I know this may seem rather odd to be writing a post on how to mix product, but we get calls all too often about why a product is not working well, or the way that it should, or how it had in previous times and more times than not, the reason can be traced back to how the product was mixed. Therefore I will be going over as many points here as I can think of. If you think of more please add them to this post at the bottom.
First it is important to mix the component packages in the order they are labeled and it states in the directions.
For the most part they are very simple instructions but by not adding parts in the correct order you can either make a small difference, or all the way up to making things even hazardous.
If a kit comes in A, B and C and it clearly states put A in then add water, then please do that. I know some might like to start filling the drum before they pour in the first powder but there is a reason. First is to be sure the ingredients in the A component dissolve well. For instance it is much harder to mix a powdered chocolate drink powder into a full glass of cold milk then it is to put the powder in first the then pour the milk on top and then mix. Same principle. And make sure the water is not too cold! Even tap water in some parts of the country and during times of the year maybe colder then needed for proper mixing conditions. Try to use luke warm tap water, but if your water is cold add some hot water, say a gallon to every 4-5 gallons of tap water, that you are adding to the mixing drum (prior to pouring it in). In other words have a 5 gallon pail that you are using to add water that you have mixed the hot and cold water together before pouring it into the drum.
Next if it says to use 45 gallons of water, then add 45 gallons, not 20 or even 40 but 45. If the amount of water is too small and you add in other ingredients early, you might cause a reaction due to having too high of a concentration of raw chemicals together.
Next, always add the second, third and so on number of ingredients slowly to your mixture. One so that you to not splash chemicals back on to yourself or into your eyes (Always wear protective gear when mixing) and second so that you have time to properly stir and mix the solution for complete integration.
I know some people like to put all the powders together and then add all the liquids or put them in after all the liquids are in the drum but this can cause hazardous results. Some of the chemical powdered ingredients should not be put together, or they could have come packaged that way. Or one powder may be needed to be added only at the very end when you have the most amount of water because it may produce a stronger reaction if added too soon or when less water is present.
When pouring the liquid components into a partial solution, add slowly and stop once or twice to mix well so the new liquid does not settle straight down to the bottom of the drum, since it will be much denser than the solution already in the drum. Once you have emptied all the liquid that will easily pour out be sure to scrape the walls of the pail off to get all of the liquid out. If it is too difficult you can just add a small amount of warm water, say 1/2 gallon, and with the lid on and tightly closed slosh the water around in the pail to dissolve the remaining residue into a thin enough liquid to be pored into the drum with the rest of the solution.
Once you have finished adding ingredients and mixing make sure you top off to the proper level. If you have a product where one drum will make two, be sure you have thoroughly mixed the first 55 gallons, transfer half of the drum (27.5 gallons) to a second drum and then fill both back up to the 55 gallon level. If you wait for even a day before transferring make sure you thoroughly remix the first drum before you start to pump out the 27.5 gallons in case you have settling of ingredients. This can sometimes be the reason why one drum seems to work much better than the other because you got an uneven amount of active product ingredients in each drum.
This is also the reason you mix any super concentrated product all at once and DO NOT just pump out 1 gallon of a 5 gallon mixture and make only 11 gallons of product at a time. These super concentrated pails are designed to be completely mixed because of how much the ingredients will settle out or layer in the pail. if you try to mix partial batches, no two mixtures will be or will work the same.
Same can be said if you mix a drum and then only pump out small amounts at a time. You should always remix at least for a few minutes to reintegrate the solution. Some products settle out more than others and temperature can be a large factor in this. If you store your chemicals out in an unheated building or area, products will have the tendency to settle more quickly than if left at 70-75 degree average room temp.
Our products are all produced with a very short pre-ship storage time. We try to have product made from just a few weeks to only a few days before they are ordered and ship out. This way they are very fresh and have a long storage life, most at least two years if stored properly. This way you can buy a large volume of product to save money and shipping costs and even if you do not use all of it by the end of your wash season, you can be sure it will still work when you mix it and use it at the beginning of the next season. With this said it is important that if product has not been kept in the most ideal conditions that when it is mixed you can take additional steps to try and make it still work for you. We have had customers call that have let product freeze or nearly freeze, get wet or exposed to moisture that the powders become solid, etc. Many of these problems can be addresses with sometimes no ill effects to the end mixed product.
