Blast Off Graffiti Remover, no water needed.

Soap Warehouse is introducing it's latest group of products.

Blast Off Graffiti Remover, Shadow Away Graffiti Remover and Cleen Fast commercial spray cleaner.

First we will tell you about Blast Off, it works like nothing else on the market today for removing graffiti.

You spray it on a dry hard surface that has a graffiti tag of paint or permanent marker on it, wait around one minute or less and then just wipe off with a dry cloth.

See for your self, watch our 60 second video. No water is needed, in fact water reduces the effectiveness of the product and the surface needs to be dry before applying Blast Off for it to work properly.

You will not believe how easy graffiti will come off. Blast Off works on metal, plastics, fiberglass, vinyl, tile, grout, composites and many natural stone surfaces. It is great to use on vehicles, metal buildings or machinery casings, in bathrooms on walls, stall dividers, and fixtures.

Blast Off is pH neutral, biodegradable, non corrosive and contains no petroleum distillates and is safe of factory applied paint and powder coats. Easy and very safe to use.

Blast Off can of course not be used on surfaces that have been spray painted, or painted with Latex or Epoxy paints as this is what it is designed to remove. It should also not be used on Screen printed signs as it will remove the dyes as well.

Blast Off is most effective on new graffiti on hard non porous surfaces that have not had any other cleaner used previously to try and remove the tag.

Our next product Shadow Away is for larger graffiti tagged areas on concrete or masonry or when a shadow has been left from trying to remove graffiti with a cleaner that did not entirely finish the job.

Shadow Away is also pH neutral, biodegradable, non corrosive and contains no petroleum distillates and needs to be applied to a dry surface.

Shadow Away will remove shadows or ghosting that has been left behind by other cleaners. It is a spray that is designed to make a gel to get down into the pores of concrete, mansonry and to cling to verticle surfaces. Shadow Away will continue to work and stay on the surface dissolving the paint or marker as long as the area is keep wet with the Shadow Away or Blast Off until it has completely released the stain from the surface. A brush may be used to push the paint around to be sure it has been completely released. A white powder will apear as the product is allowed to dry but that will rinse easily from the surface once you know the painted area has been loosend and or removed by wiping. Once you have released all the paint with Shadow Away you may use a pressure washer to rinse the area clean.

I will talk about Cleen Fast in our next post.

National Cleaning Expo coming to Charleston.

The next National Cleaning Expo event will be held September 29th and 30th at the Embassy Suites North Charleston - Airport/Hotel and Convention Center located at 5055 International Blvd., North Charleston, SC 29418.

This event is in the same location and imediately follows the CETA Powerclean show being held the 27th and 28th.

Soap Warehouse was a sponsor of the Tampa NCE event and will also be a sponsor in Charleston.

We would like to take this time to congratulate the winner in Tampa of the Soap Warehouse $250.00 product prize coupon, Mr. Brian Welker of 'Great Panes Window Cleaning and Under Pressure Cleaning' from Statesboro, GA.

Soap Warehouse will repeat this $250.00 product prize coupon again at the event in Charleston.

Our main product manufacture I.T.D. will be at the CETA Powerclean show so those that plan on attending on the 28th, for CETA's first ever Industrial Users Day, should be sure to stop by and say hello to them and tell them how much you like their products that we sell.

I.T.D. is a manufacture for many distributors and suppliers across the country not just Soap Warehouse and has a great reputation in the industry.

I hope to see you in Charleston.

 

What is the best truck wash soap?

This is a topic that has been hotly debated in chat rooms, on forum boards and at round table discussions for years. And the fact is there is NO SINGLE best truck wash soap.

The best soap is what ever gives you the best results for the job and regulatory situation your business may come across. For you this may change quite often to hardly ever at all.

Here are 5 things you have to consider and determine for your self, what soap is the best truck wash soap for you for each job.

1. Do I have waste water issues to consider that can not be easily fixed, possibly with just reclamation?

If so you may first want to see if the job can be done effectively with a “Green” product or by using a two step, waste water neutral process. Remembering though that even when using a 100% “Green” product the materials that are being washed off will NOT be “Green” and you will still have some waste water issues to deal with.

2. Is the soap going to require that the washing process take too long and take too many steps to complete to be cost effective?

For instance is the soap a no brush that can just be sprayed on and rinsed off? Or could the soap cause an additional step, like having to apply aluminum brightener, to be required for surfaces dulled by the use of the wash soap or a wax applied? Is the soap a safe finish product that won’t harm poly coats, glass or aluminum?

