New add on services

Wow!!! You got some mad skills there Davey thanks for posting.

eldiabloz wrote:Nice work, I will be calling you to clean my shower! LOL. Did you have to re caulk that shower seat on the seams where the mildew was?

Haha, if you can afford me.  

Yes, I did re-caulk. I do on almost all showers, for a couple reasons.........

Once the caulking is stained by mildew, it needs to be removed an replaced to get rid of mildew staining.

And also, mainly because caulking/sealant is usually 'gouped on', and what I mean by that is it's globed on way too think/wide and just plain looks like shoot, even if it isn't mildew stained. So I always remove it and re-caulk with a nice thin line, that's just enough to seal out moisture, which is all that's needed and looks a hell of a lot better than the mess I remove.  

Nice work Dave

Charlie & anyone interested, here is my Sandless Wood Floor Refinishing Process:

This process is very similar to the way that Wood-Solv recommends. However, I have found that this works a little better.

Inspect the floor for extensive damage and test for wax. If the floor are too far gone do an estimate for your sanding guy (find a local guy that does good work), take your commission as the down payment, and move on to the next one. If they are in good enough condition to do the sandless process check for wax. Pour a little denatures alcohol on the floor and rub with a clean white cotton towel. If there is wax it will come up on the towel and you will have to strip all of the wax (see directions below) prior to doing the sandless refinishing.

Sandless Process:

Step 1: Turn off air conditioning and ceiling fans & machine scrub floor. The goal is to remove cleaning residues, soil (especially from within scratches), dust, debris, and scuff marks
1. Vacuum floor – make sure to get corner and edges good
2. Lightly spray Wood-Solv wood floor cleaner on about a 4’x4’ area
3. Use a low speed buffer with a red pad and thoroughly clean the area
4. Repeat steps 1 & 2 until the entire floor is cleaned
Step 2: Etch the floor
1. Spray a 6’x6’ of the floor with Wood-Solv wood floor prep
2. Use a low speed buffer with a green pad and thoroughly scrub the area
3. Mop the area you just prepped with a damp cotton mop, making sure you get up all of the prep solution, and mop along baseboards and corners real good
4. Repeat steps 2 & 3 until the entire floor is done
5. After the floor dries, re-buff with a dry red pad
Step 3: Inspect the floor and make repairs
1. Look at the floor closely to make sure that you removed the dirt, scuff marks, etc. If you need to touch anything up use the cleaner and a cotton towel.
2. Look at the floor closely to see if there are any spots that could use filler or touch up with a little stain
Step 4: Apply the finish. You can use the Wood-Solv finish at about $80/gal. or Varathane finish (purchase at Lowes) at about $45/gal. Both of these finishes flow nicely, dry quickly, have very low odor/VOC, and are very durable.
1. Thoroughly stir a gallon of finish – trying not to create a lot of bubbles
2. Pour enough finish into a mop bucket (lined with a plastic bag) to cover your first coat. A gallon will cover about 1000 sq/ft total – so one gallon should be enough to do two coats on a 500sq/ft job. The first coat typically uses about 15% - 20% more finish than the second coat
3. CAUTION: This is the real tricky part, and I suggest that you see this done in person and try it once or twice before doing a customer’s floor. You need to apply the proper pad pressure, maintain a wet edge, and work at the proper speed to get a nice even finish. Using a 10” microfiber pad on a broom/mop handle, start in the corner of the farthest point from your exit. Dip the pad in the finish and remove the excess finish on the side of the mop bucket. Starting in the corner apply the finish on the floor in the direction on the wood grain. Or if you prefer, cut in the corners and edges with a microfiber pad. Then finish applying the urethane with a T-bar.
4. When the first coat is finished allow it to dry for two to three hours
5. Apply the second coat
6. Tell customer they can walk on the floor in socks after the second coat dries for three hours and furniture can be put back in place the following day (lift and place).

Wax Removal:
1. Spray a 4’x4’ area with denatured alcohol
2. Scrub the area with a low speed buffer and a green pad (if the wax is really heavy you may need to use a black, burgundy, or emerald pad – make sure you keep the low speed buffer moving so you don’t damage the floor)
3. Continue steps 1 and 2 until the entire floor in complete
4. Spray denatured alcohol in small lengths around the edges of the room
5. Scrub the edges using a clean white towel, make sure you get into the corners
6. Inspect the floor again from multiple angles to make sure that ALL of the wax has been removed. If you find any wax use the spray bottle and towel (or center cut of the green scrub pad), and elbow grease to remove it.
7. Start the sandless process as outlined above

I highly recommend that you either do a job with someone who has experience, and/or practice at your home – lay out a 10x10 wood floor in your basement or garage….
Anyone that would like to learn the process is welcome to come on a job or two with me. I am also going to try to get a video together.