If you have a liquid component that has frozen or has gotten extremely cold, you must raise its temperature high enough to allow it to pour but not too high to destroy the products chemical integrity. We suggest that you get a larger container than the 5 or 6 gallon pail the liquid is in, fill it with warm water and place the pail into it. Do NOT use HOT water, this way the temp is brought up slowly. It may take more than one dunking application to have this work. But do not do what one customer did. He broke open the pail, dumped the frozen rock of liquid into an open 55 gallon drum and then poured boiling water on it trying to melt the ice block of concentrated product. He ended up not getting all the product dissolved before he added all the water to make the 55 gallons and then it did not work properly even days later once he got all the settled melted bits mixed.
Now sometimes if stored for a long time the bagged powder mixes can compress and get firm, but they should not turn to solid blocks. Only if they are exposed to moisture, heat and sit for long periods would this ever happen. If it does sometimes it can still be usable but you must allow the block to soak, break up and dissolve in a much smaller amount of water than normally used for mixing. Again using warm water, not hot, add the solid powder to about twice the amount of water by weight than you have of the powder. So if you have 5 lbs of solid powder place it in 10 gallons of water and wait for it to completely break down before mixing it with the other ingredients in the proper order with the other ingredient and the proper amount of additional water.
I hope this has been helpful and as always, if you have any questions please give us a call. 1-800-SOAP-911
Tuesday, June 8, 2010
Monday, May 24, 2010
What to consider when making a business brochure?
Besides a business card the next most usable customer marketing item you should always have available is a business brochure.
I have been approached a lot, so far this year, about this topic so I thought this would be a great subject to go ahead and discuss.
I will focus on what should be in a general business brochure rather then the physical parts of a brochure such as; type of fold, paper weight, gloss vs. matte, B and W vs. single or multi color. Those items can all be addressed once the content is hammered out and the budget is established. So lets get into the backbone of your brochure, the information and the call to action.
You want your brochure to be an extension of your business, a continuation of the branding you have already established with your business card, web site, etc. Try to make it so your brochure is easily recognizable that it came from you and your business. Your logo, phone number, web site address, location coverage area, type of work you perform, should all be easily seen and spelled out briefly and clearly. A brochure should be just a snap shot not a photo album, a few paragraphs about a few main topics not a novel.
Leave the longer in depth information to be found on your web site, or in an individual product and job phamplet that you give to your bookable customers when discussing a job, but not in your general business brochure given out to the broad general prospect population.
Make sure any brochure piece that you make or have made is multi market usable; such as a mailer, handout at a home show, or a customer referral piece. No exact pricing should be mentioned here so the brochure doesn't become obsolete and you waste printing costs. This way you can save on being able to produce more pieces for less money.
For your call to action you should use phrases like "Call for our current special" or offer" besides the typical call us for a quote. Might have something like "Contact us for a quote using this code." (leaving a space blank you can fill in) This will help with tracking a special event, or location placement, or to track when a mailing was sent out.
Your extra offers should ALWAYS be perceived value items and not a % discount off the cost. For every 10% you give away it takes 10 more of the same job with out the discount to make it up. Offers can many times be small normal up sell items. You could say, "Call now to receive one free service with your cleaning." or booking" (the service does not have to be explained until they call). This way you can change it is as you need.
It is good to have several offers available for you to use, tiered according to the work the customer wants, once you are speaking to them. For example: Roof wash - free gutter cleaning, House wash - free window cleaning, Driveway flat work or Deck cleaning (if you charge by the square foot)- free 10-20 ft of an additional walkway, or door stoop. Never use the offer to take away from the original work to be done. For example; giving 20 square feet free off of the driveway they called you to clean. You do not want to give the perception that the work they called you for is not worth the full asking price.
Plus if you give a dollar off discount to a customer, they will end up only remembering the price they paid,
which included the discount, not the original price. So when they call again or tell others what they paid they could think you have gone up or are not giving them the same deal and possibly go else where.
Your brochure should show a few good, clear, before and after shots of your work, and put in testimonials. I know they take up space but it is important potential clients feel you have satisfied similar customers like them for the work they need done.
You can have a small logo, address and phone number section that is easy to tear off (inside back lower corner of a tri-fold) with a code number added as a referral piece. But be sure to still have the same information included else where (like the front cover) so the initial customer still retains your contact info.
You can have a section (like a back panel or inside fold) stating the date and service that was done, if any other work was recommended or date when work should be repeated. But what can be even better is to have this actually put on a peel off sticker (instead of printed in the brochure) that you can attach in the blank or used address mailer space of the brochure, this you then leave with the customer after completion of the job, it becomes a reminder as well as a referral piece for future contact.
I hope this information was helpful next time you go to create your business brochure.
I have been approached a lot, so far this year, about this topic so I thought this would be a great subject to go ahead and discuss.