3. Is the soap easy and safe to use for equipment and operator?

You need to find the right balance for you and the job you are doing. Can the product run though the washer pump or must it be down streamed. Some times you must take added safety measures, goggles, wet suit, water proof shoes, etc to have a chemical strong enough that will do the really tough work fast. Other times the best cleaner can be as safe as plain water.

4. What will be the final cost to use the soap you chose?

Just because a product is expensive or inexpensive should not be the biggest factor in what you choose. You can buy an expensive product and end up using only a few ounces, spending a dollar or two a gallon, compared to another inexpensive product that you must use at full strength that ends up costing you many dollars a gallon. Take the time, Do the math!

5. Finally how good and for how long will the vehicle' look last once washed?


Because face it, if a soap does only a fair job of cleaning, and does not get the results the customer wants, they will find someone else to do the job next time.

Here at Soap Warehouse we have products that will cover all these different needs.

Our #1 seller Brown Derby is a fast, no brush, great results product. But you may have to follow the wash with an aluminum brightener or use it in a two step process on some types of vehicles. You also have to be sure it does not dry on hot metal or glass. But it is #1 for a reason, IT IS A GREAT SOAP that does a great job fast!

We have quite a few no brush "Safe Finish" truck washes, one that even leaves a near wax shine with no wax build up because there is no wax in it, it just looks that way, our Big Rig Truck Brite. It is our best results safe finish for that reason. Not to be out done though by our top selling safe finsh Blue Lighting.

We have a super concentrated ecomonical truck wash like our Truck-N-Tuff aka T-N-T. One 6 gallon pail can be mixed 1:9 to yeild you 54 gallons of product you just spray on then wash off in most cases. Pump it straight through a pressure washer with no added diltution with a low volume fine mist nozzle and you can wash whole fleets of rigs with just a few gallons.

Our two step wash products give you that "dirt just falls off the truck" action plus leaving you with pH neutral waste water that all you will need to do is filter to the required level before discharging into the proper sewer line.

All of our truck washes even those that are DOT hazardous when shipped in thier concentrated forms, once mixed and used at the recomended dilutions rates on their labels are Biodegrdable and all cassified under the USA's CLEAN WATER ACT as non toxic pollutant's.

If you have any questions about any of our truck wash products call us today at 1-800-762-7911.

Leave more than just your good work behind after a service job.

I hear about and see everyday in forums where satisfied customers can not find the contractor that provided a great job or service for them.


Take the below example just posted yesterday at http://www.thegrimescene.com/ as an example:


“Mildewed in Morton Grove, IL

About 5 years ago I signed on to this forum as my mom needed her cedar deck and fence washed and sealed. I found some great people who thankfully advised me to stay away from sealmax and others and hooked me up with a great contractor. The guy did a wonderful job but moved to Florida--he gave me another name and we rolled on. Now, Mom needs her deck and fence done again in a big bad way and I can find no one. I am just looking for an honest worker who will do a superior job. I know workmanship should not come too cheap and I put attention to detail above all. Anyone out there that could steer me in the right direction? Chris”


Here is a customer that would love to find the same person he last used and was recommended but can not locate the information since it has been so long ago.


So how can you improve the chance that you will be contacted for the follow up business, one, three even five or more years down the line?


1. Leave a card or collateral print pieces behind when you leave. This can be a nice flyer with a tear off business info card area to be placed in a Rolodex or passed on to a friend. Least effective unless person is a pack rat.


2. Leave a useful promotional item like a magnet, note holder clip, jar opener, or any thing that has the potential of staying around for a long time to keep your name in mind and in front of your customer.


3. Leave a business card, sticker, magnet or laminated info card near or attached to the work that was done. And be sure to tell the customer that you have done this. Great way to be used again.

4. Follow up contact with the customer by mail or e-mail. Number one way to get repeat and referral business.


I know that the third suggestion sounds strange but here is where I have seen it work.


Take a deck builder that staples laminated business cards to the underside of the decks he builds in a number of places, including top stair risers and the anchor board against the house etc. he knows later, if any repair work needs to be done, that owner or even the following home owner has a good chance of finding out who built the deck, gazebo, fence etc.


I know our electrician puts his magnet inside our electric fuse panel door. Or the AC furnace man that leaves his sticker on the back of the AC unit or side of the furnace.


Same with a carpenter friend of mine; he leaves a small info card stapled along the back edge of doors or inside door frames he hangs, window frames of windows he installs, under chair rails or moldings. This way later he may get the call to do other work. Sure the customer might forget its there or it not get found until repair work has started, but once found, the owner will remember who did the work the first time and could call or recommend him again to others.

