Out of the 72 patios, about 70 percent had light to heavy moss on them. Since rain would not assist with any rinsing on the covered patios, we had to use a surface cleaner to mechanically remove the moss.
It took 2 guys (me and a helper) 2.5 days to clean all 72. Included in the bid was moving EVERYTHING off and back onto the patios. (55+ community and most are unable to move anything).
The workflow was this -
My helper would start moving patio furniture, plants, rugs etc off ahead of me. We worked about 6-8 patios at a time. I would spray the 4% CH solution on the concrete on all 6-8, then go back with a surface cleaner at lower pressure and agitate the dead moss off the concrete. My surface cleaner ate the dead moss/algae for breakfast. It cleaned easily 2 times faster than if I had not softwashed with CH ahead of time.
Then I rinsed everything off. Then my guy would put the rugs, patio furniture plants etc. back onto the patios. Meanwhile I would be spraying the next 6-8 with softwashing.
I mix up my CH inside a basket strainer lined with a paint sock in the top of my tank. It makes a HUGE difference in residue and in mix time as opposed to hand mixing in the past. The skid keeps the mix suspended so it doesn't settle. I had no reside problems whatsoever - granted I did rinse everything very well.
One cool thing I noticed is that CH's inert ingredients would settle into the bottom of the tank very nicely after about 15 minutes of not agitating the tank (see pic). On this job I kept it all suspended in the tank during spraying, but very soon I plan on dedicating a small pump and line plumbed into the bottom of the tank to separately pull this stuff out after settling - in theory eliminating any residue concerns all together.
I know CH vs SH is a heated debate - but I'm determined to make CH work. I want to be the CH SoftWash Posterboy. I keep a 100 lb. pail on my truck and simply 1-batch straight into my tanks using the above method for mixing.
Footnote - my CH cost for this $5k+ job was.....wait for it..... $60. Green wash consumption was $40.
Picture Captions -
1. Assisting the water stream into the basket with CH inside
2. CH settled in bottom of tank. The skid would agitate the mix and settled contents would be freely floating within about 1 minute of turning pump on
3. My helper whining about moving furniture 50 patios in
4. Patio Before
5. Pouring CH into the basket
6. Patio after it had been hit with 4% solution
7. What a typical patio looked like
8. Patio after final rinsing (still wet)
9. What a typical patio looked like
-- Edited by Brandon Vaughn on Wednesday 18th of September 2013 06:03:43 PM
dude, great job. i really appreciate threads like this that outline, lay out the process, have pics, etc. it makes it a lot easier for a rookie like me to grasp the situation, and wrap my head around the process.
LOL, damn. moving all those plants for each patio.
Shaun Harton said
Sep 19, 2013
I agree, thank you Brandon.
Brandon Vaughn said
Sep 19, 2013
Mike Bend wrote:
dude, great job. i really appreciate threads like this that outline, lay out the process, have pics, etc. it makes it a lot easier for a rookie like me to grasp the situation, and wrap my head around the process.
LOL, damn. moving all those plants for each patio.
Glad to hear Mike. I am the same way, I love having step-by-step instructions and processes, so it's my goal to be as detailed as possible in case I can help anybody.
Yeah my helper was pretty wiped at the end of three days! LOL
Here's a job we did this week.
Out of the 72 patios, about 70 percent had light to heavy moss on them. Since rain would not assist with any rinsing on the covered patios, we had to use a surface cleaner to mechanically remove the moss.
It took 2 guys (me and a helper) 2.5 days to clean all 72. Included in the bid was moving EVERYTHING off and back onto the patios. (55+ community and most are unable to move anything).
The workflow was this -
My helper would start moving patio furniture, plants, rugs etc off ahead of me. We worked about 6-8 patios at a time. I would spray the 4% CH solution on the concrete on all 6-8, then go back with a surface cleaner at lower pressure and agitate the dead moss off the concrete. My surface cleaner ate the dead moss/algae for breakfast. It cleaned easily 2 times faster than if I had not softwashed with CH ahead of time.
Then I rinsed everything off. Then my guy would put the rugs, patio furniture plants etc. back onto the patios. Meanwhile I would be spraying the next 6-8 with softwashing.
I mix up my CH inside a basket strainer lined with a paint sock in the top of my tank. It makes a HUGE difference in residue and in mix time as opposed to hand mixing in the past. The skid keeps the mix suspended so it doesn't settle. I had no reside problems whatsoever - granted I did rinse everything very well.
One cool thing I noticed is that CH's inert ingredients would settle into the bottom of the tank very nicely after about 15 minutes of not agitating the tank (see pic). On this job I kept it all suspended in the tank during spraying, but very soon I plan on dedicating a small pump and line plumbed into the bottom of the tank to separately pull this stuff out after settling - in theory eliminating any residue concerns all together.
I know CH vs SH is a heated debate - but I'm determined to make CH work. I want to be the CH SoftWash Posterboy.
I keep a 100 lb. pail on my truck and simply 1-batch straight into my tanks using the above method for mixing.
Footnote - my CH cost for this $5k+ job was.....wait for it..... $60. Green wash consumption was $40.
Picture Captions -
1. Assisting the water stream into the basket with CH inside
2. CH settled in bottom of tank. The skid would agitate the mix and settled contents would be freely floating within about 1 minute of turning pump on
3. My helper whining about moving furniture 50 patios in
4. Patio Before
5. Pouring CH into the basket
6. Patio after it had been hit with 4% solution
7. What a typical patio looked like
8. Patio after final rinsing (still wet)
9. What a typical patio looked like
-- Edited by Brandon Vaughn on Wednesday 18th of September 2013 06:03:43 PM
Awesome Job!
dude, great job. i really appreciate threads like this that outline, lay out the process, have pics, etc. it makes it a lot easier for a rookie like me to grasp the situation, and wrap my head around the process.
LOL, damn. moving all those plants for each patio.
Glad to hear Mike. I am the same way, I love having step-by-step instructions and processes, so it's my goal to be as detailed as possible in case I can help anybody.
Yeah my helper was pretty wiped at the end of three days! LOL