Pressure Washing The Efflorescence - That Wasn't
By · Comments
Before pressure washing the white substance on your building, make sure it’s what you think it is.
Otherwise, you’ll use the wrong procedure. Sometimes, it’s only minerals from the water in the sprinkler system. This will usually come off with just water pressure, though it sometimes takes hot water.
Pressure Washing The Effloresecence That Wasn't
Efflorescence is typically a white deposit of water-soluble salts left behind on the surface of brick after water evaporates. The salts usually seep from the brick itself, but sometimes can be from the mortar, the water used to make the mortar or sometimes the dirt that is used to back-fill against brick in landscaping. There is always moisture content in brick. If the brick has a small flaw, the flaw allows moisture to travel to the surface of the brick. As the moisture travels, it draws salt through the brick with it. Once the moisture reaches the surface, it evaporates, leaving behind the salt that becomes the troublesome efflorescence.
We were called out for pressure washing what we were told was efflorescence on a fairly new building in Denver. It’s common for efflorescence to show up 3-9 months after construction. The rest of the information matched the expectations for efflorescence, so we sent a pressure washing crew with the assumption the problem was efflorescence. When our crew got to the job site, our team leader looked at the areas to be pressure washed and realized right away it wasn’t efflorescence. It was obvious from the fact that he could rub the white powdery film loose from the brick with his finger.
We contacted the building manager and explained what we found. We told him we didn’t know for sure what the substance was, but a quick pressure washing rinse would get it off. Once the manager understood this, he said it must be from the new white rubber roof on the building. Our team leader confirmed the pattern of white on the brick was darker near the top of the walls and seemed to come from certain points along the roof line.
If our team leader hadn’t taken a moment to check the details of the job before beginning his work, he would have started his normal process for chemical removal and pressure washing of efflorescence and may not have realized how quick and simple a job it could be.
By taking the time to verify the details of this pressure washing job, he saved our customer several hundred dollars and still gave them the clean building they wanted.
Related pages and articles
- Building Pressure Washing
- Efflorescence Removal
- House Exterior Pressure Washing And Construction Cleanup in Waterton Canyon – Video
- Building Cleanup Using A 65ft Boom Lift – Video
- Pressure Washing A Confined Space Underground Tank – Video
National award recognizes Thornton’s success at removing graffiti
Read The Denver Post’s Terms of Use of its content: http://www.denverpost.com/termsofuse
Article Discussion: National award recognizes Thornton’s success at removing graffiti
by Washonwheels on Today, 3:59 pm #2356537
Your point about removing the graffiti quickly is a good one.
Our company, Wash On Wheels, (http://www.washonwheels.net) has removed a lot of graffiti in the Denver metro area over the last 26 years. We always tell our clients to get it removed as soon as possible.
Sometimes it will get tagged again and need to be cleaned again. But once the taggers figure out their tags will be removed before everyone gets a chance to see it, they move on.
But if you leave it there, its an invitation for more graffiti. Then the whole neighborhood goes downhill.
Related pages and articles
- Graffiti Removal
- Removing Graffiti From Brick
- Graffiti Removal Is Way Too Unpredictable To Bid In Advance (washonwheels.net)
Grease Spill Cleanup in Winter Can Be Difficult
By · Comments
A grease spill that would be easy to clean in the summer is much more difficult when everything is frozen solid.
Grease Spill Buildup Brought Citation From City Inspector
A restaurant recently called us because they received a warning from the city regarding the heavy grease spill buildup around their dumpster corral. The grease had built up over time from small splashes as the used cooking oil was carried from the restaurant to the grease containers in the dumpster enclosure. The grease buildup was even worse inside the enclosure where oil had been spilled on the concrete.
As grease sits in the elements through the year or years, its consistency changes from soft goo to an extremely hard, almost enamel-like layer. This layer bonds with the pores of the concrete and is very difficult to remove. The longer grease sits, the thicker and harder it gets. And the cost of cleaning it multiplies.
This particular restaurant hadn’t done any grease spill cleaning in the 5 years they had been there.
And it was dirty when they took it over from the previous restaurant. In all likelihood, the grease on the concrete at this location had probably been building up over the course of 7-10 years. It’s actually very ‘lucky’ the restaurant hadn’t received a warning or ticket sooner.
