

One of the things AC teaches is that we are not chemists. I could not agree with that more. There was a discussion at the UAMCC forum about using random surfactants......there was some back and forth drama with the main arguer saying something about AC does not know what he's talking about and "I've been mixing chems for years". AC simply said something to the effect of ".....and you have emphysema"

There were no comments after that. The point is we really should leave the chemistry to the chemists.....besides, with a thick mixture like that how would you ever spray it?

SprayWash · Approved Exterior Cleaner

I happen to be one of the cheapest people alive, but even I don't mix Chems. Like Tim, John, Ed and Doug all alluded to there are too many good surfactants/detergents out there already. No need to reinvent the wheel, plus you can really do harm to yourself. Dish soap is a big "no-no".

I agree with everything that's already been posted here.

waxman18324 · Founding Member Rest in Peace

Dwayne,

Keep it simple. Comparing sh stable surfactents side by side is one thing but developing your own is not worth the time and effort.

Hank

-- Edited by waxman18324 on Sunday 4th of January 2015 08:57:58 AM

AC Lockyer · Approved Exterior Cleaner

tjteed wrote:
Respectfully you are wasting your time. Don't reinvent the wheel. Do in this order
1. Marketing. Spend your time figuring out how you can increase value to your customer so that you can charge more. I would rather increase my sell price by 10% than cut cut all of my costs by 10%
2. Efficiency. Proper spray techniques will decrease material cost and get you off the job faster. It allows you to sell more at the higher price.
3. Costs. Now maybe look at how to manage costs better.

There are plenty of good surfactants. I only use Greenwash. If I'm on a steep roof I add a very small amount of Roof Snot.
I highly recommend attending Softwashapalooza in January. All of this will be covered as well as networking with successful cleaners. The UAMCC event by powerwash store the same week is also good, but spending time with AC would be my first choice for someone starting out.

Thanks Tim.

AC

Dwayne · Member

Wow.

waxman18324 · Founding Member Rest in Peace

Dwayne,

Wow can be a good thing. All these guys have helped me in one way or another grow my business. I owe them, take their advice and look after their interests by sharing videos, likes on facebook, etc. No other place do I feel at home like I do on here.

Hank

Fred W · Guru

Dwayne wrote:
Wow.

:}

Yea, I think there's an overwhelming agreement on chemistry!

I think, just like you, we all want something better and many of us have tried different techniques or came up with ideas to make it better but at the end of the day we want to live.

I'm personally not a fan of Green Wash. I used it for a few months but just found it over-priced and worked the same as others. I also tried Stik-Up and a few others and think I still need to try Roof Snot (just talked myself into buying 10 gallons).

We all want more cling and less chems.

Dan · Veteran Member

What do you use mostly, Doug?
I go between Roof Snot and Cling On.

Dwayne · Member

I think a few of you have an idea of what I was trying to do, and Doug, I think you said it best..."We all want more cling and less chems."

And I do understand the effects of bleach and dawn etc. and I thank you for your concern of my health.

Eric, FYI it is not sea salt, but it is 100% safe to consume without the fear of higher blood pressure.

Hank. you said "No other place do I feel at home like I do on here." and I agree, so much so that I sent a PM to Al stating that exact thing before I posted the pictures.

Please again understand that I am not trying to reinvent the wheel.

Admin · Head Quarters

Dwayne wrote:
I think a few of you have an idea of what I was trying to do, and Doug, I think you said it best..."We all want more cling and less chems."

And I do understand the effects of bleach and dawn etc. and I thank you for your concern of my health.

Eric, FYI it is not sea salt, but it is 100% safe to consume without the fear of higher blood pressure.

Hank. you said "No other place do I feel at home like I do on here." and I agree, so much so that I sent a PM to Al stating that exact thing before I posted the pictures.

Please again understand that I am not trying to reinvent the wheel.

That Al, he is one good guy!!!

waxman18324 · Founding Member Rest in Peace

Al...is that what you go by nowadays?

Hank

Dwayne · Member

Dwayne wrote:
I think a few of you have an idea of what I was trying to do, and Doug, I think you said it best..."We all want more cling and less chems."

And I do understand the effects of bleach and dawn etc. and I thank you for your concern of my health.

Eric, FYI it is not sea salt, but it is 100% safe to consume without the fear of higher blood pressure.

Hank. you said "No other place do I feel at home like I do on here." and I agree, so much so that I sent a PM to Al stating that exact thing before I posted the pictures.

Please again understand that I am not trying to reinvent the wheel.

My apologies. Art not Al

Liberty SoftWash · PWS Vender

We use roof snot.

SprayWash · Approved Exterior Cleaner

I love Greenwash, I will stock up on it in January. When its not available, the Stick-up works well. Buddy of mine swears by the cherry stuff...there's a lot of options our there.

If you are looking for an off the shelf you can pick up locally, think more along the lines of laundry, vs. dish-soap.

I do think theres a big difference between just surfactants & surfactant/detergents.

waxman18324 · Founding Member Rest in Peace

Initially I used Dawn and then got smarter and now use roof snot.

Hank

Ed Thompson · Approved Exterior Cleaner

I know 2 companies that don't ad any surfactant at all.

Diamond Roof Cleaning · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Russ just came out with a product just like AC'S green wash. It works just as good and it is cheaper. I used a sample 1 gallon bottle he gave me back in december. Smells good and has good cling.

Fred W · Guru

What is it Michael?

lkendall · Approved Exterior Cleaner

want to cut costs? then don't buy your chemicals from a online dealer... They sell to a niche market and thats there only market, so the prices will be much higher than a chem supplier.. there i just saved you 200$

Patrick G · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Dwayne spend your time inventing somthing so we never have to walk a roof again....What was the guy from Jersey name that made that "Boom Thing "? and where is he now? I'm keeping my eye on that Tim Teed, that was a great reply. Mike whats the name of the stuff russ is selling, do you like it over the roof snot if so why? I prefer Al over Art. Al's more gangster and goes with Art's old school gangster attitude.

youtu.be/uq-gYOrU8bA

Diamond Roof Cleaning · Approved Exterior Cleaner

I think it's called bleach wash. I would have to check. I have the bottle in my trailer.

Diamond Roof Cleaning · Approved Exterior Cleaner

You will save 30 overall compared to AC'S green wash per every 5 gallons. We use about 5 gallons every 2 weeks because I only use half of what they tell you to use. So if they say 32 ounces per 50 gallon mix I use 16 ounces or less depending on the surface we are cleaning.

John Aloisio · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Russ sells Bleach Plus and Bleach Stop.

John Aloisio · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Dwayne,

it will be trial and error, personal preference and how you will market and sell your company and services.

Doug Rucker · Vender

Diamond roof Cleaning wrote:
You will save 30 overall compared to AC'S green wash per every 5 gallons. We use about 5 gallons every 2 weeks because I only use half of what they tell you to use. So if they say 32 ounces per 50 gallon mix I use 16 ounces or less depending on the surface we are cleaning.

Spot on and same thing we do w Snot. WE drastically cut our usage back a couple years ago as we refined our spray technique. To me more cling is a bad thing as it can stick to plants and other surfaces and take longer to rise off. We use just enough to help the in cleaning process and limit our run off by adapting our spraying techniques to the job.