House wash / 3+ stories from the ground

[Roof Cleaning Virginia]

There were a couple of clowns on one of those FB groups that mentioned ladders for house washing.  I mentioned that we do 3+ stories from the ground and they scoffed.  Rather than educate 'em, I just moved on.  With little to no wind today, I saw the stream go easily 8-10' passed the gutter line on this 3 story home  This was with a plain old 8GPM belt drive machine and a 'shooter tip' at the gun.  No wand!.  Can't wait until my custom made injector-bypass system is ready, then we'll get even more distance!

You're not climbing ladders to house wash are you?  :-)

Edited March 21, 2017 by Roof Cleaning Virginia

[coastal1]

Great job Ted! That ole gal's looking much better now...

Mike

[flipnSHdude]

What solutions did you use? Looks great!

[Roof Cleaning Virginia]

Just downstreamed SH with a surfactant.   Thanks!  :-)

[coastal1]

It's amazing how far you can shoot the chem mix with the right equipment. Using a small 4gpm belt drive machine and with a slight breeze, I was able to shoot the mix all the way to the top of the end peaks of a 3 story brick home. It was actually going beyond the top of the peaks with the auto throttle set at 3/4 throttle.

Mike

[Roof Cleaning Virginia]

MIke - have you tried on of the so-called 'shooter tips'?  They'll help you reach even farther.  We have them on the pw and the 12v rigs.

Edited April 2, 2017 by Roof Cleaning Virginia

[coastal1]

Hey Ted, I  haven't tried one yet. On one of my trigger guns I have a 4" brass extension  then the quick coupler for the J-Rod. I run a sleuth of J-Rods with nozzles  ranging from 10's for low pressure cleaning through 40's for low/high pressure cleaning. Simply choose the J-Rod which best suits the task at hand and let the juice fly....

I do plan on purchasing a shooter tip though!

Mike

[Roof Cleaning Virginia]

At about $20 each, I think that they're a good value for the money.  I'll use them from now on.

A friend and I have a custom shop making something for us that might just be very beneficial as well.  More on that once we have them in hand and have beta-tested the prototypes. 

[Argus41]

Wow! I need to buy that shooter tip.

[Apple Roof Cleaning (813) 655-8777]

Wow! I need to buy that shooter tip.

There seems to be several of these shooter tips, claiming to be the original.

 

[Dale Tyson]

To get to 3 story, we can use a "shooter tip" with a 3' wand (see picture to top of chimney). This tip allows you to draw down stream solutions. Remove or turn off draw for rinse. 

If your equipment does not the power to reach or you need a bit more reach, buy an aluminum lance (~7' long and weights about 2 lbs).

We also use 1 or 2 lances to reach 2 story ceilings / soffits with a 25 degree tip to get rid of wasp and mud dauber nests (southern US) - use caution depending on type of surface. 

[Detroit Power Washing]

We use an xjet or fatboy to spray chemicals. Downsteaming works too, but we went through a lot of hoses.

You guys need a 4gpm minimum.

power washing services detroit mi

[Richard Trylinski]

Typically with house washing we are downstreaming with a 4gpm, I have even done a 3 story walkup with the 4gpm and a long wand it barely reached but got the job done none the less, I'm thinking these guys using ladders will shoot themselves in the foot when they find how much time they are wasting with ladders.

[Roof Cleaning Virginia]

On ‎2‎/‎6‎/‎2019 at 4:29 PM, Richard Trylinski said:

Typically with house washing we are downstreaming with a 4gpm, I have even done a 3 story walkup with the 4gpm and a long wand it barely reached but got the job done none the less, I'm thinking these guys using ladders will shoot themselves in the foot when they find how much time they are wasting with ladders.

Bump it up to a 8 or 10 gpm pressure washer, and you'll realize that you've been wasting time too.   ;-)   Seriously Richard, make that upgrade when you can - huge difference.  AND it can be a game changer in the roof cleaning business too.

[Richard Trylinski]

22 hours ago, Roof Cleaning Virginia said:

Bump it up to a 8 or 10 gpm pressure washer, and you'll realize that you've been wasting time too.   ;-)   Seriously Richard, make that upgrade when you can - huge difference.  AND it can be a game changer in the roof cleaning business too.

As soon as I can I definitely will thanks for the heads up!