We will be cleaning about 1500' of vinyl 3 rail Fence around a horse farm. They don't want any chemicals to be used around the horses and have a very large budget. What are some alternatives I can offer besides our normal methods or pressure washing?
Chad Eneix said
May 17, 2016
Tim,
I just got done with about 2500' of the exact same thing, on a property where the nearest water supply was a couple thousand more feet away. They had no restrictions on chemicals or pressure washing. We used a pressure washer, mostly because I have a 425 gallon tank for it. It turned out good, although a post-treatment with 1% would make it even better and I gave the customer that option. He's called us every three years for like 15 years. This year, thanks to discovering SoftWashing, I did his 4 roofs as well.
A couple things to consider, I know AC has said that SWS chemicals were approved by Disney for use in their animal enclosures, and 12.5% SH is commonly used in the dairy and other farming industries. My farm kid employees referred to it as "barn cleaner." It is sold right next to the other ag chemical here in Wisconsin. You could try to talk them in to it. You have probably already tried this, though. You could even offer to hand-apply it with a bucket and car wash mitt to limit the chemical dramatically.
The other suggestion, and this would not be a lot of fun, but if they have a big budget you could charge for it- go get a whole bunch of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. They are made of melamine foam, and clean by micro-abrasion. Essentially you'd be polishing the whole fence. Test a spot first, but I think it would work. I also think it would take a while. You might have to clean a whole section on your test, time yourself and multiply to get number.
Bob Riddick said
May 20, 2016
Really, Chad? Mr. Clean Eraser Mitts? Is that what they mean when they say "Think outside the box" ?
Tim, if you have available rinse water, control your overspray and keep the grass wet. We've cleaned stable roofs and fences with the horses inside. No problems!
Troy Layman said
May 30, 2016
Sorry I'm a little late chiming in, but you could get a reduced size orifice that would drastically reduce the amount of solution coming out of the nozzle and show them a demo on how little over spray is hitting the ground. Also explain the process of how bleach is made maybe? For the sake of discussion with the customer, you can make a ~1% bleach solution by taking a dry cell battery, putting salt water in the dry battery (that has never had acid in it), and put a voltage across the leads and the electricity will basically break the bond in the water, releasing the hydrogen atom and the oxygen atom will bond with the salt. Salt is NaCl (Sodium Chloride or table salt), and water is H20. When the electrical process is done you end up with NaOCl, which is the chemical formula for bleach. Basically salt water with an extra oxygen atom. People have it in their heads that bleach is a horrible product, but when you explain it like that, it takes a lot of the mystery out of it. That is why the Clorox manufacturing plant is next to the ocean, a limitless amount of salt water.
We will be cleaning about 1500' of vinyl 3 rail Fence around a horse farm. They don't want any chemicals to be used around the horses and have a very large budget. What are some alternatives I can offer besides our normal methods or pressure washing?
I just got done with about 2500' of the exact same thing, on a property where the nearest water supply was a couple thousand more feet away. They had no restrictions on chemicals or pressure washing. We used a pressure washer, mostly because I have a 425 gallon tank for it. It turned out good, although a post-treatment with 1% would make it even better and I gave the customer that option. He's called us every three years for like 15 years. This year, thanks to discovering SoftWashing, I did his 4 roofs as well.
A couple things to consider, I know AC has said that SWS chemicals were approved by Disney for use in their animal enclosures, and 12.5% SH is commonly used in the dairy and other farming industries. My farm kid employees referred to it as "barn cleaner." It is sold right next to the other ag chemical here in Wisconsin. You could try to talk them in to it. You have probably already tried this, though. You could even offer to hand-apply it with a bucket and car wash mitt to limit the chemical dramatically.
The other suggestion, and this would not be a lot of fun, but if they have a big budget you could charge for it- go get a whole bunch of Mr. Clean Magic Erasers. They are made of melamine foam, and clean by micro-abrasion. Essentially you'd be polishing the whole fence. Test a spot first, but I think it would work. I also think it would take a while. You might have to clean a whole section on your test, time yourself and multiply to get number.
Really, Chad? Mr. Clean Eraser Mitts? Is that what they mean when they say "Think outside the box" ?
Tim, if you have available rinse water, control your overspray and keep the grass wet. We've cleaned stable roofs and fences with the horses inside. No problems!