I will focus on what should be in a general business brochure rather then the physical parts of a brochure such as; type of fold, paper weight, gloss vs. matte, B and W vs. single or multi color. Those items can all be addressed once the content is hammered out and the budget is established. So lets get into the backbone of your brochure, the information and the call to action.
You want your brochure to be an extension of your business, a continuation of the branding you have already established with your business card, web site, etc. Try to make it so your brochure is easily recognizable that it came from you and your business. Your logo, phone number, web site address, location coverage area, type of work you perform, should all be easily seen and spelled out briefly and clearly. A brochure should be just a snap shot not a photo album, a few paragraphs about a few main topics not a novel.
Leave the longer in depth information to be found on your web site, or in an individual product and job phamplet that you give to your bookable customers when discussing a job, but not in your general business brochure given out to the broad general prospect population.
Make sure any brochure piece that you make or have made is multi market usable; such as a mailer, handout at a home show, or a customer referral piece. No exact pricing should be mentioned here so the brochure doesn't become obsolete and you waste printing costs. This way you can save on being able to produce more pieces for less money.
For your call to action you should use phrases like "Call for our current special" or offer" besides the typical call us for a quote. Might have something like "Contact us for a quote using this code." (leaving a space blank you can fill in) This will help with tracking a special event, or location placement, or to track when a mailing was sent out.
Your extra offers should ALWAYS be perceived value items and not a % discount off the cost. For every 10% you give away it takes 10 more of the same job with out the discount to make it up. Offers can many times be small normal up sell items. You could say, "Call now to receive one free service with your cleaning." or booking" (the service does not have to be explained until they call). This way you can change it is as you need.
It is good to have several offers available for you to use, tiered according to the work the customer wants, once you are speaking to them. For example: Roof wash - free gutter cleaning, House wash - free window cleaning, Driveway flat work or Deck cleaning (if you charge by the square foot)- free 10-20 ft of an additional walkway, or door stoop. Never use the offer to take away from the original work to be done. For example; giving 20 square feet free off of the driveway they called you to clean. You do not want to give the perception that the work they called you for is not worth the full asking price.
Plus if you give a dollar off discount to a customer, they will end up only remembering the price they paid,
which included the discount, not the original price. So when they call again or tell others what they paid they could think you have gone up or are not giving them the same deal and possibly go else where.
Your brochure should show a few good, clear, before and after shots of your work, and put in testimonials. I know they take up space but it is important potential clients feel you have satisfied similar customers like them for the work they need done.
You can have a small logo, address and phone number section that is easy to tear off (inside back lower corner of a tri-fold) with a code number added as a referral piece. But be sure to still have the same information included else where (like the front cover) so the initial customer still retains your contact info.
You can have a section (like a back panel or inside fold) stating the date and service that was done, if any other work was recommended or date when work should be repeated. But what can be even better is to have this actually put on a peel off sticker (instead of printed in the brochure) that you can attach in the blank or used address mailer space of the brochure, this you then leave with the customer after completion of the job, it becomes a reminder as well as a referral piece for future contact.
I hope this information was helpful next time you go to create your business brochure.
Wednesday, May 19, 2010
There is more to Flat Work than just using water!
Concrete contract cleaners can find some equipment companies stating in advertisements that their product is so good, no chemicals are needed, that you just need water. They go on to state how "Green" and environmentally friendly their way to wash is.
But what they may fail to mention, is for some of these types of concrete cleaning equipment, the way they make the concrete clean is by using so much pressure or agitation that a complete layer of concrete is removed, or etched off to get this back to new looking results. Or that even with using water alone, grease and oils being lifted out of and off of the concrete surface are themselves, bio hazards and in many areas will still need to be reclaimed and not be allowed to just flow into storm drains or even some sewer lines. Check the regulations in your particular area.
I am not saying you should not use rotary surface scrubbers or hot water sprayers but that you should be using both chemicals and equipment to give your customer the result they want, clean concrete, without ending up with something they don't, thinner or etched concrete.
For your general, basic, flat work concrete cleaning we have our “Concrete Cleaner”. This works well in combination with pressure washing equipment. With its organic solvents dissolving grease, tire marks and other debris the equipment doesn't have to work as hard to remove them from the concrete and can leave a clean but unmarred surface.
We have degreasers as well like “Mighty-O”, “Mighty-Max” and “Mighty Max Plus” these all contain butyl, a great oil and grease cutter. But do not use them on asphalt parking lots, only concrete. The differences between these three mainly are the amount of butyl they contain, 3%, 6% or 10% respectively. These are perfect for drive thrus, parking garages and concrete parking lots where a lot of vehicle, oil, grease and transmission fluid have been deposited and soaked into the porous surface of the concrete. These locations can be spot treated, in the heavy traffic areas, before the pressure washer or surface cleaner is used over the entire location. Many times additional cleaners may not need to be added.
