Did The Last Company You Hired Leave Your Windows With Streaks or Film? Look at this photo of streak free windows left shiny and bright, with no debris on the glass or on the sills! To the left is the before photo of some of the dirtier windows I have ever seen. They actually had algae growing ON the window pane, and mildew all over the vinyl trim and sill. To the right is the after picture which shows that not only is ALL of the algae and mildew gone, there is also no ugly residue, film, or streaking left on the windows. (full sized photo here) Many companies have repeated issues with window streaking or film \ residue build up. This can be caused by many factors, all of which we, at Full Blast Pressure Washing, work hard to avoid. The two biggest culprits in streaking and film build up are: 1. Bad Chemicals or Bad Chemical Ratio - The active cleaning ingredient in ALL effective house wash mixes in the North Carolina area is bleach (technically, 12.5% sodium hypochlorite). This is *necessary* in our region in order to denature and remove algae and mildew from siding. There is nothing wrong with using bleach in appropriate dillutions, but the issue is that bleach crystals tend to get left behind after the water it is sprayed up with has rolled off or evaporated. This is what causes the streaks and film to appear after the guy who caused it has left (with your money in his pocket)! To compensate for this property of bleach, a good pressure washing company will find an appropriate rinse aid and\or surfactant\soap to counteract the "clingy" nature of bleach particles. At Full Blast Pressure Washing Raleigh we have spent a lot of time testing and researching available products, and have actually found a combination product that serves us both as a true rinse aid (meaning it interferes at the molecular level with the bonding of particles to surfaces) and as a surfactant (meaning it actually helps to lift dirt out of and off of surfaces). The greatest thing about this product is that it is over 90% water, and it is an ALL NATURAL, BIODEGRADABLE, PLANT BASED degreaser\surfactant\rinse-aid. Yes, it is a very versatile product, and we can use it in very low concentrations. This is important, because many pressure washing companies tend to use products that do one thing or the other. This means that their entire chemical "solution" (often more of a problem than a solution, lol) is comprised of at least 3 if not 4 or 5 different products. This is 4 or 5 chances to get the ratios wrong. and 4 to 5 times more stuff that needs to get rinsed off the house. We take the opposite approach, which is: SIMPLICITY. We don't want to measure out 4 or 5 different products and worry about their ratios. We don't want to PAY for 4 or 5 different products, and we know that you don't either. That is why we found an all natural, plant based, biodegradable product that serves the function of several different typical ingredients in a house wash mix. This stuff costs us literally pennies per house, and we only have to use ONE OUNCE of it in a 5 gallon bucket with our bleach. That's only TWO things to get right. We fill bleach up to a well marked line on our bucket, and dump one miserly ounce of our wonder-rinse-aid in. That is IT. Less to pay for, less to rinse, less hassle, less impact on the environment, MORE value for you! 2. Poor Rinsing - Wow, i got so long winded, you probably forgot there were TWO key components to getting streak free windows, didn't you? That's ok. We'll keep it short and sweet here. The other key is very simple, really. RINSE RINSE RINSE. Though I like to think we actually end up needing to rinse less than other companies, because we have a very well balanced chemical solution that comes out at much lower concentrations than our competition, we still rinse quite thoroughly. Unlike some companies that only have the standard set of pressure washing tips (nozzles) that came with their unit, we actually shelled out the extra cash for a non-standard tip that allows us to spray a low pressure hose stream against the house. The difference here is impressive. On a hot summer day, the competition may swing past the windows in 3 or 4 seconds with a super fine mist. The problem is that it is so hot out that this mist is actually being repelled from the window by thermal currents surrounding the house, and the fine water particles that do make it to the actual glass end up evaporating before they ever have a chance to actually RINSE the window off! I'm not kidding. In the middle of the summer you can actually watch the steam pouring off the windows. Our solution in situations like this is simple: just switch nozzles. We put on our long range hose nozzle and pour 1-3 gallons of water directly on to the window at low pressure. This doesn't harm the seals, and it doesn't intrude in to the siding, it just lands on the windows and cascades gently down to the ground. By doing this we are assured of a far superior pressure washing result. No streaking or film, and no debris left sitting in your sills. One final comment: sometimes we do make mistakes. Everyone does. But the question is, will it be rectified? At Full Blast Pressure Washing Raleigh we GUARANTEE CUSTOMER SATISFACTION. If you aren't satisfied -- say you notice one window that we missed -- we will come back and fix the problem. We guarantee you will be happy or we will give you your money back! It's just that easy. -Nick R. Co-Owner, Full Blast Pressure Washing 919-996-9854 www.fullblastraleigh.com PS - Why not go over to our facebook page and "LIKE" us, while you're at it? http://www.facebook.com/pages/Full-Blast-Pressure-Washing-LLC/379199395670
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