The fourth item is the reason that yearly or quarterly informational post cards and seasonal e-mails to former customers help retain these customers as future income or as part of a great referral business. You need to keep your name and business fresh in past customers minds with out irritating them by contacting too frequently.

Don't underestimate the impact of the great work you have already done in bringing you new and repeat business.

Laundry products from Soap Warehouse

For most of you that are in the pressure washing business you might be asking why should I care about what laundry soaps Soap Warehouse sells, I'm not a laundry?

Well good question! One reason is that just like being able to buy superior, concentrated chemicals to do your cleaning jobs you can also benefit buy getting superior professional grade laundry products that commercial laundries, dry cleaners, hospitals and other commercial operations use. Second is that it can save you money while making you and your employees in your business look great.

Do you use uniform shirts for your business? Are you paying to professionally clean uniform shirts and pants? Are you having trouble getting your uniforms clean enough? Are some employees uniforms fading faster or looking dingier than others?

It is important for your businesses image to be sure that all employees look clean and professional at all times.

Crescent is our best selling detergent for washing uniform shirts and pants, especially medium to dark colors to release dirt and grease in hot temps of 100 - 140 degrees. This is an oxygen enhanced enzyme detergent using 2-4 oz in your home washer per load. Also great for khaki pants and white shirts too.

Flex is an all in one detergent with built in oxygen bleach that is safe for all colors. Flex also has great deodorizing power when washing at 110 degrees and above. Get those sweat stains and smells out of shirt collars, pits and cuffs and leave them clean with no lingering scent. Can be used at lower temps and still remove latex paint, blood and other stains. 2-6 oz per load depending on temperature and soil level.

Rave Plus is great if you are mainly a cold water washer. It is phosphate free and great for jeans to keep them dark longer. Economical yet effective and can be used at all temps. Great for permanent press or khaki pants as well. Use 4-8 oz per load depending on temperature and soil level.

Then we have Scat! our all purpose stain remover. Don't want to buy professional detergents to get rid of sweat stains and odors? You should never have to worry if a stain or odor will come out. Spray Scat! on when you take off the stained item, saturating the stain past the stain line. Just throw it in to the hamper, sort and wash as normal even days later. The stains should all come out. Visit the Scat! site at http://www.scatstainremover.com/ to see all the ways to use Scat!. Scat! comes in 1 gallons or 16 oz trigger spray bottles and in cases.

Any of these items can be added to your regular chemical order.

The detergents come in 40 lb pails (5-6 gallon size)

and you can try any one of these products once for half price when you add it to your regular order. This offer of course may be limited or changed at any time but will be valid from the time of posting at least until the end of September 2010. Please mention this offer when ordering.

Visit our site http://www.soapwarehouse.biz/ anytime for a complete product list, descriptions and pricing.

National Cleaning Expo Events

The National Cleaning Expo’s are events for the Pressure Washing Industry that are held across the country. Since their beginning in 2008 these events and round table discussions have increased in size and popularity in bringing contractors together to discuss their business, meet with suppliers, to improve networking and to improve the industry as a whole.


The next few events this year will be on July 30th and 31st in Tampa, FL being held at the Crown Plaza Westshore, located at 5303 West Kennedy Boulevard, Tampa, Florida 33609. And then in September on the 29th and 30th in Charleston, SC held at the Embassy Suites Hotel Airport/Convention Center, 5055 International Blvd, North Charleston SC 29418, immediately following the CETA show that ends on the 28th. Contractors are not normally allowed to attend the CETA show since it is a manufactures exhibit. But this year contractors are being invited to view the CETA show the last day, on the 28th for a small fee of $25-$45 depending on how soon you register, so plan to come a day early to the National Cleaning Expo and take advantage of this great opportunity. To visit the CETA web site go here http://www.ceta.org/ or to register to attend on the 28th go here http://www.ceta.org/documents/PC2010_industrial_users_reg.pdf to print and fill out their form.


Information for the National Cleaning Expo events can be found at http://nationalcleaningexpo.com/. Every event is different and pricing changes for each location depending on venue and speakers. Some events are free or have industry organizations that come and put on their own additional classes that enhance the NCE events them selves. For instance the RCIA (Roof Cleaning Institute of America) will be sponsoring a free social at 6 pm on July 29th as a prelim to the start of the show on Friday. And the PWNA (Power Washers of North America) is hosting a Pressure Washing Boot Camp and classes during the NCE, $99.00 for members with the following subjects and speakers: Fleet Washing- Eric Clark BOD (PWNA Instructor) and Wood Restoration- Mike Hilborn ED (PWNA Instructor).