Grease Enclosure Next To Storm Drain
Snowmelt Can't Be Collected With Waste Water
This grease spill cleanup will require water recovery. The restaurant’s dumpster enclosure is right next to a street and any water from washing the grease spill would flow right to a storm drain. Another issue with washing during the winter is that any project requiring wash water recovery can’t be done while naturally occurring water runoff is present. Wash water recovery cannot include rain or snowmelt runoff.
Fortunately, the inspector who gave the warning to the restaurant is aware of these factors and didn’t give a specific time-frame for the grease spill to be cleaned up. Wash On Wheels works with inspectors to make sure any grease spill is cleaned to their satisfaction and the restaurant has a clean start. Because of the unique factors at this location, this project might not get done until spring.
Related pages and articles
- Emergency Spills
- Restaurant Pressure Washing
- Stormwater Regulations
- Pressure Washing A Grease Spill At A Denver Restaurant – Video (washonwheels.net)
- Restaurant Grease Theft (foodservicewarehouse.com)
Five Star Pressure Washing For The Five Star Broadmoor Hotel
Pressure Washing Colored Sidewalks At The Broadmoor
A graphics company out of Los Angeles created some arrows and signs for an event at The Broadmoor Hotel in Colorado Springs, CO. The arrows and signs were designed to lightly adhere to a concrete sidewalk along the front of a conference building that is part of the hotel.
Broadmoor Hotel In Colorado Springs
Unfortunately, after the event was done and the stickers were removed, the adhesive left behind a very light residue. Most of the spots from the adhesive faded quickly, but there were 22 spots that were still too visible for the hotel management to overlook.
The graphics company called us to help them out. We sent one of our managers and a pressure washing crew with a water recovery trailer to Colorado Springs.
Applying Degreaser To Stains On Colored Concrete
We tried three different methods for removing the spots at the Broadmoor. Each method worked to a point, but because the concrete was colored, we had to be very careful to not hit the surface too hard.
Hitting the surface of any concrete with 3000+psi of hot water will rough up the surface, and with colored concrete, the roughness will appear as a dark area in the color.
If we had just blasted away at the surface we would have removed the adhesive, but created a much more permanent dark spot on the concrete. However, using the material designed for removing these stains also slightly discolored the concrete. So we tried our proprietary degreaser. It considerably lightened the spots, but didn’t remove them completely.
We showed the small test patches to the hotel manager.
And he chose the results from our degreaser. It wasn’t a perfect solution, but it was the best one. And because we were cautious from the beginning, we avoided making the small problem of light stains into a much bigger one of permanent blotches.
Our experience is why companies around the country call us for pressure washing.
Related pages and articles
- Sidewalk Pressure Washing
- The BROADMOOR in Colorado Honored with AAA Five Diamonds for 35th Consecutive Year (prweb.com)
- Pressure Washing Stains On A New Driveway
- Experience Counts When Pressure Washing A Wood Fence
- Pressure Washing Sidewalks For Marketing Campaign – Video
We Stand Behind Our Truck Washing Guarantee
By · Comments
One of our weekly clients recommended our truck washing services to another company.
Under Side Of Lowboy Trailer Missed During Truck Washing
This client is one of the pickiest we have and he pays extra for us to mitt certain areas of his trucks to give them a special clean. We have worked out exactly what he wants done on his trucks and he’s happy with our extra efforts. So the company he recommended us to was expecting that same high level of clean. And we screwed up!
We were able to send a crew the same day the new client called us to take care of this one truck and trailer. It was a bit of a crunch for us to fit them in before dark but our crew finished just as the sun was setting. They were able to get the truck washing done – or so we thought.
Unfortunately our truck washing crew was in a bit of a hurry to finish up their day.
And in their rush, they completely missed the lower passenger side of the low-boy trailer. It’s not an easy place to notice and in the dusk at the end of a long day it was easy for them to unintentionally miss it.
Area Behind Smokestack Not Washed Well
When the truck’s owner took a look at the work – just after the crew left – he noticed the lower part of the trailer they missed. And when he found they had completely missed one side, he took a closer look at the rest of the truck and trailer. There were some other areas they missed, too.