For more difficult restoration cleaning, we have a product called “Pro BRC” or Building Restoration Cleaner for brick and masonry to remove years of neglect, mold, mildew and dirt. It will restore brick and mortar lines back to original or near original color with out using damaging high pressure that can loosen mortar joints.
If you have a customer with mineral water deposits from their sprinkler system discoloring their brick buildings or concrete walkways, we have “Concrete Rust Remover”. This is a powder that is mixed 4 lbs per 5 gallons of water. You just have to spray on to the stained areas and then clean as normal for these marks to lift off. Works on white pebble/rock bedding areas too.
We also carry some more environmentally friendly products when other products can not be used due to Home Owners Associations or other factors, like our “Natures Green APC” all purpose cleaner or “Mighty Green” which is in the same family as the well known Simple Green®. But "Green" on does not equal "Green" off, so be sure and follow the 'best practice' rules for waste water for your location, reclaim may still be needed.
For more detailed product descriptions of the above mentioned items, go to www.soapwarehouse.biz and look under the Exterior Products tab 'Concrete Products' and under the Degreaser tab.
But what they may fail to mention, is for some of these types of concrete cleaning equipment, the way they make the concrete clean is by using so much pressure or agitation that a complete layer of concrete is removed, or etched off to get this back to new looking results. Or that even with using water alone, grease and oils being lifted out of and off of the concrete surface are themselves, bio hazards and in many areas will still need to be reclaimed and not be allowed to just flow into storm drains or even some sewer lines. Check the regulations in your particular area.
I am not saying you should not use rotary surface scrubbers or hot water sprayers but that you should be using both chemicals and equipment to give your customer the result they want, clean concrete, without ending up with something they don't, thinner or etched concrete.
For your general, basic, flat work concrete cleaning we have our “Concrete Cleaner”. This works well in combination with pressure washing equipment. With its organic solvents dissolving grease, tire marks and other debris the equipment doesn't have to work as hard to remove them from the concrete and can leave a clean but unmarred surface.
We have degreasers as well like “Mighty-O”, “Mighty-Max” and “Mighty Max Plus” these all contain butyl, a great oil and grease cutter. But do not use them on asphalt parking lots, only concrete. The differences between these three mainly are the amount of butyl they contain, 3%, 6% or 10% respectively. These are perfect for drive thrus, parking garages and concrete parking lots where a lot of vehicle, oil, grease and transmission fluid have been deposited and soaked into the porous surface of the concrete. These locations can be spot treated, in the heavy traffic areas, before the pressure washer or surface cleaner is used over the entire location. Many times additional cleaners may not need to be added.
For more difficult restoration cleaning, we have a product called “Pro BRC” or Building Restoration Cleaner for brick and masonry to remove years of neglect, mold, mildew and dirt. It will restore brick and mortar lines back to original or near original color with out using damaging high pressure that can loosen mortar joints.
If you have a customer with mineral water deposits from their sprinkler system discoloring their brick buildings or concrete walkways, we have “Concrete Rust Remover”. This is a powder that is mixed 4 lbs per 5 gallons of water. You just have to spray on to the stained areas and then clean as normal for these marks to lift off. Works on white pebble/rock bedding areas too.
We also carry some more environmentally friendly products when other products can not be used due to Home Owners Associations or other factors, like our “Natures Green APC” all purpose cleaner or “Mighty Green” which is in the same family as the well known Simple Green®. But "Green" on does not equal "Green" off, so be sure and follow the 'best practice' rules for waste water for your location, reclaim may still be needed.
For more detailed product descriptions of the above mentioned items, go to www.soapwarehouse.biz and look under the Exterior Products tab 'Concrete Products' and under the Degreaser tab.
Wednesday, May 5, 2010
New Consumer Web sites just launched
We are growing here at Soap Warehouse and we just launched a new, home consumer web site, www.shopsoapwarehouse.com. This site focuses on our new acquisitions of last year, Scat stain remover and our laundry line, along with some of our non hazardous chemicals that home owners could use on their own such as car wash, detailing, household cleaners, and others.
Now don't think we are trying to cut out the middle man or the contractor to do work for their customers, but lets face it, many home owners want to do some tasks on their own. We also will not be selling these smaller size versions of these safe products to consumers at the same price point that contractors receive when they buy from Soap Warehouse. But by us putting some products now in to smaller packaging, it may allow us to supply contractors with smaller sample sizes, so they may be able to try more products.