There will also be other classes costing $59 each with special speakers such as Tony Shelton-Residential Coil cleaning “are you missing $$$$” 1.5 hours, Mike Kriesle – SEO “Getting the Phone to ring” 1.5 Hours, and Mark Belyan- (property Manager) “How to get my business?” 1.5 Hours.


The main show of this National Cleaning Expo will include for free the following speakers; Daryl Mirza- “Taking your business from one to four hundred employees!!!”, Mike Hilborn- Getting to the next level. “Implement systems”, Ron Musgraves- Trouble getting in the door? “Selling Commercial property managers advance Techniques”, A.C. Lockyer- Popcorn Marketing. “Residential Marketing for the Overwelmed”, Joe Crowder- Interior Floors cleaning instruction “Work all year round”, Michael Tessaro- “Are you making money in your business? Learn how to analyze your bottom line” and Chris Tucker – “Talking about Roof Cleaning Today”.


Organizations, distributors and suppliers also come to these events to find members, show their products and sell products at special promotional prices to the attendees. There are also fun and games for the attendees with prizes given way, product demos and presentations put on by the exhibitors as well as door prizes and the main event prize of a complete washing “skid outfit” to be given away at both of these events.


Soap Warehouse http://www.soapwarehouse.biz/ will be a sponsor at these events with $250 prize certificates, bucket games prizes, products being demoed and monetary support being given to the National Cleaning Expo organizers to help further these events and the pressure washing industry. If you attend please check out our brochure with our event special offers for attendees.

The complete speaker line up for the NCE Event in September has not been finalized but may include many that will be at the Tampa July event.



Keep checking the NCE web site http://nationalcleaningexpo.com/ for updates. And remember you need not be a member of any organization to attend a National Cleaning Expo event or round table, just be engaged in business activities related to the pressure washing or mobile cleaning businesses such as; pressure washing, fleet washing, exterior maintenance, commercial or residential cleaning, kitchen exhaust cleaning, flat work, carpet cleaning, etc. Please support your industry.

Industrial equipment cleaning products.

This month our product focus is on a small group of our products that does not get a lot of attention except from the few customers that use them on a daily basis, so for the rest of you, this maybe a totally first look at these items.

First we have our “Parts Cleaner”. If you have a machine shop or pressure washer repair side of your business you most likely use a parts cleaner of some kind to remove oil, dirt and the like from motors parts and such. Actually we sell the most of this cleaner to mechanics that have nothing to do with pressure washing but have cycle and small engine shops like lawn motor repair.

This product comes as a powder, sold in 25 or 100 lb increments and is used at one lb per 5 gallons of water. This mixture for use in hot dip tanks usually set at 110 to 180 degrees. This heavy duty alkaline cleaner cleans ferrous and non-ferrous metal parts of oils, grease, soils and other debris.

Our next product “Phos-tize HD” is also used primarily in motor cycle or machine shops. This liquid is a heavy duty hot degreasing and de-rusting compound that is also used in hot water, high pressure washers, steam cleaners and in hot dip tanks. Dilution can be a little as 2% and up, and will leave metals rain bowed, blued and prepared for re-assembly and painting.

This next product is one used by commercial building maintenance companies and the like. Our “Non Acid Aluminum Coil Cleaner” is a great new “Green” solution to the old acid versions that are being phased out of use. This liquid product is used in the cleaning of air conditioner, evaporator and condenser coils at a rate of 1:4 cleaner to water, but it can be diluted up to, but no more than, 1:40 in some applications. Coil cleaning is a necessary service that should be done at least once if not twice a year or quarterly depending on the equipment, environmental factors and time of use the equipment is in operation. The more the use, the more frequent the cleaning needs to be. With this being a non acid “Green” product, operator safety and client concerns to maintain new “Green” building initiatives can be fulfilled.

Another non acid product is our “Drain Opener” that is also for commercial building use. This liquid product will dissolve and liquefy hair, paper and grease found in commercial floor and sink drains in bathrooms, kitchens, and restaurants that empty in to sewer drains. Not for use in out side water drains that flow into storm drain systems. Do not use on aluminum, or pore through aluminum drain covers or catch strainer baskets. Remove cover and/or strainer before using product and replace after cleaning is done. Not for home use.

Also for cleaning drains as a maintenance type product is our “QwicZyme”. This has biological action to break down food wastes, grease and other organic matter in drains and pipe systems that cause clogs. QwicZyme deprives odor causing bacteria of their food source, thus inhibiting their growth and ability to produce obnoxious odors. This can be used indoors or out in any free flowing drain and is safe for disposals and septic tanks. Warm water must first be added to the drain and pipes to increase the temperature before using to activate the QwicZyme to work. Once added to the drain and pipes QwicZyme should be left to stand over night in the trap and pipes before flushing with fresh water. Treatment is 1 quart per 25 cubic foot of pipe and it is suggested to be used weekly for optimum free drain flow performance.

