House washing soap / for use with water blaster

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#2696167 21-Apr-2021 16:23

outdoorsnz:

I also recently used white vinegar / borax (cheap as chips) and dish washing soap for a very effective outdoor / indoor/ multipurpose cleaner...

Spray on and hose off later? Or brush on and hose off later?

What mix did you use of each, it sounds good.

I was only today looking at the Wet and Forget the OP mentioned.

nitro

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#2696185 21-Apr-2021 16:58

martyyn: I use the snow foam I use on my cars. I buy in bulk so it's quite a bit cheaper than a one off house variant like above.

which foam do you use? and where do you get it in bulk?

have thought of this, but meguiar's (what i use for the cars) for a whole house won't be cheap.

Fred99

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#2696193 21-Apr-2021 17:14

If you use car clean products for your house, don't use anything "wash and wax" as it's not "wax" but a light mineral "bead oil" which actually ends up making dust stick to the surface. It's a great trick, as your car looks super shiny/clean but gets dirty faster, you clean it more often, they sell more product (or carwash machine wash and waxes). Better IMO to use a detergent, and wax the car once a year or whatever. Also as the surfactants are cationic, they're not very environmentally safe / toxic for marine life, hence the general recommendation to wash cars on your lawn, not where the run-off goes to stormwater and then into rivers/sea. The surfactants get inactivated quickly with contact with soil, so that's much safer.

outdoorsnz

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#2696200 21-Apr-2021 17:16

tdgeek:

outdoorsnz:

I also recently used white vinegar / borax (cheap as chips) and dish washing soap for a very effective outdoor / indoor/ multipurpose cleaner...

Spray on and hose off later? Or brush on and hose off later?

What mix did you use of each, it sounds good.

I was only today looking at the Wet and Forget the OP mentioned.

I brushed it on, but it might work just spraying on, leave for 5/10 mins and wash off. Half a bucket of water. A good glug glug of vinegar, half a cup of borax (directions on bunnings one) and a good squirt of eco friendly normal dish liquid. Not dish washer machine stuff.

Borax is a good general purpose cleaner. Also kills mold etc.

Not sure about the salt comment as you are diluting it way down.

Also worth trying the wet and forget, leave for a good 5-7 days and wash off. As it looks soapy when you wash off, might also leave nice and clean. Generic brands are the same stuff and cheaper. I use 30 seconds.

Fred99

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#2696220 21-Apr-2021 18:26

outdoorsnz:

I brushed it on, but it might work just spraying on, leave for 5/10 mins and wash off. Half a bucket of water. A good glug glug of vinegar, half a cup of borax (directions on bunnings one) and a good squirt of eco friendly normal dish liquid. Not dish washer machine stuff.

Borax is a good general purpose cleaner. Also kills mold etc.

Not sure about the salt comment as you are diluting it way down.

Also worth trying the wet and forget, leave for a good 5-7 days and wash off. As it looks soapy when you wash off, might also leave nice and clean. Generic brands are the same stuff and cheaper. I use 30 seconds.

I'd suggest maybe use a "wool wash" rather than dishwash detergent. I believe it uses a non-ionic surfactant which is probably better for house cleaning anyway, and has no salt.

I use 30 seconds too, it's often on special and much cheaper than "wet and forget" - same active ingredient. They are harmful to marine life, but if you don't overdo it and it's not running off wet into stormwater, then it's neutralised by the time you wash it off, thus by then not harmful.

Cationic surfactants (including quats) bind to (anionic) organic molecules in marine organisms gills in particular and suffocate them - even in very low concentration. They kill bacteria, algae etc by cell wall disruption. But they bind with organic matter in soils etc, so are inactivated, hence don't let them into stormwater, but okay on your garden, lawns etc.

andrew75

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#2696233 21-Apr-2021 19:22

You want some Benzalkonium Chloride. Its the active (and I wonder if only) ingredient in wet & forget and the like. Most convenient and reasonably economical way I found to buy it is to buy the Yates Moss & Algae Killyer Lawn and House Spray 500g/L of the stuff - very concentrated. Works a treat, best if you spray it on and leave it either for the rain to wash it off or for at least a good few hours.

billgates

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#2696236 21-Apr-2021 19:36

mudguard:

I know it's off topic, but can you link to a lance and the product? I've been wanting one for awhile to clean the car.

@mudguard @nitro I use Nerta products on our cars. They are made in Belgium and are available for cheap in NZ compared to rest of world. I use their Jumbo for main car wash first and Bio wax afterwards for wax application. It is completely touch less wash if you do it every 2 weeks but if you have some heavy stuck dirt then you may need a wipe with micro fibre cloth.

I initially bought 5L starter pack with Jumbo and 5L bio wax from Nerta but now I buy 25L pack as it comes out even cheaper. They do not list it on their website but I rang them and they sold me a 40 degree nozzle, stainless steel lance (I asked for 600mm specifically as it is easier to wash car but they otherwise supply 900mm), quick connect couplers with prices below. Wait for a public holiday sale as they seem to do a special price. This is what I use on the cars. 40 degrees nozzle is key to not destroy the paint on your car or your house.