This move was also necessary because of the second site that just was launched, the Scat product and distributor site at www.scatstainremover.com. The original Scat site was informational but also had a consumer shopping cart that when sales where made, they went directly to Soap Warehouse. But since the Scat site needed to be available to all Scat distributors not just Soap Warehouse, and because Scat is both a commercial and home consumer product, the shopping cart part of the site had to be removed and put on a new separate site, therefore the www.shopsoapwarehouse.com was needed. The new Scat only site, www.scatstainremover.com, just has product information with all of the distributors listed, but no pricing.
I hope that this explanation will let you to understand why you might think you are seeing more than one Soap Warehouse when doing web searches. Our normal site is still www.soapwarehouse.biz.
Thank you for your support and we look forward to a great washing season.
Now don't think we are trying to cut out the middle man or the contractor to do work for their customers, but lets face it, many home owners want to do some tasks on their own. We also will not be selling these smaller size versions of these safe products to consumers at the same price point that contractors receive when they buy from Soap Warehouse. But by us putting some products now in to smaller packaging, it may allow us to supply contractors with smaller sample sizes, so they may be able to try more products.
This move was also necessary because of the second site that just was launched, the Scat product and distributor site at www.scatstainremover.com. The original Scat site was informational but also had a consumer shopping cart that when sales where made, they went directly to Soap Warehouse. But since the Scat site needed to be available to all Scat distributors not just Soap Warehouse, and because Scat is both a commercial and home consumer product, the shopping cart part of the site had to be removed and put on a new separate site, therefore the www.shopsoapwarehouse.com was needed. The new Scat only site, www.scatstainremover.com, just has product information with all of the distributors listed, but no pricing.
I hope that this explanation will let you to understand why you might think you are seeing more than one Soap Warehouse when doing web searches. Our normal site is still www.soapwarehouse.biz.
Thank you for your support and we look forward to a great washing season.
Friday, April 9, 2010
Products for House Washing
To continue with our exterior maintenance product discussion, today we will touch on house washes.
We have quite a few products that can be used for this job as well as those we recommend for this use.
Our most economical product is our "Citrus X-terior" house wash. This product was specifically designed for those who where use to doing house washing with a bleach only solution. With "Citrus X-terior" you can add bleach to it, to get the mold killing and color removing properties that bleach provides, while having the added benefits of a product that contains the actual cleaning ability of surfactants and the added benefit of a clean citrus scent to help cover or reduce the smell of bleach, if you are using it with the product. "Citrus X-terior" is a great all on its own for cleaning vinyl siding, hardiplank, wood or brick facades.
For surfaces that need a stronger approach or that have known greasy dirt concerns you can use our “Mighty Max”, the 6% butyl, non caustic product we discussed earlier. We found it made no sense to add other names to or re-label the same product for every type of job it can do. There fore many of our products can multi task even if the job description is not in the product name like “house wash”. “Mighty Max” is great to use in a pump up sprayer to pre treat problem areas as well as being used as a general house wash. “Mighty Max Plus” since it has a higher amount of butyl 10% plus an added amount of sodium hydroxide it is great on removing those stubborn black streaks from gutters without brushing. But care must be made to not let the product sit to long or allowed to dry on painted surfaces or glass that it can etch, since it does contain sodium hydroxide.
Just about any of our other general all purpose cleaners like “Mighty-Green”, “Natures Green”, and “Rite Stuff” can also be used as a house wash and are recommended when customers or regulatory agencies require that a “Greener” product or method be used to clean.
There is a final product some of our customers do use for house washing but that we do not have label directions nor can recommend proper dilution rates for and that is with using “Brown Derby”. Even when greatly diluted the amount of sodium hydroxide can be a deterrent for using on painted wood surfaces and around glass. If you use it we can not offer advice or make any recommendation in regards to house washing. For this reason “Brown Derby” is not listed in our catalog section of house washing products.
With that said, sodium hydroxide is still a widely used method for roof cleaning and “Brown Derby” has and can be used for that. Care still must be made in keeping the rest of the house rinsed well with water including any glass during the roof cleaning process not to cause damage to other surfaces. But the Asphalt Shingle Manufactures of America recommends in their own technical bulletin that only professional bleach solutions should be used on their shingle products in which our “Citrus X-terior” can be used as recommended with bleach to clean roof shingles of black mold streaks.
Lastly the product “Bio Barrier” that we have discussed at length in the past, was designed to be used after house and roof washing to retard the re-growth of mold. This product will add months if not years of continued good looks after a cleaning has been done. But it does require repeated treatments to extend the life of its benefits.