But we stand behind our guarantee, and all our crews know it. This crew had to go back for free the next day to fix their mistakes. We expect them to do the job right the first time.
Related pages and articles
- Denver Truck Washing
- Taking Care Of Our Denver Truck Wash Clients In The Winter
- Preventing Future Problems With Our Truck Wash Clients
- Truck Washing On A Schedule For The Best Results
Car Washing For A New Dealer - Working Out The Bugs!
By · Comments
Denver car dealers have some options for their car washing.
Some of them have a small wash truck set up for their lot techs to use. Some of the smaller lots just have a small machine with a long hose. Most car dealerships keep their cars clean by using a mobile pressure washing service like Wash On Wheels.
Car Washing For Car Dealers
Wash On Wheels car washing services thousands of cars each week. We’ve had some dealers switch to using their own equipment and lot techs and we’ve picked up some dealers that realized they save money by using an outside service like ours to take care of their car washing.
We recently had a dealership go back and forth. They were doing their own car washing, but their inventory had grown enough their one lot tech couldn’t keep up. So they called us to do their car washing for them. We washed their cars a few times over the course of a couple weeks. Then the owner decided he didn’t want us to use their water without thinking about what a tiny amount of money it was.
Our trucks carry 300-500 gallons of water, but that isn’t enough to wash cars all day long. So, our crews hook up to water everywhere they go to keep their tanks topped off. This way they only take as much water as they use at each location. This particular customer thought our car washing was costing him too much money by hooking up to his water.
Our car washing procedure uses less than two gallons of water per car!
Most water districts charge around $10 per 1000 gallons. So even if we fill our tanks on a lot – which only happens on the biggest car dealerships – we’re using less than $5.00 worth of water. This little lot might have spent an extra $1-$2 for their entire lot.
So, even though we explained this to the owner, he chose to hire another lot tech to help with his car washing. Unfortunately for small dealerships, it’s hard to justify a full time lot tech. Not only this, but purchasing and maintaining pressure washing equipment can be expensive for someone who doesn’t have the connections and buying power we do. If a dealership can’t justify the expense of a lot tech without washing their cars, its usually not cost effective to hire a guy just to wash them.
The guy this dealer hired didn’t work out because they couldn’t give him enough hours. After a few weeks of dirty cars and no new solutions, they called us back. We made sure they understood the necessity for us to connect to their water and the minimal additional cost associated with it. Now they have clean cars every week without worrying whether their lot tech will show up and do a good job.
Related pages and articles
- Car Washing For Auto Dealers
- Washing Cars In Icy Conditions For Auto Dealers – Video | car washing (washonwheels.net)
- Car Washing At Auto Dealers – Before The Snowstorm?? (washonwheels.net)
- Denver Car Washing At Auto Dealerships In The Winter (washonwheels.net)
Its almost impossible for our truck washing crews -
- to clean all our client’s tractors and trailers when the days barely get above freezing.
Truck Washing Crews At Fedex Freight
Even when the air temperature is in the low 40’s, the surface of the shady side of trailers doesn’t necessarily rise above the freezing mark. When water freezes, it concentrates whatever dirt is in the water. When the ice melts, it leaves behind a mark on the surface it was frozen to – in this case, the shady sides of trailers.
On the other hand, sometimes the surface temperature of the sides of trailers is much warmer than the air temperature. Just this past weekend we knew a snow storm was coming in sometime late on Saturday and we were trying to get as much truck washing done at FedEx as possible before the temperature dropped.
We had four 3-man truck washing crews working hard to get almost 300 tractors and trailers washed. It didn’t warm above freezing until about 10:30am, and the high for the day was only about 40 degrees. We watched the storm front move in and around 3pm flurries started falling, but no ice was forming on the surface of the trucks.
Our truck washing crews kept scrubbing the trucks and trailers even though snow was falling around us!
Even the south-facing sides weren’t freezing. We never know how the weather is going to affect our mobile truck washing schedule. We spend a lot of time planning, but in the end, the weather dictates much of what we can get done.
