Punishing Ground Men Who Water Plants Poorly

[Apple Roof Cleaning (813) 655-8777]

Here at Apple Roof Cleaning we always try to "rehabilitate" our employees.
So, instead of firing them on the spot, they can choose to get fired, or have a "Date With Duke" the Apple Roof Cleaning Yard Dog.
See the thumbnail picture below!

Seriously, we can't stress enough the importance of proper watering!
From the many phone calls we are getting about roof cleaning, and proper watering, I thought it a good idea to post some info on how we do it.

First, and very important, always tell your customer to go out and water ALL landscape in the drip line of the house a day or two before you clean their roof.
The ONLY exception should be is if it has been raining everyday.

Plants, unlike humans, will drink only when they need water. so lets not have 'thirsty" Plants.

Next, all plants should be wetted down by the ground man BEFORE spraying.
This will ensure that if any chemical does hit, it will have a chance of being diluted by the existing water on the plant.

Overspray and run off is not to be feared, as LONG as the ground man is there, and rinses it off at once!

Just dont get carried away, and careless!

One side of roof should be done at a time so the poor ground man isn't running back and forth.

Once roof is finished, then it can be rinsed, one side at a time.
If you are rinsing, be very sure you flood the root zone until water stands.

Then, go do the other side, and repeat.

Then, go back and flood the first side again, and then repeat on the other.

If you are tarping plants, be very careful when removing tarps!
It is easy to spill a big bunch of chemical trapped in the tarp.
If this happens, water, water, water, and water again.

If the plants were tarped, then the dual flood water method is un necessary, unless you rinsed the roof with tarps in place ?

If you rinse with tarps in place, all that water/chemical will have to go somewhere!

The water/chemical will go way out into the lawn, and it dont take much to kill grass.

We think it betteer to contain the rinsed solution to the plant beds to make it easier to flood.
Ever try to flood an entire lawn ?

In another thread, we are going to discuss our opinions of rinsing vs. not rinsing, but we will save that for another time.

the roof man and the ground man must follow each other around the house to immediately rinse off any run off.

And remember, the STRONGER you make your solution, the more you will NUKE the yard.

The use of TSP will allow a more weak solution to be used, and less possibility of harming your customers landscape.

We operate in the realm of "weak" chemical rather then strong, and go back over it and touch up spots, rather then use a stronger mix that cleans the first time, but kills plants.

I have to go to work right now, but if anyone has any questions, I will be back later.
Let the picture I have posted serve as a "reminder" to grounds people who get lazy ?

[FullBlast]

Great Post Chris.

 

It is something that I try to remind the guys but sometimes I forget to remind them.

 

I like your idea of running on the weak side with the mix and do a double pass as to do it all in one pass and raise the risk of damage.

[Apple Roof Cleaning (813) 655-8777]

Great Post Chris.

 

It is something that I try to remind the guys but sometimes I forget to remind them.

 

I like your idea of running on the weak side with the mix and do a double pass as to do it all in one pass and raise the risk of damage.

 

I learned what I teach about non pressure cleaning the hard way. It is said "what goes up has to come down" and when strong roof cleaning chemicals come down, bad chit follows right behind.

It is not ONLY the imediate burning or killing plants that is the problem, there is something FAR worse!

It is called altering the PH of the freaking Soil!

 

Here in Tampa Florida, our soil is thin and sandy, rain flushes it easily. However, this is not true up north.

Most soil up north is rich and thicker, and it takes a lot longer for the rains to flush it. 

The Tampa Summers are basically heavy rain every single day, ideal to flush the poisons out of the soil.

 

Once the poisons reach a certain level in the soil, nothing will grow there, very well. 

Customers tend to get pissed off, if you allow this to happen to them.

 

This is WHY we teach our members to work in the WEAKER range on the non pressure roof cleaning solution.

Yes, it takes a tad longer, because often you must go over a good portion of the roof, and wait, in between coats, for the weaker solution to work.

 

But it is the safest and best way to clean a roof, and be able to get referrals from happy customers.