We hope these monthly posts are helpful and we look forward to next month and our next product group.
We have quite a few products that can be used for this job as well as those we recommend for this use.
Our most economical product is our "Citrus X-terior" house wash. This product was specifically designed for those who where use to doing house washing with a bleach only solution. With "Citrus X-terior" you can add bleach to it, to get the mold killing and color removing properties that bleach provides, while having the added benefits of a product that contains the actual cleaning ability of surfactants and the added benefit of a clean citrus scent to help cover or reduce the smell of bleach, if you are using it with the product. "Citrus X-terior" is a great all on its own for cleaning vinyl siding, hardiplank, wood or brick facades.
For surfaces that need a stronger approach or that have known greasy dirt concerns you can use our “Mighty Max”, the 6% butyl, non caustic product we discussed earlier. We found it made no sense to add other names to or re-label the same product for every type of job it can do. There fore many of our products can multi task even if the job description is not in the product name like “house wash”. “Mighty Max” is great to use in a pump up sprayer to pre treat problem areas as well as being used as a general house wash. “Mighty Max Plus” since it has a higher amount of butyl 10% plus an added amount of sodium hydroxide it is great on removing those stubborn black streaks from gutters without brushing. But care must be made to not let the product sit to long or allowed to dry on painted surfaces or glass that it can etch, since it does contain sodium hydroxide.
Just about any of our other general all purpose cleaners like “Mighty-Green”, “Natures Green”, and “Rite Stuff” can also be used as a house wash and are recommended when customers or regulatory agencies require that a “Greener” product or method be used to clean.
There is a final product some of our customers do use for house washing but that we do not have label directions nor can recommend proper dilution rates for and that is with using “Brown Derby”. Even when greatly diluted the amount of sodium hydroxide can be a deterrent for using on painted wood surfaces and around glass. If you use it we can not offer advice or make any recommendation in regards to house washing. For this reason “Brown Derby” is not listed in our catalog section of house washing products.
With that said, sodium hydroxide is still a widely used method for roof cleaning and “Brown Derby” has and can be used for that. Care still must be made in keeping the rest of the house rinsed well with water including any glass during the roof cleaning process not to cause damage to other surfaces. But the Asphalt Shingle Manufactures of America recommends in their own technical bulletin that only professional bleach solutions should be used on their shingle products in which our “Citrus X-terior” can be used as recommended with bleach to clean roof shingles of black mold streaks.
Lastly the product “Bio Barrier” that we have discussed at length in the past, was designed to be used after house and roof washing to retard the re-growth of mold. This product will add months if not years of continued good looks after a cleaning has been done. But it does require repeated treatments to extend the life of its benefits.
We hope these monthly posts are helpful and we look forward to next month and our next product group.
Thursday, April 8, 2010
Exterior Maintenance Products for Concrete, Wood & Fabrics.
Each month we are featuring a group of our products to help our customers and potential customers learn what products we carry that they might not be aware of. Plus this gives information regarding the differences between some items as well. This month we will discuss products used for exterior maintenance jobs.
For concrete flat work we have a basic “Concrete Cleaner” as well as degreasers like “Mighty-O” “Mighty-Max” and “Mighty Max Plus” these all contain butyl, a great grease cutter. The differences between these three mainly are the amount of butyl they contain, 3%, 6% or 10% respectively. We have a product called “Pro BRC” or Building Restoration Cleaner for brick and masonry to remove years of neglect, mold, mildew and dirt. It will restore mortar lines back to original or near original color with out using damaging high pressure that can loosen mortar joints. To remove rust stains from concrete, sometimes caused by certain mineral waters or irrigation thru metal water lines, we have “Concrete Rust Remover”. This is a powder that is mixed 4 lbs per 5 gallons of water for best results. We also carry some more environmentally friendly products when other products can not be used due to Home Owners Associations or other factors, like our “Natures Green APC” all purpose cleaner or “Mighty Green” which is in the same family as the well known Simple Green®. We also have a bio degradable Economy degreaser called “Rite Stuff” that contains an organic solvent if butyls are not allowed to be used.