PS. I have two of the dirt devil's (I think mine were made by Betco) collecting dust in my garage that I purchased a couple of years ago used for about $200 each on ebay. They don't do nearly as good a job as the low speed.

Dave, Nice Work:cheers: 

Man, I have to start taking more pictures....those look great Davey! Love the marble.

Ryan S wrote:Davey,

What is your pre cleaning script while preinspecting the job. How do you verbalized the potential staining to porous grout lines?  Just give us the caution phrase for short.

Looks great too.

What are your choice tools?  

Give us some info on that marble polishing.

I'm not sure I totally understand your question, Ryan, but I'll give it a shot............

When I'm selling a shower job I stress several things a lot............

*Restoration..... another words, this is not your house cleaner just cleaning your shower, This is me restoring it to as close to new condition as possible.
Of course, I always let the customer know that grout is very porous and easily permanently stained (especially when not sealed once a year, and in a high moisture area like a shower), just like a concrete driveway is permanently stained by a car leaking oil.

*Soap scum removal, I stress the importance of it, and time involved to do so, because until you completely remove it you're not going to actually clean the tile or grout. Think of it like a thick coat of wax, and until it's removed you can't get to the surface that really needs cleaned.

*I also mention the mildew stained caulking, and that it has to be removed and replaced.

*And of course, the time it involved it takes to do all this work, which for most showers I do (even small ones, 3'x3'), take 6-8 hours or more. If it's larger like the one in my first set of shower pics, possibly longer, it really depends on the condition, how much soap scum there is and what I need to do to the grout to get it looking good again .

“Choice tools”?

There's a few that are my go to tools, and I'm sure you'll be surprised with some of them......

*razor blades....usually used for removing heavy calcium deposits
*a pick......like a dental type pick but more heavy duty
*green SB scrub pads
*grout remover tool.....I use these to actually sand away the surface of stained grout
*EZ-Off Oven Cleaner. the only thing I've found the actually works well for removing soap scum.

I'd say those are the tools I use most, and believe it or not high PSI cleaning with my SX-7 is very low on the list, and in reality something really not needed to make a shower look good again. I mainly use the SX-7 for rinsing. But I do always sell 'high pressure steam cleaning', because it's what they understand I can do different than their house cleaner, but in reality it isn't what gets showers looking like those I posted in pics.

I hope this helped answer your questions, if not just let me know.

Oh and as far as stone polishing....

It's a whole different world, and takes a lot of knowledge and experience, which I don't have.  
So that's why I have a guy I hire to do those jobs.
I've taken several classes on stone care and polishing, but still don't feel like I know enough. Actually I'd say I know just enough to be dangerous.  

So my stone guy, Jason has his price and I have mine. He will restore/polish and seal most floors for $2-3 sq ft. and my price is usually the going BB rate $5-7 sq ft. So I make the deal with my customer, and have him come in, do the work (and I pay him cash), while I usually help him and learn while making good money.  

One day I may feel confident enough to do it myself, but I'm far from it at this point.

Hey Ryan
I've got a customer that uses microban x590 as a add on for pest control because X590 has a pest aside that kills fleas. He said that he sprays like its a prespray let dwell and clean like normal and fleas are dead. X590 has pyrethrum in it. I've used it myself here at home sprayed around the outside walls of a rental house I remodeled came back the next morning and couldn't believe the insects it killed. But what about an add on for your customer/pet lover?

That's a great idea Eddie. I have always subbed that out. I'll have to look into that.

I think I have mentioned this before. A little proof in the pudding helps. Just checked my trash can cleaning production for the year. $1,695 to date. These are recycle and trash dumpster cans. It's an easy add on, I just connect my prespray gun to the solution hose, turn the psi to 1000 and blast away. Takes about 5 minutes per can. Could be a good winter producer.

I nominate Ryan as the add on King:D All of those add on streams of revenue add up.

Hey Mo, sometimes you run into some really stinky ones. Maggots, wet, hot, and humid! Some make me gag right out in the drive way. It's bad man bad! But hey I'm all over to bro! 

Time for a good weekend bump. Let's work this topic some more over the week end. I'm extremely interested in polishing granite tops.

Getting the flea jobs is a good one. So is getting in line with a pest control company that understands their carpet powder is nothing like some super hot steam. The micro ban is a good product.

A tip for anyone interested, vets can be your best friend. People with sick dogs need help and when they go to the vet for flea treatment it only makes sense for them to have a carpet cleaning with flea treatment.

Doggy boarding businesses, they also can bring in a ton of business... especially if they find out you can get rid of urine like a rug doctor will never be able to.

I have a place that I sent my dogs for boot camp, and when we do urine jobs I send my customers to them for training and tell them "this is your chance to break the problem for good, this place did it for me"