Information on these and the rest of our regular Industrial Degreasers can be found on line at http://www.soapwarehouse.biz/.

Clean Across America. How you can help.

This year the dates for the campaign are July 24 -31. And as stated on their web site:

"Clean Across America is a volunteer effort that started with one local contractor in 2000. With growing support from organizations like the Power Washers of North America and the Take Pride In America Foundation, CAA has grown into a national effort with support from pressure washing contractors across the nation!"

Over the years Clean Across America has donated over $250,000 worth of services of time and chemicals.

Soap Warehouse has wanted to participate in the worst way but besides just sending in a donation, which we have in the past, we would like one of our customers to donate their time so we could donated the chemicals. But so far in the last three years no one as stepped up and volunteered. So I hope with this post and more awareness that we can find at least one of our very many customers that would be willing to do some project no matter how small for this great cause. We understand that the majority of our clients are fleet washers and truck wash operators that don't do any kind of exterior washing, but all we can do is ask, to see if even one among the less then 20% of our customers, that we might find someone.

If you would like more information please visit their site Clean Across America.

To fill out and participate please get a form at Clean Across America, but if you are also a PWNA member and want to participate there is a different form to fill out you can find here; PWNA form.

"The individual contractors select which projects each wants to get involved with. Some contractors prefer large, highly visible projects requiring lots of hours to complete but most participants opt for projects that can be completed in a single day." Many drive across the country as was the case when some of the monuments in Washington DC where cleaned a few years ago, but you can chose something right in your local town or community.

Ideas would be; to clean the side walks of the town square, clean a historic building, clean a shelter weather for human or animal, or a food bank. Any thing that would be a benefit to the community at large is a worth while project.

Read the Cleaner Times article about the PWNA's Clean Across America campaign project here!

You can also find videos of past projects at the CCA site as well. You too would be able to contact local media; newspaper, radio and television a like to ask them to cover your donation work, giving you more than enough publicity to pay you for your efforts. Plus if you contact us and you get your chemicals for free you get even more value for the time that you volunteer.

I hope to hear from someone in the coming few weeks so Soap Warehouse can play a larger role in this worth while effort to give back to America the Beautiful and have a Happy 4th of July!

Car Wash Products from Soap Warehouse.

This month our product group focus will be on our Car Wash line.
Many of our products can be used with automated equipment, with pressure washers and with simple hand washing, bucket and sponge applications. Be sure to read the description of the product and know the proper dilutions for your specific equipment.

Proper dilution is the best way to get the results you want at the lowest cost possible.

Let us first look at the soaps that where made to be used in automated systems:

High Foam Cherry – As the name says, this is high foaming car wash with a fresh cherry scent. It was designed to be used in a drive thru system or self serve wash bay but can be used with a pressure washer or by hand washing as well. It rinses well and is pH balanced. It has a wide metering range of 1:150 to 1:8000 depending on your equipment. For example for a self serve system you pre mix 1 gallon of soap to 10 gallons of water and then place that 10 gallons in the system set to meter the mix at 1:35 yielding you 350 gallons of product from that single gallon.

Foamy Brush – This product is extremely high foaming and was made to use in self serve brush bays. It has an even stronger cherry scent then HFC. Metering dilutions are 1:150 to 1:800. It can also be use in a touch less drive thru and is pH balanced too. It can also be ordered in three colors; red, blue and yellow for businesses that need tri color soap washing and is sold in a kit of three 5 gallon tight drums.

We still sell a touch less pre soak but it is not listed on our web site due to its not as big of a seller like our soaps are. If you need this product please call.

If you need only a moderate foaming wash for your self serve bay wands or drive thru then our High Pressure Car Wash is what you would want to try. It has a nice lemon scent and is also pH balanced safe for painted finishes.

We also have specific products like the Foamy Tire, Spray Wax and Rinse Aid for those consumer added product selections for the automatic, self serve and no touch washes. Foamy Tire’s high foam clings well to tire walls and rims to dissolve the brake dust, grease and road grime. Spray Wax is a lemon scented highly concentrated product, 1 oz per 5 gallons of water. It enhances sheeting, discourages spotting and speeds drying time. But for even more of these benefits use our Quick Dry Rinse Aid, when applied in the rinse cycle in automated systems you get even more sheeting of excess water which results in less or shorter blower time needed which can decrease your line time per vehicle.