For wood cleaning for decks and other wood structures we have the following:
“Deck Wash” for regular cleaning of most wood surfaces it can clean anything from cedar to pressure treated wood. Now if a softer approach is needed to clean, and in no way can contain any acid or harsh ingredients, then our “So Safe” can be used. This percolating product comes in a powder that is mixed just prior to use and only in the amount that is expected to be used, since it will loose its cleaning ability if left to sit. This is perfect when you just need to lift off a layer of dirt with out touching the stain, finish or the woods own character like with teak or a newly stained deck. Now if you are in need to remove an existing finish or stain then you will need one of our strippers. We have two; the first is just called “Deck Stripper” and can handle most normal single layer or worn stain jobs. But if multiple or thick layers of stain, sealer or varnish need to be removed then we have the product “Super Stripper” that will do the job. With either of these you will need to follow them up with a neutralizer to stop the chemical action and for that we have our “Wood Brightener”. This comes in a powder and is mixed 4 lbs to 5 gallons of water and can also be used alone to brighten a previously untreated wood surface. The last product we have in our exterior wood section is our Bio Barrier mold inhibitor product. This should be applied to a surface after it has been cleaned and is completely dry. This will prevent the re-growth of mold on wood in areas having known pre-existing problems. Bio Barrier does not kill mold, that is why the surface must first be clean and old mold removed, but once applied to a surface it should stay mold free for at least 6 months if not for a year or more. Length of time will depends on factors like amount of time area is in the shade, how much water or moisture it comes in contact with, how much air circulation is available to the area and if the surface is horizontal or vertical.
Next is a product for outdoor cloth or plastic fiber fabrics found on lawn furniture pads, umbrellas, awnings and fabric gazebos called “Carpet & Fabric Cleaner” this is a great multi use product. It is formulated with optical brighteners to give colored fibers deeper tone and better contrast. It will help restore color to fabrics that are faded by dirt and grime. It contains no harsh chemicals that will damage fibers and will help to extend the life of the outdoor fabrics use. Companies such as Sunbrella® suggest to only use mild detergents for heavy soiling or to remove molds and mildew by adding a small amount of bleach to the cleaning solution, hot water should NEVER be used on Sunbrella® fabric and may require some brushing to remove stubborn stains from between fibers. “Carpet & Fabric Cleaner” can be used in this recommended manner.
Tomorrow we will cover our products for house washing.
For concrete flat work we have a basic “Concrete Cleaner” as well as degreasers like “Mighty-O” “Mighty-Max” and “Mighty Max Plus” these all contain butyl, a great grease cutter. The differences between these three mainly are the amount of butyl they contain, 3%, 6% or 10% respectively. We have a product called “Pro BRC” or Building Restoration Cleaner for brick and masonry to remove years of neglect, mold, mildew and dirt. It will restore mortar lines back to original or near original color with out using damaging high pressure that can loosen mortar joints. To remove rust stains from concrete, sometimes caused by certain mineral waters or irrigation thru metal water lines, we have “Concrete Rust Remover”. This is a powder that is mixed 4 lbs per 5 gallons of water for best results. We also carry some more environmentally friendly products when other products can not be used due to Home Owners Associations or other factors, like our “Natures Green APC” all purpose cleaner or “Mighty Green” which is in the same family as the well known Simple Green®. We also have a bio degradable Economy degreaser called “Rite Stuff” that contains an organic solvent if butyls are not allowed to be used.
For wood cleaning for decks and other wood structures we have the following:
“Deck Wash” for regular cleaning of most wood surfaces it can clean anything from cedar to pressure treated wood. Now if a softer approach is needed to clean, and in no way can contain any acid or harsh ingredients, then our “So Safe” can be used. This percolating product comes in a powder that is mixed just prior to use and only in the amount that is expected to be used, since it will loose its cleaning ability if left to sit. This is perfect when you just need to lift off a layer of dirt with out touching the stain, finish or the woods own character like with teak or a newly stained deck. Now if you are in need to remove an existing finish or stain then you will need one of our strippers. We have two; the first is just called “Deck Stripper” and can handle most normal single layer or worn stain jobs. But if multiple or thick layers of stain, sealer or varnish need to be removed then we have the product “Super Stripper” that will do the job. With either of these you will need to follow them up with a neutralizer to stop the chemical action and for that we have our “Wood Brightener”. This comes in a powder and is mixed 4 lbs to 5 gallons of water and can also be used alone to brighten a previously untreated wood surface. The last product we have in our exterior wood section is our Bio Barrier mold inhibitor product. This should be applied to a surface after it has been cleaned and is completely dry. This will prevent the re-growth of mold on wood in areas having known pre-existing problems. Bio Barrier does not kill mold, that is why the surface must first be clean and old mold removed, but once applied to a surface it should stay mold free for at least 6 months if not for a year or more. Length of time will depends on factors like amount of time area is in the shade, how much water or moisture it comes in contact with, how much air circulation is available to the area and if the surface is horizontal or vertical.