I have a Kranzle 2160TST power washer along with bunch of Kranzle accessories like snow foamer ( I put bio wax in this 2nd foamer so I am not having to switch between car wash chemical and wax), 1m lance extension for house washing specially roofs, driveway cleaner, turbo nozzle lance to destroy weeds between concrete gaps on driveway or public door patch at front and general washing lance.

https://nertanz.co.nz/products/nerta-starter-pack

https://nertanz.co.nz/collections/car-wash-soap/products/nerta-bio-polish

Do whatever you want to do man.

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#2696239 21-Apr-2021 20:07

andrew75:

You want some Benzalkonium Chloride. Its the active (and I wonder if only) ingredient in wet & forget and the like. Most convenient and reasonably economical way I found to buy it is to buy the Yates Moss & Algae Killyer Lawn and House Spray 500g/L of the stuff - very concentrated. Works a treat, best if you spray it on and leave it either for the rain to wash it off or for at least a good few hours.

Thanks for the tip. Google says benzyl ammonium chloride is the main ingredient in wet and forget, but 30 seconds house cleaner uses Sodium Hypochlorite, Sodium Ash, and a surfactant. 30 seconds spray and walk away uses the same benzyl ammonium chloride but cost 1/3 as much as wet and forget. There's a comparison here that basically says:

30 seconds is bleach, works instantly, but is gone as soon as it's washed away
Wet and forget is good against moss litchen and such but at the low concentrations they use can take a long time to work. It stays on the paint and works for a while.
Using bleach first for a quick win, then wet and forget for long term might be a good strategy
At the concentrations used neither are particularly effective

I'm not really after a lichen and moss killer, though it wouldn't hurt I guess, there could a bit on the underside of the weatherboards. I mostly just want to remove dust and dirt. This article says to use bleach and dishwashing liquid with a water blaster, which would go fine in the little tank thing that came with my Bosch waterblaster. This sounds like an easy enough option, but have to be pretty careful with bleach. Maybe the suggestion of "wool wash" instead of salty dish washing liquid would be a good substitution.

There's also a Dulux house wash, but it looks like you have to apply it manually rather than in a blaster, and says not to leave it on for more than 5 minutes.

andrew75

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#2696240 21-Apr-2021 20:14

Benz Alk also seems to be a very effective detergent for getting rid of grime, it foams up nicely.

neb

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#2696241 21-Apr-2021 20:18

When the painters worked on the Casa they used Chemwash, which did a fine job of clearing everything away. Problem with waterblasting is that it has the potential to dislodge existing paint, sealants, and other stuff, creating a problem for you in the future.

timmmay

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#2696245 21-Apr-2021 20:21

andrew75:

Benz Alk also seems to be a very effective detergent for getting rid of grime, it foams up nicely.

Maybe the 30 seconds exterior is the answer then :)

neb: When the painters worked on the Casa they used Chemwash, which did a fine job of clearing everything away. Problem with waterblasting is that it has the potential to dislodge existing paint, sealants, and other stuff, creating a problem for you in the future.

Commercial cleaners no doubt do a good job, but our quote was $700 including guttering. I'm not really worried about dislodging paint or sealers, everything is fairly new and unlikely to come off / leak, if it does it wasn't on properly and needs to be fixed anyway. I'm not going to blast it from 30cm away, other than the guttering, I'm going to use it more like a hose.

neb

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#2696246 21-Apr-2021 20:21

martyyn:
It does exactly what you want but on cars. It's a pre-wash to loosen the dirt and debris before rinsing and washing. But I should have thought about it before suggesting it because you need a foam lance to spray it on.

Specifically, it does this - pictures always help explain things :-).

neb

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#2696249 21-Apr-2021 20:24

Fred99:
So, I suggest you don't use dishwash liquid for your car - and probably not your house. It makes stuff rust.

Also, salting the earth isn't exactly going to help your garden. You have to be very careful that whatever you spray on and rinse off isn't toxic/caustic enough to affect what's growing around the house.

neb

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#2696250 21-Apr-2021 20:27

andrew75:
You want some Benzalkonium Chloride. Its the active (and I wonder if only) ingredient in wet & forget and the like. Most convenient and reasonably economical way I found to buy it is to buy the Yates Moss & Algae Killyer Lawn and House Spray 500g/L of the stuff - very concentrated. Works a treat, best if you spray it on and leave it either for the rain to wash it off or for at least a good few hours.

If you're spraying BZK horizontally rather than straight onto the ground, where it can blow around in the wind, use breathing protection. That stuff can be nasty when inhaled.

neb

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#2696251 21-Apr-2021 20:31

andrew75:
Benz Alk also seems to be a very effective detergent for getting rid of grime, it foams up nicely.

BZK is both a fungicide/antimocrobial and a surfactant, so it's a two-for-one.

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