Now on to a few of our other products;

Wash and Wax is our number one seller for hand wash car detailers. This highly concentrated high foaming product has acrylic polymers that leave a great shine. The wash quickly penetrates, emulsifies and removes heavy dirt leaving a high gloss shine that will not spot chrome.

Bay Wash is just that a chemical to wash and clean your wash bays. This is a highly acid product and all safety measures must be followed but this will take years off a neglected property or will keep your nice one looking great for years to come. This will clean and brighten painted block, brick, tile, vinyl and masonry without damage when used as directed. It will remove the soap scum from walls, grease and oils from the track lines and concrete floors that came from the passing vehicles through your system. Nothing turns a wash customer off more than seeing a dirty looking facility. How can you clean their car when you can’t even keep your own property clean?

I hope this makes you aware of what we have to offer and if you need something we did not write about, please call, we may have it or will be able to have it made for you.

Have a great day.

How to properly mix our products.

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

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

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.

Mid America Trucking Show 2010

The Mid America Trucking Show is the largest trade show event for the trucking industry held annually in Louisville, KY. Located at the Kentucky Exposition Center, one of the largest venues of its kind in the country, this year’s event will be held March 25th-27th. MATS will show case over 900 companies and their products with over 70,000 planned attendees from all 50 states as well as over 50 foreign countries. This Heavy-Duty Trucking event is a one-of-a-kind for the trucking industry.


Soap Warehouse has been selling industrial transportation detergents to the trucking industry for the past 17 years but has only recently been exhibiting in these shows. Last year they were a part of the "Big Rig 2009 MATS Sweepstakes Giveaway" and will repeat this year as well in the 2010 Giveaway. If you are a driver with a current CDL please go and enter online www.bigrignetwork.com for that drawing. They also exhibited at the Great American Truck Show in Dallas TX, last August having over 3000 attendees stop by their booth.

Soap Warehouse will be exhibiting this year at MATS in the West Wing at Booth 62124 holding their own booth drawings for their finish safe truck wash "Big Rig Brite" as well as a great new product, the "Aqua Force" arm brace, that is used on a pressure washing wand to reduce arm fatigue while washing. If you are planning on attending the show please go to print out an ENTRY FORM, fill it out and fax it to 770-939-5501 to enter prior to the shows start to guarantee you the best chance to win one of these great prizes.

You can view how the "Aqua Force" arm brace works here.


If you want to order one now please go HERE and click on the order now button. Enter the word 'soap' in the coupon field to get free UPS ground shipping, offer good only if ordered now until the end of the show March 27th.

Soap Warehouse will also have other smaller booth prizes and samples to give out to attendees that stop by to discuss product and to new customers who take advantage of their show special offers by placing an order during the show. If you are already a Soap Warehouse customer, stop by to pick up your customer gift at the booth, this item is being given only to current customers, don't forget to ask for it. Soap Warehouse also has a limited supply of free entry tickets to the show, so if you know you are coming to MATS give them a call at 1-800-SOAP-911 (800-762-7911) as soon as possible to get your free pair or two, only while supply lasts. Also if you are a current Soap Warehouse customer you can call by March 5th to be placed on their VIP list to gain early entry to the Halls on opening day March 25th. Normal show hours start at 1 p.m. but you can get in at 10 a.m. and miss a lot of the crowds, have three extra hours to be one of the first to see exhibitor's products.

To view Soap Warehouse's complete line of over 100 product items go to to their main web site. To be added to their newsletter and coupon specials please enter your name and e-mail address there.

Other features on line is an archive of past newsletters, their BlogSpot, MSDS downloadable file, credit application, order form and much more.

You can view a short presentation about Soap Warehouse here:

Soap Warehouse Slide Show

View more presentations from Soap Warehouse.

Other events that will be going on during MATS; first to kick off the show, the annual Paul K. Young Memorial Truck Beauty Show with 100 entries vying for honors in the country’s premier truck beauty show. The show is held in Lot “J” on the west side of the complex. Friday night March 26th right after the halls close at 6 p.m. two free concerts will feature country bluegrass band The Grascals and country music star John Anderson, presented by Mobil Delvac. Complimentary tickets will be distributed, while supplies last, from Mobil Delvac's Booth (#18160 in the North Wing) on Friday. Going on all during the show is a gathering of more than 100 of trucking's elite fleets looking for new drivers held at the Driver Recruitment Center in the West Wing and the Internet & Technology Center also in the West Wind that will showcase the most innovative technology available to the trucking industry in one centralized location.