Next is a product for outdoor cloth or plastic fiber fabrics found on lawn furniture pads, umbrellas, awnings and fabric gazebos called “Carpet & Fabric Cleaner” this is a great multi use product. It is formulated with optical brighteners to give colored fibers deeper tone and better contrast. It will help restore color to fabrics that are faded by dirt and grime. It contains no harsh chemicals that will damage fibers and will help to extend the life of the outdoor fabrics use. Companies such as Sunbrella® suggest to only use mild detergents for heavy soiling or to remove molds and mildew by adding a small amount of bleach to the cleaning solution, hot water should NEVER be used on Sunbrella® fabric and may require some brushing to remove stubborn stains from between fibers. “Carpet & Fabric Cleaner” can be used in this recommended manner.
Tomorrow we will cover our products for house washing.
Wednesday, March 24, 2010
Here at the Mid America Trucking Show
I have now posted entries for all four days we were at the Mid America Trucking Show, please see all posts below:
It is Wednesday afternoon on March 24th and I spent three hours setting up our booth.
Rich won a 5 gallon pail of Big Rig Brite. Our next winner also won some Big Rig but has not been by the booth again for a photo. The last drawing of the day was for an Aqua Force arm brace but he did not put his phone on the entry and only put down a P.O. Box so we will have to first contact him by mail and my have to draw a replacement winner after the show. We will post all winners in our April Newsletter.
Jeanie chose a case of 4 Big Rig Brite gallons vs. a 5 gallon pail for the convience to travel with just a gallon at a time on the road. She is a real women truck driver not just a trucker wife.
It is Wednesday afternoon on March 24th and I spent three hours setting up our booth.
We are now ready for the on slaught of attendees that will be coming to the Mid America Trucking Show for the next three days. I will be adding to this blog entry over the next few days to keep you up to date as to what is going on.
Tommorow, March 25th is the first day and will open at 10 am for a V.I.P. session prior to the 1:00 p.m. general admitance. This place is huge and I hope to get a chance to look around before the doors open in the morning. Until tomorrow.
Sorry I did not post last night after the first day, we were all very tired. Still beat today but will get these photos up and report how things are going.
Here is the booth all ready in the West Wing #62124. I think we have a great location.
Thursday was slow during the first 4 hours of V.I.P. only. We could not even get one person to register for our VIP only drawing so we did not have to have one. But by 1:00 and the regular opending we had some takers and drew our first winner at 1:30.
Rich won a 5 gallon pail of Big Rig Brite. Our next winner also won some Big Rig but has not been by the booth again for a photo. The last drawing of the day was for an Aqua Force arm brace but he did not put his phone on the entry and only put down a P.O. Box so we will have to first contact him by mail and my have to draw a replacement winner after the show. We will post all winners in our April Newsletter.Today was the second day and quite a bit busier but not too much to handle. We had better luck with winners today.
The first Big Rig winner, Machelle.
Our second Aqua Force Arm Brace winner, David.
We also had our first of two days of Big Rig Network drawing winners at their booth at 2:00 p.m. Here is the winner,
Jeanie chose a case of 4 Big Rig Brite gallons vs. a 5 gallon pail for the convience to travel with just a gallon at a time on the road. She is a real women truck driver not just a trucker wife.Looking forward to tomorrow to be the busiest and hopefully we will have all our winners get back by the booth. More updates soon.
Well the last day opened an hour earlier and was busy early too. We had real brisk business until around 1 when it started to slow down slightly. Had a lot more takers for our in booth spin to win prize wheel.
Attendees were able to win prizes like a micro fiber towel, a sticky dash pad, product samples of our Oder Out Netrualizer or Scat fabric stain remover, a great personal utility bag for tolietry items or cash off coupons for our products in either $10, $20 or $50 amounts.
We had our second Big Rig Network drawing at their booth at 2:00 
There was a larger crowd than on Friday.
There was a larger crowd than on Friday.and our winner was John who chose 5 gallons of Brown Derby for washing his tractor and trailers.
By 3 p.m. the crowds really died down but we stayed all the way until 4 even while breaking down to keep spinning our prize wheel and scanning badges. We unfortunitly did not have any of our last day booth drawing winners available to come by our booth for photos since most had put their entry in on Friday and where already back out on the road. But we will be listing all our winners in our next Newsletter.
Can not wait to get a good nights sleep and then head home tomorrow for the 7 hour drive back to Atlanta.
I'll be back at work bright and early Monday morning to start getting out all the show orders and prize winnings, sending out requested information, and doing post show follow ups.
Hope to hear from you all soon.
Subscribe to:
Posts (Atom)
