Power Washing and Roof Cleaning Forum

Maverick Contracting · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Laundry detergent for mix?

Power Washing Charlottesville · Veteran Member

I use Dawn Professional in my softwash mix and know other contractors in the industry who used it their entire career and never had any issues.

I actually recently started using Gain in my softwash mix and I didn't see any real difference by adding the Gain(I use the Hawaiian Aloha) in terms of cleaning power.

Most of what we clean off houses are organic growth and mild forms of organic debris and dirt. The reason why SH is so powerful is the fact that it kills/neutralizes the growth therefore breaking/loosening the bonds to the siding/house and allows us to rinse it away with high volume water flow. At least from a softwash perspective.

With that being said, Gain is a soap. It will do what soaps do when it comes into contact with stains or dirt it was designed to remove and considering the cost of a few ounces of Gain on one house cleaning, I will continue using it because even though I might not be benefitting much from a cleaning perspective, the smell of clean it leaves behind for the customer is worth it to me.

Anybody want to add anything to this?

-- Edited by Power Washing Charlottesville on Thursday 28th of May 2020 11:12:34 PM

-- Edited by Power Washing Charlottesville on Thursday 28th of May 2020 11:13:12 PM

BlueRidge · Approved Exterior Cleaner

Hey Mav... we are and have been using Arm & Hammer laundry detergent for years and saved a crazy amount of money and never run out! A local supplier has provided me with a additive to help with cling. Getting A&H at Costco has really brought our soap costs way down and quite honestly, I see nothing different except for the cost and shipping of "industry" soaps.

It was years ago that Art highly suggested PinAlen for house washes. We haven't used anything different since. I did start adding EBC Glide to the soap tank.

I hope this helps.

Admin · Head Quarters

BlueRidge wrote:
Hey Mav... we are and have been using Arm & Hammer laundry detergent of years and saved a crazy amount of money and never run out! A local supplier has provided me with a additive to help with cling. Getting A&H at Costco has really brought our soap costs way down and quite honestly, I see nothing different except for the cost and shipping of "industry" soaps.
It was years ago that Art highly suggested PinAlen for house washes. We haven't used anything different since. I did start adding EBC Glide to the soap tank.
I hope this helps.

Brett if your adding EBC Glid to your soap at at $15 Qt, I wonder if Unger 6 window cleaner at HD would work the same.

https://www.homedepot.com/p/Unger-32-oz-Concentrate-Liquid-Window-Cleaning-Solution-0400/203177347

https://usa.ungerglobal.com/wp-content/uploads/EasyGlide-Glass-Cleaner-SDS-Sheet.pdf

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Power Washing Charlottesville · Veteran Member

Hey Brett,

Have you ever visited the Pressure Works store in Richmond? They have a product called ‘cling on’ and it works extremely well. It’s my main surfactant and it only takes a couple ounces for a house wash mix which translates to about 75 cents of product used. I purchase it in 5 gallon buckets and it lasts quite a while.

I visit them at least once every three months or so to restock on things I need and maintain relations. If you haven’t paid them a visit, it’s worth it. Just thought I’d share.