Ladders and other equipment Safety

Safety is not only to be considered with the big pieces of equipment like your pressure washing machine or with the chemicals you use, but with everything else too.


Having to work off the ground is the second highest cause of server injury behind miss use of a pressure washer in this industry. It can be from improper use of a ladder, not wearing a safety harness on a roof, wearing incorrect foot wear or glasses. Reasons for not using or following safety guidelines can be big or small but even small ones can be a big mistake.

Take not wearing safety glasses, goggles or a face shield when using a pressure washer. Sure it can be a pain especially if you already wear glasses for daily vision but just one miss directed spray of water or chemical causing permanent blindness is not something to play with.

Ladders are the number one cause, according to OSHA, over all occupational hazard injuries in all industries. Here is a link to their flash card on ladder safety that you can print out on heavy stock paper, cut out and laminate. http://www.osha.gov/OshDoc/data_Hurricane_Facts/portable_ladder_qc.pdf. You can also pay companies to supply you with these kinds of materials. Here is the same info on a single page form to place in your MSDS or safety book. http://www.osha.gov/Publications/portable_ladder_qc.html. OSHA's site http://www.osha.gov/ should be bookmarked on your computer for quick reference for all safety information.

There are also many good ladder safety videos on Utube and other sites that you can access and use in your safety instruction plan if you do not have the funds to go buy them. Here is just one http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=BD0U6Df3ReA&feature=fvw. To find more just do a search inside Utube or other search engine for 'ladder safety'.

There is also added equipment that can improve ladder safety, things such as painter arm braces as they are sometimes called, or ladder stabilizers or ladder braces. These items attach to the ladder near the top that extend out and then will brace against a surface to help stabilize or diminish the side to side movement of a ladder. There are also ones that extend and curve out form the back of a ladder to rest on the roof surface to provide stability without increasing the width of the ladder. Here is a site that has some really neat ladder attachments. http://stores.homestead.com/LadderMaxLLC/StoreFront.bok They also have ladder levelers. Here is another site as well http://www.globalwholesalersinc.com/quick_connect.htm with ladder products.

Next once on the roof you need to be wearing a harness and have the proper anchoring to arrest a fall. You need to purchase a well fitting harness, ropes, anchors, clasps and hooks that are made for roof work. Here is one site I did not include yet in the other safety equipment blog http://www.discountsafetygear.com/. They have a wide range of items. Most of the time you will not be able to attach and remove to reuse roof anchors but you do not want to spend all your profit on the more expensive perment mount anchors. Most guys I have talked to suggest buying the inexpensive temporary or labeled 'reusable' anchors and plan not to remove them when you leave. Since removing anchors once attached can cause damage to the roof or take time and costs more money for you to try and patch the holes you have made to avoid causing future damage for the homeowner. Plus they will already be in place for work at this same location in the future.

Pressure Washer Safety and more

Your pressure washer is one of your best tools to do your jobs but it is also one of the most dangerous if proper safety measures are not followed when operating it.


Thousands of people are injured every year by improper use of a pressure washer and not all are by amateurs, hundreds of even so called professionals have accidents. As demonstrated here in this article and why accident attorneys shop for workers comp claimants. http://www.bignews.biz/?id=816222&keys=accident-claims-jet-wash

Most professionals use the higher powered gas machines many of which are also hot water machines. Both of these factors can cause good things such as reduced time spent doing a job, reduced amount of chemicals needed and so on. But more power and hotter water can also increase bad things as well such as the potential for increased accidents and damage to property.

First make sure your equipment is always in good working order, do not let little problems like loose connections or worn fittings turn into major trouble. Second; Wear your safety gear! Heavy shoes or boots, long sleeve shirts and long pants, safety glasses, goggles or face shields, gloves and any other item indicated on the MSDS when using chemicals. We have had too many customers that have had to call us or hospitals just because simple measures were not taken. Had a customer on his day off go check on one of his job sites. He did not bother to change clothes, walked up on a worker using the washer and he was back sprayed with caustic chemical that burned him without him knowing it until an hour or so later once the damage had already been done. He now has permanent white scare spots on this arms and legs.

Third know your equipment, how to operate it, and how to maintain it. Cleaner Times magazine has a great series for companies that have a machine shop and do their own work on their pressure washers. Go to their website and check out the archived articles to find lots of great information. http://cleanertimes.com/. Cleaner Times also have great articles on safety and covering all aspects of your business.

