cleaning cider block and stucco

Hello Everybody,

I am cleaning a business with cider block and stucco. What would be the best way to clean these. I am planning on using hot water as a test, then a mixture of POWER STROKE from Envirospec and bleach which I will x-jet up onto the wall. I have a 32' extendawand and the blue 24' wand.

Thank you for any input. I plan on running a search as well.

Scott

Scott the bleach and hot water will work fine on the cinder block provided they arent painted. If they are painted low pressure bleach and warm water is the trick. The stucco- is it stucco(mortar over blocks usually apinted or colored mortar) or is it dryvit (a coating of plaster or mortar of some type over foam boards). If it is truly stucco again same rules apply as with the blocks. If its dryvit turn your pressure way way down and turn the heat off. Use bleach with a milder chem(power stroke is a degreaser) will do the trick.

Mike,

It is stucco in places and fancy cinder block in other places. I take it I should xjet bleach and use hot water with the extendawand.

Am I correct in reading that I should not use POWER STROKE? I was told that it is a degreaser and brightener. I will be using it on the concrete sidewalks.

Why just warm water. I thought that hot water is always better at removing dirt,grime,mildew etc...

Thanks for youe input.

Scott

Power Stroke or any other degreaser is too harsh and may harm the painted surface of the stucco. Same with the hot water if its paint. This is just how I clean stucco. I would rather be safe then sorry. Remember stucco is mortar over blocks. Its very possible there may be a gap or small crack where too much pressure would pop it off and then it will just grow from there. If its just surface dirt and mildew, bleach cut with a lighter duty soap will cut it right off. I would x jet it and rinse with extendawand 40 degree tip warm water. If your mix is right most of the stains will disappear or become lighter before rinsing and cut your time in half. I clean a dryvit building once a year for my local electric coop. It is 3 stories high. I use exstention wand - 1 gallon soap around 10 ph. 2 gallons bleach a little dish soap for extra cling and 2 gallons water in 5 gallon pail. I downstream at 20% bottom to top then rinse at 125 degrees 40 degree tip. Cleans up very nice and 0 damages on the dryvit. I clean stucco the same way. If its really nasty try a little more bleach.

Thanks for the reply,

I ended up using bleach and sometimes just hot water alone. I could see the difference in where I bleached the next day. I did use POWER STROKE in some areas. It helped. I guess I got lucky.

Thanks again for the advice.

Scott