THE TOP RATED POWER WASHING AND SOFT WASHING COMPANY

THE TOP RATED POWER WASHING AND SOFT WASHING COMPANY

The Best Pressure Washing Companies Do This!

The Best Pressure Washing Companies Do This!

There is more to washing the exterior of your property than meets the eye. Take washing your car for instance. For best results, you wouldn’t just take a pressure washer and just try to blast all the contaminants off of the paint expecting a polished mirror effect result. To have that beautifully polished mirror effect look, there are several steps and techniques to achieve the best possible results. Detailing the exterior of your home, concrete, decks or even commercial building is no different! Let’s dive into some of the things that a professional pressure washing company should provide to their clients because not every surface is the same and each demands a specific technique for best results.

Surfaces & Contaminants

There are many different surfaces to a home or commercial building. Second to that, there are many different contaminants. From Organic growths such as Algae and Moss to rust, dirt and oil stains. Each surface and contaminant requires a different method of removal. For instance, organic growths are living organisms. They grow from spores and spread over time. Simply trying to pressure wash an organic growth will only provide temporary results. That’s because you’re only blasting off the top portion of the growth. The spores are still alive and well. That is why after power washing the surface, that green algae or moss grows right back.

Surfaces such as vinyl siding, stucco, roofing shingles or even brick are all susceptible to damage when exposed to high pressure. We have seen countless times discolored stripes in the finish of vinyl siding the result of misuse of a pressure washer. Excessive pressure can cause damage to the mortar of your brick as well. It’s safe to say that power washing isn’t always the best solution for all surfaces.

Now there are surfaces and situations where we do utilize pressure. For instance, concrete and wood decks need higher pressure to achieve the best results. But there is an additional step to achieve the best results that many homeowners and even “professionals” aren’t aware of.

Down Streaming

Down streaming is quite literally what it sounds like. We install a down stream injector preferably after the pump hence the name down stream and this injector allows you to draw soap, or chemicals to mix with your water stream. Now in order for this to work you need to use a soap applicator tip or fan tip to create a back pressure to draw the soap through the hose. Because of these tips, down streaming is safe on those higher risk surfaces. This soap or chemical can be anything between regular old dawn soap to a chemical like bleach or even a degreaser. The bleach can be used to kill organic growths like algae, moss and lichen. While a degreaser is used to help remove tire marks, oil stains and so much more.

Down streaming is used to apply what ever application needed to a surface to help lift the desired contaminant. The surfaces down streaming works great on are vinyl siding, stucco, brick and even concrete. The next step is to just allow the solvent to dwell and do its job. 10 to 20 minutes is usually enough time to lift what ever contaminant off of the surface.

Now if you’re familiar with ratios, the strongest mix ratio you can get out of a down stream injector is a maximum of 1.5. This means for those tougher situations like roof cleaning especially, you need a stronger mix to kill the organic matter.

Soft Washing

Soft washing enables you to do just that. A Soft washing system is nothing more than a 12v preferably chemical rated pump. That siphons the water from a tank, through the pump and out your wand. As the name suggests, a soft wash system produces very little PSI output. Which makes it ideal for those high risk areas like your roofing system. There are a few ways you can get the chemical and ratio out of your soft wash system.

#1. perhaps the cheapest option but is limited in many ways is the batch mix method. Where you use one holding tank for your soaps, chemical and water. You have to know your ratios to ensure your mix is strong enough but not to strong to where you run the risk of killing surrounding plantation. The other downside to batch mixing is it is time consuming and overall more of a pain to adjust your ratios as needed. But if you’re on a budget, batch mixing is more than capable of providing you the results you need.

#2. There is a better alternative to batch mixing and is the system we use here at AquaMen Pro-Wash. Using a proportioning system allows you to fine adjust your ratios on the fly. Some high end proportioner systems have remote control features that allow you to adjust your ratios without ever having to go to your truck. A proportioner system is a series of proportional valves for your bleach, water and soap. This allows you to keep your chemicals, soaps and water in separate containers. These 3 containers are plumbed to your proportioner system and from there out to your hose and wand. Simply dial the proportioner to your liking and it will draw the correct ratio of mix you need for the given project.

Summary

Anyone can buy a pressure washer and call themselves a professional pressure washing company. But as you now know, not all surfaces and contaminants are the same and you need to have the knowledge of knowing how and when to use which method as necessary for the particular project. Not doing so will yield little results or worse cause damage to your property. A professional and reputable power washing company is an expert in all these methods and can tailor a cleaning service to your particular project needs. Ensuring the best results and safety of your project.