Building cleaning may seem difficult but it's actually quite easy if you have the proper equipment.  If you don't have the proper tools and experience it could take far more than you intended.

Some of the most common mistakes to avoid made by homeowners and contractors are:

Trying to remove the powdery coating called oxidation on aluminum facades when cleaning a pressure washing. Removing this coating can cause discoloration and in some cases cause the facades to look like a completely different color.

Using too much pressure when performing building cleaning can also force water up behind the facades where it will cause mildew behind the facades or in some cases, blow the facades off the building!

Washing buildings from the top down or letting chemicals dry on the building, which may leave streaks on the facades.

Using a ladder when building cleaning to clean the upper areas can result in serious injuries and death to cleaners from slipping off the ladder.

These are the types of mishaps that many people have when performing building cleaning of their home. If you decide to use a power washer on your home, here are some general guidelines to use.

Make sure the machine your using puts out a minimum of 4 gallons of water per minute and less than 1000 PSI.
Most homeowners will buy a machine from a hardware store that puts out 1,000 PSI but only uses 2 gallons per minute of water. While this machine may work, it will triple the amount of time to do the job properly.
Be careful if your making your own building cleaning chemicals. For example, mixing bleach and ammonia can create a poisonous gas.

We suggest using building cleaning chemicals that were designed to properly clean the facades. Some contractors buy a building wash that's available in most hardware stores and are unable to achieve the results they were expecting. Most of the building cleaning agents contractors use are designed to clean more effectivly and give better results.

The best way to perform building cleaning is by using an X-Jet this tool can cut your cleaning time by 50% or more! if you don't have one then use a power washer that has a chemical injector built into the machine.

Using a chemical injector for building cleaning will allow you to pull the soap from the container, mixing it in the machine with water and spray it onto the building using low pressure starting from the bottom up. Make sure when using a power washer that you don't shoot water or chemicals up behind the facades, this can cause significant mold problems behind your facades.
Allow the chemical to dwell on the facades, then using low pressure, rinse the product from the facades. Make sure when your rinsing the product off the facades that you start at one end of the facades all the way to the end. Do not stop or vary your distance from the facades, or it will cause the surface to be cleaned un-evenly.

"Sun Brite" is a registered trademark of Sun Brite, Inc.
Contents of site protected © 2003-2005 Sun Brite, Inc. All rights reserved.

Submit a link to your website and pick up job referrals in your area for free!

Sun Brite Supply is the leading distributor of Deck Sealers like Ready Seal and Floodpro Supreme Performance. We also carry Black Knight power washers and other high quality pressure washers, including a full line of pressure washing supplies and equipment like the Deckster deck sprayer.

Contact us today for all of your pressure washing needs!  Or stop by our showroom in Atlanta, Georgia or our in visit our Gaithersburg, Maryland location in Montgomery County today!