Related pages and articles
- Truck Washing
- Customized Denver Area Truck Fleet Washing – Video
- Pressure Washing Cars And Trucks At 33 Degrees!
- Truck Washing On A Schedule For The Best Results
More From WashOnWheels
- We Stand Behind Our Truck Washing Guarantee
- Special Truck Wash To Prep A Church Bus For Sale
- Pressure Washing And The Changing Winter Forecasts
WashOnWheels Recommends
- Casper Wyoming…Where in the World? (Chad Nicely)
- Sports Fields: A Manual for Design Construction and Maintenance (Venue Insider)
Pressure Washing A Driveway In Castle Pines
By · Comments
A homeowner in Castle Pines called us a few weeks ago for pressure washing on his driveway.
Driveway Before Pressure Washing
We had the job set for mid-afternoon, but the homeowner thought we were set for ‘noon’. It was a simple misunderstanding, but because he was very concerned about leaving ice on his driveway if we washed too late in the day, he cancelled the job completely out of frustration.
This was a regrettable situation, but we had no real recourse to fix it. We assumed the job was lost. Based on the description of the oil stains on the driveway that the homeowner originally gave us, we weren’t sure using our degreaser and pressure washing would make a visual difference anyway.
However, the homeowner called us last week and asked to reschedule. He had tried some other options and had not achieved any acceptable results. We reiterated that our pressure washing might not give him any better results, especially since he had already tried other chemicals.
The effectiveness of pressure washing stains on concrete – even with degreaser – decreases the longer the stain has to soak in.
We’ve had situations here someone tried using solvent or carburetor cleaner and the stain just soaked deeper into the concrete. But usually if we’re there within 24 hours, we can remove the stain completely.
Once we were sure he understood what he was paying for, we had a crew take care of the driveway. Our team leader let us know as soon as they were finished pressure washing that they didn’t have much success. We contacted the homeowner the next day to make sure there weren’t any more misunderstandings.
Because we explained the porosity of concrete and the effects of the other chemicals before we attempted to clean it, the homeowner understood the lack of positive results. The oil stains on the driveway were cleaned as well as they could be and what’s left will fade over time. Unfortunately, this is the case with many older oil stains on concrete and asphalt.
Related pages and articles
- Pressure Washing Stains On A New Driveway (washonwheels.net)
- Pressure Washing Grease Stains On The Patio And Driveway Of A Rental Home | Denver pressure washing (washonwheels.net)
- Pressure Washing A Concrete Spill At a New Home (washonwheels.net)
- Wood Fence Damaged By Amateur Pressure Washing Company – Video
- Pressure Washing A Wood Fence – The Right Way – Video (washonwheels.net)
More From WashOnWheels
- Pressure Washing Stains On A New Driveway
- Pressure Washing A Locomotive In 1943
- Experience Counts When Pressure Washing A Wood Fence
WashOnWheels Recommends
- MLM rags to riches in a downward economy (Economy Pulse)
- Why we’re living in a tent – in winter (myBIGearth)
Denver Car Washing At Auto Dealerships In The Winter
By · Comments
Wash On Wheels does A LOT of car washing for auto dealerships in the Denver metro area.
Car Washing In The Winter At Auto Dealerships
Our crews wash tens of thousands of cars each year. In the process of all that car washing, a few scratches happen. The vast majority of those scratches are so slight they’re invisible to the naked eye. But we usually have a few scratches each year we have to fix.
Before you think “Really? I don’t want that happening to MY cars!”, keep in mind our percentage of scratched cars to washed cars is less than 1/10th of 1% – and those scratches don’t all happen to one customer, but are spread across several customers. Also, we guarantee our work and – for our regular clients – this includes fixing any scratches we cause.
We are very familiar with the appearance of any scratches caused by car washing. Almost all of them happen when our pressure washing hose rubs the lower corner fenders of cars. In the past 7 years the only other cause of a scratch on a car was from a pressure hose popping right next to a car, flinging up in the air and falling down on the hood of the car. Even though that was a freak incident, we still paid to take care of the scratch and shallow ding caused by it.
Most of the hose scratches are shallow enough for us to simply buff out with special compounds. Our Service Manager has many years experience fixing the fender scratches we cause and has narrowed down the formula and process for fixing scratches. If we can’t fix the scratches, we pay to have the car repaired.
