I quit my job yesterday, bought health insurance, a 150 gallon saddle tank, ($320, I hated doing that!), 2 used 55 gallon drums, (not sure why, but at $11, maybe I'll use them for water), a 55 gallon drum of SH, and 50 lbs. of TSP.
Today I stopped at Tractor Supply Co. and picked up a bulkhead, strainer, fittings, clamps and hose for my plumbing.
We have a 28 page business plan that is a work in progress. My wife is helping me. She is doing the marketing. We are using credit cards and hope to avoid dipping into savings. But we will if we have to. Between Val and I, we have a huge network of people that we have known or worked with for years and we are carefully working that. I will be seeking help from SCORE. I am trying to avoid borrowing any more than is absolutely necessary. We are tracking every penny and I know how many roofs I have to do to struggle, break even and then thrive. I will make the business fund itself.
Val is responsible for the business cards and flyers that I will need on Wednesday evening, because I am speaking in front of 50 real estate agents at 10:30 Thursday morning. I will be relying heavily on my real estate contacts. I love deadlines and urgency.
I know we will hit obstacles, run low on cash, adrenaline and supplies from time to time, but we are determined to do whatever we have to to make this work. I bid on a siding and roofing job last Tuesday. I'm kind of hoping I don't get it because I don't want to spend the money on the materials before I get paid for the job. I am not limited to just roof washing. But that is my main focus right now.
I'm really stoked and have been getting very little sleep. Tomorrow I will sleep in a little later, have a nice breakfast, and start assembling my rig.
Thanks everyone for all you do.
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Rob Wallace Mudpuppies, LLC mudpups.com 770-354-7030 rob@mudpups.com Fayetteville, GA
Congrats Rob, sounds like you have a good plan going. I know it is easy to get burned out with everything there is to do to get abusiness rolling , but being on this site is the best place to be !! Still working on getting going myself, but with my day job and everything else going on doesn't leave a lot of time for sleep. At our age [ me 50 ] god knows we need our sleep LOL. Best of luck in the future !
You need a pressure washer to wash homes. Do not purchase a warm water pressure washer, because they can bend vinyl siding and destroy a home. Just purchase a regular cold water pressure washer with at least 3000 PSI.
I wanted to finish my rig yesterday and clean my house, but everything is taking longer than I had planned. Murphy keeps getting in my way.
So far I have my pump in a battery box and mounted onto a 2x2x1/2 piece of plywood along with the battery box and switch. I will finish that today. I also put my draw tube in the tank, but the strainer is about 2" from the bottom and because th strainer is about 3.5" long, it looks like it will leave about 20 gallons in the bottom of the tank. If I have time I may redo that and add another 1.5" to the tube.
I had a hard time finding an inline fuse and the proper lugs for the battery until I finally decided to go to an auto parts store. That did it.
Val is working on the website and marketing materials that I will need on Thursday at the agents meeting.
I will post some pictures tonight of my rig and hopefully my clean roof!
I wish the days were longer.
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Rob Wallace Mudpuppies, LLC mudpups.com 770-354-7030 rob@mudpups.com Fayetteville, GA
I finished building my first non-pressure roof cleaning rig. WOOHOO!
New 150 Gallon Leg Tank with only 1 hole. In the top! 53 Gallons of SHC in my truck.
I'm going to have to make some changes to this pump/battery assembly. But I can use this one. At least it looks good!
After I shoot some caulk where the cable goes in, the switch will be completely weathertight!
With the handles, I can easily take the pump assembly in the garage. Just disconnect the supply line and carry it out.
The ball valve with a 4 way nozzle holder and 4 nozzles. And a spare.
I like it!
The first test was driving with a full load. I didn't put any LOVE in the tank but I did fill the tank with 150 gallons of Dihydrogen Monoxide for my driving and leak tests.
The driving test went mostly well. The truck handles and pulls OK with a full load. But I have to make a decision. I can either set aside money for a new automatic transmission in a few months or buy a trailer. I think I'll take the trailer.
As you can see in the picture, the tank went to the side. The reason I put it longways is so I can put long stuff on the truck bed next to it. But I may have to put it sideways and put some blocks on the sides to keep it in place until I get my trailer.
Now for the leak test. The only leak I had was at the pump outlet hose. A couple of turns on the hose clamp fixed it. I was amazed that all of my threaded and fitted pipe joints worked. I also was able to shoot about 30 feet up with an 0040 nozzle. I will fill around the outlet hole with caulk
Now what to do with all of that H2O.
Val had been asking me for some time to spray the yard for bugs. What better way to use all of that water!
That test went well, although with my short draw tube, I can only use 120 gallons before I run out of LOVE! I will definitely have to lengthen that draw tube.
Val has finished the brochures and business cards for the presentation on Thursday. A day early!
Tomorrow, I'll clean the roof! Two days late!
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Rob Wallace Mudpuppies, LLC mudpups.com 770-354-7030 rob@mudpups.com Fayetteville, GA
Looks like your almost ready to go , the tank you have doesn't lok like a leg tank , looks like a elliptical tank maybe thats why its moving around on you , that type sits in a cradle other wise best of luck ( i like your spray guns)
Looks Great! I see that I can make some changes to my equipment especially the spray nozzles. Thanks for posting the pics. Just make sure you put a strap around the back end of the tank as you probably already found out, it will move back upon take off. This happened when I took my trailer for a test spin with 100 gallons.
The way I measures my draw tube was to measure from the bottom of the tank to the bottom of the bulkhead and then I cut the draw tube 3/4" shorter than that measurement and after threading into the bulkhead it now sits approx 1.5" from the bottom of the tank. You will want to fix that draw tube soon as the SH will not keep long once you add the dawn according to others here. 30 Gallons is alot of mix to lose. 9 - 12 gallons of SH everytime you fill up.