Think about it, would you send a Plant Killer, to your friends and family ?

No matter how nice a non pressure roof cleaning job you may have done, it will all be forgotten, if you kill plants, or mess up someones ability to grow nice landscaping, by altering their soil PH, with overly strong roof cleaning chemicals.

 

This is a big problem with this industry, a LOT of outright misinformation, from the blind leading the blind!

Often, someone reads some complete BS on some wanna be "roof cleaning forum", and then becomes a "Parrot", going around from forum to forum, repeating the same misinformation they heard.

 

The result is, a lot of total BS, being promoted to our newcomers, as "the right way to clean a roof".

 

I do not do the RCIA, for a living.  We have about 60 members, at 129.00 a year, each. Do the math, that is less then 8 grand a year before expenses, chump change, to me.

 

My Tampa Roof Cleaning Company sometimes does 8 grand, or more, in a freaking week!

 

I do this because I love helping people learn the best ways to do non pressure roof cleaning, and then watching them succeed.

 

My actual roof cleaning days are over (too many roof cleanings w/o wearing a respirator). My Lungs are shot.

So, since I can no longer clean roofs (and still breathe), I have set out to "create" roof cleaners. Roof Cleaners armed with the best roof cleaning knowledge I know how to give them, as well as the SEO methods required to put that knowledge to work.

 

So, you see, I live my life, through all you guys here, my friends, my students.

 

Right now, many of you are kind of new to roof cleaning, but it is my wish and hope, that one day, you guys knowledge will exceed my own.

Then, you can come back, and teach "This Old Man", some new stuff about cleaning roofs!

[Bergman Roof Cleaning]

Chris is right on with this!

I started out years ago practicing different % rates of SH & water. Shingles fell in at 30-35% being plenty strong enough, with 2 passes over most roofs.

Tile, I went up to 50% but saw some plant damage, even though I did the watering myself, while my son did the roof. I then cut back to 40% and make 3 passes over the roof and get no damage.

I have tested every possible chlorine neutralizer [here at home] and got no benefit. More water is all that will help.

[Apple Roof Cleaning (813) 655-8777]

Chris is right on with this!

I started out years ago practicing different % rates of SH & water. Shingles fell in at 30-35% being plenty strong enough, with 2 passes over most roofs.

Tile, I went up to 50% but saw some plant damage, even though I did the watering myself, while my son did the roof. I then cut back to 40% and make 3 passes over the roof and get no damage.

I have tested every possible chlorine neutralizer [here at home] and got no benefit. More water is all that will help.

I had a roof cleaning friend who wants us to use an 80 percent chlorine tile roof cleaning solution! I was told to use a "mist tip", and just put a little on. The whole "idea" of using a really strong solution was to minimize run off.

I never tried this, because I do not think it possible to stop run off, on a tile roof!

[FullBlast]

I have not done any tile roof but I believe what you say about not being able to eliminate the runoff of cleaners on a tile roof.

[Apple Roof Cleaning (813) 655-8777]

I have not done any tile roof but I believe what you say about not being able to eliminate the runoff of cleaners on a tile roof.

Sodium Hypochlorite  has 2 components in it, hypochlorus acid, that kills and disinfects, and the hypochlorite ion that does the cleaning.

The higher the PH, the less killing and disinfecting power it has. 

Pure Sodium Hypochlorite  has a very very high PH. It is great for cleaning, but not so good for killing bacteria and mold, etc.

The more water you add to Sodium Hypochlorite, the lower the PH of it gets, and generally the BETTER it kills germs and bacteria like algae and mildew, etc.

AS hard as it might be for some to understand, a weak Sodium Hypochlorite/water solution can actually have MORE germ and mold fighting power, then a stronger Sodium Hypochlorite Solution.

Remember Guys, Just because a strong Sodium Hypochlorite/Water solution CLEANS a tile or shingle roof better, does not mean it KILLS the Mold and Mildew better!

 

In fact (and I have done the experiments), roofs that are cleaned with very weak solutions, using more coats or passes of the spray, stay clean LONGER, and you will also kill less plants.