Keep a log book on all of your equipment. When and where purchased, where the instruction information is located if not with the log, the cost of and when and where repairs and maintenance was preformed on the equipment. This information can help you with calculating job expenses, handling insurance claims and at tax time figuring deductions. If you have to keep smaller logs with separate pieces of equipment or in separate vehicles or locations fine but make sure you routinely bring at least copies of all of them to be in one location. The best thing would be to scan the pages into a computer file and then burn a disk of the data that is stored in a fire safe or safe deposit box. This is true for all your important business documents. I had a customer just after I started working here that had a fire burn down her house with all her records inside. Her shed with her rig was saved but nothing else from all her years of work. It took her weeks just to contact all her customers because she had to look up every number, remember every name, every vendor. It took her almost two years to get her business back to where it was and to sort out the insurance and tax mess that the fire caused.

Here is another site if you are not familiar with them you should be The Power Washer Advisor. They have great information no matter what equipment you use. Here is their safety info area http://www.the-power-washer-advisor.com/pressure-washer-safety.html. They also have a great blog area where I have learned a lot so I know you can too. I feel it is much easier to direct you to the places that have good information instead of trying to reinvent the wheel or try to pass it off as my knowledge. I know there is plenty in the business I do not know and that is why I am constantly searching and reading up on things about the industry. If there is something you want to find out about and do not have the time to look give us a call. I will be happy to find information and make it available to everyone. Because if you want to know about it I am sure someone else does too.

More in our next installment

How do you mix and store to use your cleaning chemicals?

Now that we know what chemicals we are using to do our work we need to know how to properly handle them.


First know how and at what concentrations the containers of chemicals you are using come in. Many times contractors forget to properly label or mark the containers cleaners are in that can cause serious safety concerns. For instance a customer that always carried premixed products on his rig for his hired help to use right out of the container, but then one day he got busy and poured a non diluted amount of product in the same container that usually held the diluted product. Once out on the job his employees not knowing the product was not the same strength they were use to, applied it directly on a surface causing damage that the business owner ended up having to pay for. Luckily the employees wore proper safety gear and none of them were injured. But what if that had not been the case?

Our products are sold highly concentrated to save you money but they must be properly labeled to be used safely. This also can be a big loss of income as well if you are wasting product by not using the proper dilution rate. The old adage more is better is not the case with chemical products for cleaning.

All cleaning products, not just Hazardous ones, should be labeled following OSHA guidelines. You can easily purchase the correct NFPA Diamond or HIMS warning labels to place on any and every container as needed. Here are a few places to find them:

Compliance Signs: http://www.compliancesigns.com/nfpadiamonds.shtml
Label Master: http://www.labelmaster.com/shop/labels
Safety Sign: http://www.safetysign.com/

To learn more about them here is a web site to check out: http://www.ilpi.com/msds/ref/nfpa.html
To get a free guide to using NFPA labels you can get here: http://www.graphicproducts.com/guides.html

Always follow the label directions on how to mix products that come in kit form. There is a reason they are labeled A, B, C. Do not think you should mix all the powders in first (A and C) because you think it is easier. There can be a safety concern if you mix some product components out of order or with out the proper amount of water in the mixing tank or drum.

Care should also be used when transferring mixed product to secondary containers so not to spill or splash contents. Use siphon pumps, funnels and other approved items to help with this. Be sure to label these as well so not to use one pump with another chemical which might cause a reaction. It is much safer to have each pump or other type of transfer item marked to know which chemical it is to be used with. Even using measured pump dispensers can make the job safer for large or small amounts. Here are some links: http://www.championjanitorialsupply.com/products/dispensers/288
http://www.championjanitorialsupply.com/products/dispensers/266
http://www.refrigeratorparts.com/Merchant2/merchant.mvc?Category_Code=chemb&Product_Code=MAN-01273&Screen=PROD&Store_Code=refrigeratorparts
http://www.jiffysupply.com/servlet/the-552/Hand-Transfer-Pump/Detail
http://www.toolhawker.com/Fluid-Lubricant-Transfer-Pump_item_41084.html

Next item to cover is how to store chemical products. Read the label and MSDS that will tell you proper storage temps as well as other considerations. You should not leave an open bag of caustic in a laundry wash room that could allow moisture or water to get to it. It also might be mistaken for laundry detergent and cause sever skin irritation or burns not to mention damage to the washer if accidently used. Keep chemicals away from other normal household products, kids and pets. Store in a cool (not cold or hot), dry area in as air tight as possible. Products should also always be kept in the containers they where shipped in until mixed or transferred and properly relabeled. No old (deteriorating) or empty chemical container should be reused for another purpose due to cross contamination of incompatible ingredients. Always properly dispose of empties as soon as possible. Plastic containers that did not contain hazardous products can even be rinsed and recycled according to the plastic code marked on the container.

See you tomorrow.