What is soft washing. I finally figured it out.

Well this is the story I'm all ways telling my guys that they can damage siding, if they don't follow the correct procedures. They listen, but we all know they are really thinking that is BS. So yesterday had the chance to spend some time doing continued training with one of the guys. Its below 50 degrees so the chemical is not working as quick. He ask why don't we just use pressure, well I would have used a 40 degree tip if it was a single story. At that point I can still control how much pressure is hitting the house. It was a two story so I said we will just have to keep it wet and let it keep working. The job in normal conditions would have taken 30 minutes, an hour and half later we are done. We get in the van he said we could have been done in no time it was only a few spots. This provided me with another training opportunity. Every neighborhood has this type of damage so I knew I could find at least one house that had been damaged. So we drive around the corner and she is sitting pretty. Not only one house but 12 in a row I guess the same guy did them all.

He then responds why doesn't it look like that in the front I said it does you just can't see it the sun has to be at the right angle and you at the right angle. By the way these are quarter of a million dollar houses.

So I have made it simple soft washing is not causing this type of damage.

Also anyone who wants to use this picture feel free.

Nice Picture!

Nice pic! I turned down a job last week of a large metal sided building 15 feet tall. I pulled up and it looked like Arabic writing all over the siding. Terrible paint chalkiness on all sides. I explained to him about oxidation of the paint and how it should have been cleaned and that I am not in the habit of wanting to fix someone else's mistake.

Know that I think about it, I could create a business just fixing these mess ups. The only problem is I can not think of an efficient method to fix these. Any ideas?

It would be a restoration. People that do that have no idea or care what the house looks like when it dries. Check Please.

Zorro!!!

Andy Hinson said:

It would be a restoration. People that do that have no idea or care what the house looks like when it dries. Check Please.

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You got it someone who is just making extra money. By the time it drys and the homeowner knows, they have no way of finding them.

Wow, that's a great pic, and good job on turning it into a training opportunity!

A few years ago our company was invited to take a look at and see if we could fix another companies wash project. As soon as we heard this I thought oh boy what happend. It was a 600 Plus unit complex. We bid on cleaning it the year before. They wanted to save money by hiring their own hanyman. Unbenowns to them he was not aware he could damage the (alluminum) siding. The siding colors are dark blue, grey and tans. Wow this was instantly noticable and you didnt have to wait for the sun to hit it right. We couldnt help them but they wanted some advice. First I thought go after the handyman services insurance company, they had none! A long story short we ended up subcontracting a large reputable painting contractor to paint over 600 units. That comunity will never make that mistake ever again.

I don't mind fixing someones mess at my discretion. Meaning,..if I'm allowed to fix it as I see fit,..even if it will need painted afterward. I don't paint,..so not looking to drum up work,Ha,Ha,...Anyhow,...It's important to tie these jobs together so these "zip" marks aren't visible,...because now when you leave the job,..it is your signature on it. Painters run into that all the time,..going in and painting over someone else's job where they couldn't stay in the lines.

I've always noticed: Blues, Reds and Greens are the worst for trying to keep even. These are darker colors and a badly oxidized blue,green or red house can be a challenge to keep even. Some say waxing helps,..and there are some good products out there I guess. Plexmaster being one of them I think.

* I did awnings on a local gym ,..they were very dirty, moldy,...when I was done cleaning them I seen zip marks all through the cloth,..I tried to work them out, but could do so only slightly. Pisses me off every time I see it. I told the manager about it and they said it was their handyman that did it the first time.
Fortunately though,..we started at around 5:30 Am so not many seen us there.

Jeff

innovativewash said:

A few years ago our company was invited to take a look at and see if we could fix another companies wash project. As soon as we heard this I thought oh boy what happend. It was a 600 Plus unit complex. We bid on cleaning it the year before. They wanted to save money by hiring their own hanyman. Unbenowns to them he was not aware he could damage the (alluminum) siding. The siding colors are dark blue, grey and tans. Wow this was instantly noticable and you didnt have to wait for the sun to hit it right. We couldnt help them but they wanted some advice. First I thought go after the handyman services insurance company, they had none! A long story short we ended up subcontracting a large reputable painting contractor to paint over 600 units. That comunity will never make that mistake ever again.

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One of my facebook friends in Ohio said this happened to her condo a few years back. The only bad thing is this was a so called professional. A consumer model pressure washer I don't think would cause that damage at those heights. This really hurts the industry.

This is unfortunately a very common site, typically an over zealous homeowner tries to wash their own house and this is the fallout. Like Tomiko, we also see "contractors" leave their signature like in the picture all to often. Typically these guys don't last long and if they do, they don't earn repeat customers. All to often, homeowners will base their decisions on price alone and sometimes suffer the consequences for that choice.


Great teaching tool, thanks.

Mike V said:

This is unfortunately a very common site, typically an over zealous homeowner tries to wash their own house and this is the fallout. Like Tomiko, we also see "contractors" leave their signature like in the picture all to often. Typically these guys don't last long and if they do, they don't earn repeat customers. All to often, homeowners will base their decisions on price alone and sometimes suffer the consequences for that choice.


Great teaching tool, thanks.

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Mike its on Stonebridge Circle first turn off the roundabout all the houses on the right. I you want to show your guys, took another over today. I have never seen it that clear and that many houses in a row.