We recently got a phone call from one of our used car dealers to look at a bunch of scratches on their cars. When our Quality Manager looked at the scratches, he know right away they weren’t from the work our crews do. The scratches were all over the cars from the roof to the sides, but there was no specific pattern to the scratches – they didn’t follow the pattern a chamois or hose would make.
All of our crews do their car washing the same way every time. It’s part of what makes them efficient.
But these scratches were obviously caused by different things. Our customer assumed they were caused by us because the scratches showed up after our wash. Our Quality Manager explained why each scratch didn’t fit the pattern of our work in any way. Only one small scratch out of 7 could possible have been caused by a chamois with a small rock stuck in it – but again, we haven’t actually seen that happen before.
But since we were the last ones known to touch the cars, we agreed with our client we would buff out the scratches and take it from there. After buffing the scratches so they didn’t show up as much or at all, our customer, who now understood most of the scratches couldn’t have been ours to begin with, was happy we did everything we could to fix the situation for him.
We understand perceptions and feelings have as much to do with ‘issues’ as facts. By explaining the facts to address the issue and taking action to alleviate the emotions of the issue, we made our weekly client happy with a couple hours of attention from us.
Related pages and articles
- Car Washing
- Pressure Washing Cars And Trucks At 33 Degrees!
- Car Washing At Auto Dealers – Before The Snowstorm?? (washonwheels.net)
- Washing Cars In Icy Conditions For Auto Dealers – Video | car washing (washonwheels.net)
- Pressure Washing And The Changing Winter Forecasts | car washing (washonwheels.net)
- Pressure Washing Is More Efficient With Custom Made Soap (washonwheels.net)
More From WashOnWheels
- Car Washing At Auto Dealers – Before The Snowstorm??
- Washing Cars In Icy Conditions For Auto Dealers – Video
- Pressure Washing And The Changing Winter Forecasts
WashOnWheels Recommends
- Casper Wyoming…Where in the World? (Chad Nicely)
- At the car wash (Car Hire Direct)
Vehicle Wrap, Sticker, And Decal Removal
By · CommentsDecal removal is multi-step process.
It is rarely done with a pressure washer alone. Anyone who attempts decal removal that way will usually tear up the paint on the vehicle.
From the video:
Decal Removal After First Step
“Removing vehicle wraps, stickers and decals can be tricky. Especially when the stickers have been on the vehicle for several years. This sticker has been faded, dried and cracked by age and exposure to the extreme Colorado environment. When a sticker is this old, the quality of the paint before applying the sticker often determines whether any damage will occur during sticker removal.”
“Removing old wraps, stickers and decals from vehicles is usually a 3-step process. These stickers have been through the first process where most of the vinyl has been removed. The glue and sticker backing is still stuck to the vehicle and will be cleaned off by the second step.”
“Stickers that haven’t aged as much are easier to remove and cost about ⅓ less than removing old stickers. Removing old stickers takes longer because different tools have to be used to avoid damage to the paint.”
“After the final step, all residue has been removed and, because we spent a little extra time with special tools, there is no damage to the paint.”
We can do decal removal on your site, if weather allows or if you can get the vehicle inside your building. We can always bring it inside at our shop, and it’s usually more cost effective. All the tools and materials are here, as well as our service manager.
If you need wrap, sticker, or decal removal, call us at 303-937-7181 or email us at info@washonwheels.net.
Related pages and articles
- Truck Washing Denver
- Customized Denver Area Truck Fleet Washing – Video
- Special Truck Wash In Denver On A Two Million Dollar Tractor-Trailer – Video
- Decal Removal On Old Vinyl Stickers – Video
- Vehicle Wrap, Sticker, And Decal Removal (washonwheels.net)
More From WashOnWheels
- Decal Removal On Old Vinyl Stickers – Video
- Dependable Pressure Washing And Decal Removal – As Scheduled
- Graffiti Removal Is Way Too Unpredictable To Bid In Advance
WashOnWheels Recommends
- Sports and hair removal (Sportize.me)
- Common And Unique Flatbed Load Photos (JimHudson)
