The Roof Cleaning Institute Of America Training & Certification Forum
"Find A Certified Roof Cleaner Directory"

Hey Mike, the house was never washed before and it is 10 years old.. The house had the same issue on both sides, but not in the front or back. This was a soft washing and something I feel any contractor would have faced, I just happened to be the unlucky one.

I have gone out of my way for them, but when they say the wash is poor quality, I got angry. My reply was stern, but I was much more angry than I showed. It made me want to forget going back out there, but I don't want to get sued either!

I'm going to check into plex master and if we do go back out, we'll give it a shot. Thanks for the advice.

Aaron, I definitely will. This has been a trying year, but a good year so far. I guess the more business you get, the more potential issues you get. The siding was definitely clean and during the day, it looked great, just different in different light.

I never received payment for this job as they were not home when I began working, and it's been nothing but complaints from them. The other neighbor was happy with their house even thought they had a similar outcome on one side of their house. I do believe there was nothing that could be done to prevent this, except for brushing the entire house which none of us do unless we have to, even then the customer would complain about fading.

I placed a call to them to see if they still want me to come back to brush the rest of the house, but I'm hoping they say no. They can keep the money and save me the aggravation.

Roof Cleaning Severna Park MD wrote:

---

Hey Mike, the house was never washed before and it is 10 years old.. The house had the same issue on both sides, but not in the front or back. This was a soft washing and something I feel any contractor would have faced, I just happened to be the unlucky one.

I have gone out of my way for them, but when they say the wash is poor quality, I got angry. My reply was stern, but I was much more angry than I showed. It made me want to forget going back out there, but I don't want to get sued either!

I'm going to check into plex master and if we do go back out, we'll give it a shot. Thanks for the advice.

---

 I tried Plex Master on siding with this problem, It really shined up the areas that were not oxidized but nothing to the effected areas

 

Dave

We go out of our way to please difficult, aggressive customers. Here is why. If a customer has the balls to yell and scream at us, he will also have the balls to strongly reccommend you! Some of my best sources of business started off as customers where something went wrong. I went the extra mile to make things right, and they never forgot it.

Roof Cleaning Little Rock Arkansas wrote:

---

You can take an old car to the carwash, but its not going to fix that faded paint job.

---

Great line. I use that on customers when they ask if there house is going to look brand new. That's when I ask how old is the siding? When you tell them "run a 20 year old car thru a carwash and you'll have a clean 20 year old looking car". They get it every time.

Roof Cleaning Little Rock Arkansas wrote:

---

You can take an old car to the carwash, but its not going to fix that faded paint job.

---

   I used that today on a customer.

Diamond Roof Cleaning New Jersey (1-800-Roof-Clean) wrote:

---

I would find out when the house was built becuase the older the vinyl the more oxidation it will have. Also if at last resort i would try plex master from envirospec and see if that brings back some shine. Has there house ever been washed before? if so there is no way they can pin it on you. I would not give them any insurance claim becuase what you have done would not cause the effects as to which they recieved. Piont being that who ever washed the house previously more than likely used high pressure which has cause the discoloration. Also when vinyl is exposed to direct sunlight it will cause discoloration and oxidation.

Hope this helps. Just be sturn but polite and expain the three main causes and they should understand.

---

 I talked to a guy a few weeks back from Kentucky that had this same problem. Also had a home owner locally here call me after she went with another "company" that I had bid on.

I went out to the one here and just did a complete cold water rinse down with my valve. They were having the same exact issues as you, the evening/dusk time was the only time the streaking would show.  After the rinse I did they never had a problem again. Oh and I picked up 3 other rental properties from here. She said the origional guy never returned her calls when she called to ask him about it.

Then this week I talked to the guy in Kentucky and he did the same thing.  Just went back and rinsed really good with cold water and no more problem.

 

Not sure if it will work for you but it did for me.

 

Doug R wrote:

---

Diamond Roof Cleaning New Jersey (1-800-Roof-Clean) wrote:

---

I would find out when the house was built becuase the older the vinyl the more oxidation it will have. Also if at last resort i would try plex master from envirospec and see if that brings back some shine. Has there house ever been washed before? if so there is no way they can pin it on you. I would not give them any insurance claim becuase what you have done would not cause the effects as to which they recieved. Piont being that who ever washed the house previously more than likely used high pressure which has cause the discoloration. Also when vinyl is exposed to direct sunlight it will cause discoloration and oxidation.

Hope this helps. Just be sturn but polite and expain the three main causes and they should understand.

---

 I talked to a guy a few weeks back from Kentucky that had this same problem. Also had a home owner locally here call me after she went with another "company" that I had bid on.

I went out to the one here and just did a complete cold water rinse down with my valve. They were having the same exact issues as you, the evening/dusk time was the only time the streaking would show.  After the rinse I did they never had a problem again. Oh and I picked up 3 other rental properties from here. She said the origional guy never returned her calls when she called to ask him about it.

Then this week I talked to the guy in Kentucky and he did the same thing.  Just went back and rinsed really good with cold water and no more problem.

 

Not sure if it will work for you but it did for me.

 

---

 

Doug,

Thanks for the information, if that ever happens again, I'll definitely try this. I did try to rinse the house again once, but it didn't make a difference. The customer was just tough to deal with, wanted something for nothing, and didn't want to give us the chance to help resolve his issue. We tried, we really did, but ultimately told him that he can get his lawyer if he really believes that we caused that issue, because I was not filing an insurance claim for that. He did not get a lawyer and hasn't called, so it's over as far as I'm concerned.