Pressure washing Wood Fences and Decks

[DFlores6073]

Hello everyone out in Cyberland. I recently cleaned my brother-in-laws cedar fence and my mother-in-laws Pine fence. First I was shocked at the difference using just water would do. My question to all is this. What is the proper PSI to use on wooden fencing and decks. I currently have a 4GPM 4000 PSI 13 HP Honda Cold water. I used this on my 2 recent jobs with a 40 degree tip. Considering I had a turbo nozzle and the 40 degree at the time I chose the 40 degree . I would like to learn as much as I can on PW so I can try to excell in this business. My plan is to clean Concrete, sidewalks, siding, wood fencing and decks. Please advise

I also recently bid a job for flat work at a shopping strip near me. Now considering I am the only one biding on this job, or at lease I hope I am , I charged the client .12 a SF for the parking lot and .06 for the side walks. Total area of the fron of the building is Aprox. 11,700 SF and the rear is Aproc 13,000 SF. The client had requested that I do only the front. I gave him a quote to do the front but I also gave him an option of doing the whole shoping are front and back and I would throw in the sidewalks and a driveway, that goe to the back, for free. What is yalls, texan coming out of me, take on this. Did I charge too much or not enough? Please advise.

Thank you everyone in advance


David
Pressure Wash Express
Houston, TX

 

[Henry Bockman]

The going rate for concrete is 6-10 cents a foot depending on gum and how bad it is. Are you planning on doing a shopping center with a turbo? That would take you forever to do, check into buying a surface cleaner if you can.

For washing wood, use chemicals that are sodium hydroxide based and less than 1,000 PSI.

 

[Carolina Prowash]

You can also use a sodium percarbonate cleaner if no pre-existing finish is present. Don't forget to neutralize with an oxalic or citric acid after using your sodium hydroxides! No need for hot water for wood but if you are going to be doing a lot of flatwork, it may pay off to add it later.

Celeste

 

[Everett Abrams]

Some people are a little nicer than I am. I wouldn't even call it nice, I would just call it honesty. With that in mind after reading your post you should not use your power washer until you first become educated in chemicals and their uses. This is the proper way to "clean and restore." The second is you really shouldn't bid first and then ask questions, you should ask first and then bid. I personally feel you are in over your head at this time and if you are only using water and pressure to "restore" wood then you are a vandal and not a professional. I say this sternly and honestly because that is the passion I feel about the industry and doing it right. Credibility is the biggest obstacle in the industry and these are the practices that do not help. I would be happy to help you become more successful and help you become a professional contractor just give me a call or shoot me an e-mail. My intention is not to tick you off or upset you but rather get your attention and hope that you put the effort into knowledge and education that leads to your success. I sincerely mean that I would help.

 

[FullSteamAhead]

Well said, Everett, I couldn't agree more.

 

[Beth & Rod]

It's not just the sodium hydroxide or the percarbonate, but the second step matters too....always, always, neutralize.

Call Everett.

Beth

 

[DFlores6073]

Honesty is the best policy and I appriciate it. My goal is to be a professional and not one of these fly by night company's. Everet I will be calling you sometime this week. Please let me know what is the best time to call you and your time zone. I am on Central time.

Thanks again

 

[JohnB]

Well Well Well .... I don't do the wood thing.. But as for concrete I have found that caustic soda works pretty good.. I start off by wetting the area using my soap nozzle and siphoning it .. Then use the surface cleaner ( 3500 psi @ 4 gpm at 200 Degrees)
Then RINSE RINSE RINSE>>> Can you believe some people forget to RINSE..

I ran some test on concrete the other night using cold water and the hot water on some concrete with no chemical..
Check out the results

 

[Everett Abrams]

John,

Great pics, good stuff!

 

[Everett Abrams]

David,

Call the office and if I am in we will talk. If not leave a number and I'll get back to you. I am EST and I start very early in the morning so just about anytime.

 

[JohnB]

The way the Burger King concrete test happened.. I have been cleaning Burger King vent hoods for about 1 year now.. I also clean buffalo wild wings.. The same company owns 7 BK's and 2 Buffalo Wild Wings.. 6 months ago I started cleaning Buffalo wild wings concrete as well as the hood cleaning and washing down the building, sometimes stucco sometimes brick..
Anyway The manager over the Burger Kings called and said from now on not only clean my vent hoods but clean my concrete, my building and inspect all fire equipment.

This test was run at a burger king.. Two guys showed up in a ford escort..They took 2 2700 psi machines I think they were 3 GPM .. They started cleaning .. One Guys machine kept quiting on him, The other Guy was appling gallons of store bleach spreading it all over the sidewalk...

This is where being knowledgable and experienced is a must..
This 2 man crew worked for 4 hours, they used wands with 15 degree tips, no surface cleaner , no turbo nozzle, and Household bleach..
They were still cleaning the concrete when I got thru cleaning the vent hood and inspecting the fire equipment..

So this is how I ran the test..
When they finally got thru and left I cleaned over there work . I cleaned next to there work..
Everett makes a great point about chemical knowledge.. To Clean what took them 4 hours . I can clean in about 1 hour using a surface cleaner , hot water and pool bleach.

If I used caustic soda about 1 hour with the surface cleaner..

Cold Water will Clean .. But If you don,t use proper chemicals Nothing looks right when its dry.. The trick I have found is to not only get the concrete clean but to make it uniform.

Celeste and Rodger turned me on to using Deck Brightner .. This stuff is great .. You Clean the concrete and get it uniform the best you can.. I take a pump up sprayer and Apply the brightner then rinse , when it dries the concrete is like a mirror...

What ever you do D Flores remember first impressions is the key to making it in this business.. The way I learn is find a spot of whatever it is that you are cleaning preferably at your own house.. Practice, try different suggestions and chemicals.
Read about each chemical , learn about Dwell Time, How to Rinse, Read the precautions and interactions with other chemicals.

Wooden Fences , I have only done one and it was for my aunt and uncle. I try to stay away from wood.. But here was what I did .. First I tested an area.. I used wood Bleach( very diluted) I turned the throttle down on my machine to get about 1200 psi
thats as low as I could get it.. I cleaned from the ground up to keep mud from splashing back on it .. When all was done I rinsed and Rinsed..
The 2nd day I went and applied Olympic water seal to the fence .. I like Olympic better because it contains Linseed oil instead of mineral spirits like Thompsons water seal..

It took 2 days to do the job and about 2 days of studying and asking questions .

I had a wood restoration cleaning outfit stop by and we talked for about 30 minutes , He said it looked pretty good but.... This is where I started taking notes in my head...

The trick is Look, Learn, and Listen.. ( and above all study) It's just like school..
Also before I would even dream of cleaning someone elses wood I would have to try it out alot more on my families stuff. Just for pratice..

I've been cleaning vent hoods for 14 years and guess what I still learn new stuff everyday...

Good Luck D Flores...