I sprayed the front of my roof from one spot on the ladder. As you can see. I am dutifully wearing my chemical goggles.
BEFORE CLEANING
AFTER CLEANING
Since we have no gutters, Val was busy on the ground protecting the plantings.
Since I had 60 gallons of Love, I decided to do the siding and the flat work in the front of the house. I just started spraying everthing! Even the cedar fence. It looks like new! Amazing! I remounted the tank. I still need to add blocking on the sides, but I think this will work better.
About halfway through the job, the hose connector on my gun came apart. Thankfully, I had made a spare. I will have to replace these PVC fittings with brass. And maybe make a couple more guns. The pump outlet has the same fitting and it started leaking so I will have to replace it also.
I also learned that dark colored clothing is not a good idea.
I also spoke at a real estate agent's sales meeting. I got a very good reception and a request for an estimate. I will let you know how the followup goes.
I have a special cigar that will not be lit until after I get paid for doing this.
Looks good Rob. You just added 5 to 15k to the value of your house depending on what it would have cost to replace the roof. A buyer would automatically deduct that from the sales price thinking it had to be replaced.
It's still in the plastic bag. I found out when I cleaned the porch how bad the fumes are. Not a good idea. I am breaking it out tomorrow and WILL use it. Thanks for the reminder
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Rob Wallace Mudpuppies, LLC mudpups.com 770-354-7030 rob@mudpups.com Fayetteville, GA
Rock and Roll brother, looks really good. Switching to Brass as you said will be much better than those plastic clamp style fittings. If you can band them on or crimp them that is the way to go, but for now just check all your sleel clamps for tightness when you set up for a job until they can be changed. Remember with steel clamps it's not a matter of IF, but a matter of WHEN will they break. Spraying everything is cool but be carefull. Cedar does not like SH at all, it is highly recomended by wood care product manufacturers and Cedar manufacturers that SH not be used. It's just really strong, sodium precarbonate is a better answer, then rinse with oxalic acid. Wood cleaning is really a completely different business but can be incorporated to what you are doing. It is a very common misconception for start up cleaning contractors to beleive they can find one cleaner to rule them all, lol. It's just not true. SH will clean many things for sure, but at what cost to the customer??
Anyway...not trying to be down, justing spreading the truth. You can spray it on whatever you like, but it may not be appropriate in all situations.
You really are picking it up and running fast brother.. Keep rockin on!!!
I have a few questions for you and some of the other gurus here.
If I am going to be doing siding and driveways, shouldn't I rinse after it dries? And maybe I should do the flat work first with no dawn and half the TSP, then add the dawn and the rest of the TSP for the roof and siding. Maybe this would present a dissolving problem with the TSP. I am using the Apple Cider Sauce mix.
I understand the reasoning about not rinsing roofs. But I don't want anyone to slip up on the driveway at the first rain. And I am concerned about not rinsing siding, especially before a new paint job. Shouldn't the TSP and dawn be rinsed off?
Something else I am learning; this is hard work. And I like it!
Thanks for everyone's help.
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Rob Wallace Mudpuppies, LLC mudpups.com 770-354-7030 rob@mudpups.com Fayetteville, GA
Rob, You really should use a pressure washer(3000psi) and a surface cleaner for flat work. It will save your back and make life easy.
Always rinse the siding before it dries (8-10 minute dwell time) becuase you run the risk of streaking the windows and also you need to get the chit off the siding for it to be clean.
Be sure & pre wet windows & rinse them afterwards or you will leave nasty streaks on glass. Most of the time I just spray LOVE on vinyl & gutters then let my ground person rinse it 30 secs. later.with a garden hose. Works for me. Kipp
Here are some of the changes I have made to my rig.
I reinstalled my tank so it will stay put.
I turned the tank sideways and then installed some blocking on the sides to prevent any lateral movement.
Blocking or "dunnage" on both sides of the tank.
The other problem I had was with the hose fittings at the pump and on my spray guns. The PVC ones I had fell apart.
New brass fittings. They work much better.
I also wanted to move my switch because I was having a hard time reaching it.
So I moved it from the base to the pump box. Much easier to get to now.
The Delevan 5850 ships with a short pressure sensor wire that lays in the bottom of the box. I was concerned about it getting wet, so I spliced another piece of wire to extend it and secured it up off the floor of the pump box.
I also needed to put in a Y valve to make it easier to get SHC from a barrel into my tank. This does it.
Ready to roll!
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Rob Wallace Mudpuppies, LLC mudpups.com 770-354-7030 rob@mudpups.com Fayetteville, GA
Here are some of the changes I have made to my rig.
I reinstalled my tank so it will stay put.
I turned the tank sideways and then installed some blocking on the sides to prevent any lateral movement.
Blocking or "dunnage" on both sides of the tank.
The other problem I had was with the hose fittings at the pump and on my spray guns. The PVC ones I had fell apart.
New brass fittings. They work much better.
I also wanted to move my switch because I was having a hard time reaching it.
So I moved it from the base to the pump box. Much easier to get to now.
The Delevan 5850 ships with a short pressure sensor wire that lays in the bottom of the box. I was concerned about it getting wet, so I spliced another piece of wire to extend it and secured it up off the floor of the pump box.
I also needed to put in a Y valve to make it easier to get SHC from a barrel into my tank. This does it.
Ready to roll!
Great Pics and descriptions ! Some Lettering for your Truck or a Magnetic Sign, and you good to go. WATCH that overhead ladder rack !!!!! Rinse the ladder like a mad man, or you will RUST your truck. Brass Fittings work fine, but they must be checked/replaced every 3 to 6 months, if ya do a lot of roofs. If not, every 6 months, take a peek at em ?