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AAron gave you perfect advice.
#1 being, become a Premium member.
On the Premium side of this site, answers come much more freely and all the serious knowledge is posted in plain site.

Another good bit of advice that I learned, go to the bottom of the page of any of the subforums such as "roof cleaning pumps" and start from the oldest posts and read foward.  Not latest back, you will have 90% of your questions answered and will learn about things you wouldn't have thought of otherwise to ask.  

It's like college, you can't just go to class and ask the theach "but why?" every other second.  You need to do your research first with the sources this site provides in its archives and then if something doesn't make sense, ask questions. 

And just as you pay for an education anywhere else from peeps who've been there and done that, becoming a premium member allows this site to continue to provide the resources for you to educate yourself and profit from others past experiences.

I spent almost a year reading and researching before I implemented that knowledge on a house.  Only when there were things that didn't work as they were suppose too that I asked for help troubleshooting.  Don't be afraid to ask questions but take the time to find the answers yourself.  Its just a forum "faux pas" when numerous people ask the same question one after another without trying to do the research themselve, kinda like Cliff Notes or askin someone who took the test before you the answers when they took the time to study.

Ok will do thanks

You can buy a high draw downstream injector for your pressure washer and you'd need to adjust the nozzles to get a nice mix for soaping up high, rinsing high, soaping low, and rinsing low. It would cost you well under $100 for the nozzles and injector to convert your setup to be able to softwash a house, etc... Roof washing is a different story and most here do not use a pressure washer to wash a roof because the solution needs to be much stronger than is easily attainable downstreaming.

Call Bob at Pressure Tek or Russ with Southside Equipment and they have everything you'd need to get started with your current setup.

You would get much more detailed information in the premium section, but this is information that is all over!

 

Simon, from your initial question, I take it you are already operating a pressure washing business.

 

How long did it take you to learn how to pressure wash a house, or flatwork, or fleet wash, or whatever you wash? The answer to your question lies somewhere between the high and low end of the answer.

 

Buying or building a soft wash rig shouldn’t be a big deal since you’re already an experienced PW’er. It took me about 10 minutes to build my first low pressure (soft wash) rig, which consisted of a Flojet pump, a hose and wand, a 50gal poly drum, and a battery. It only took washing my own house to learn that I REALLY needed to respect that little rig and more importantly, the mix.

 

The soft wash mix is an animal unto itself. Personally, I think the mix is a perpetual battle that will continue to evolve until the day some scientist invents a product that puts us all out of business.

 

I started down this “Soft Wash” road because there's definately a niche market for it in my area and because of the negative conception the general public has about pressure washing. Stick a 0 degree 100gpm tip on the end your 3500psi-skid wand and you have an expensive garden hose that won’t even register on your pressure gauge, but the general public will still perceive that you’re pressure washing because you’re using that big, bulky, noisy monster, sitting on that complicated looking trailer attached to your truck.

 

Obviously, there's a market for roof cleaning companies and the key to success is selling the service to the public. I repeat: I think the key to success is selling the service to the public.

 

Since I’m being so opinionated, here’s another one: All new people on this website who want to start a soft wash business or add-on to their existing business should join the Premium Membership so we could really discuss issues we face. Posting questions that make a guy appear ignorant as to the intricacies of soft washing IS NOT IN ANYBODY’S BEST INTEREST. It is equivalent to writing an Ad to the public; the very people you will be asking to trust you with their most expensive assets, telling them that you don’t know what you don’t know.

 

Why do you think the operators of social networking websites, such as this one, worry so much about search engines? The answer is: Because they want everybody in the world to see and visit the website. That’s also why you see the Premium guys posting, for example: “Roof Cleaning by A&E recent job in Maryland” (that was the first post that came up, using the Recent Posts button). They are marketing their service. They’re showing the public at large what great work they do. They know the SEO’s are going to eat their links up and spit them out when somebody in their area gets online a does a search for roof cleaning.

 

Joining the membership would be the best 100 bucks you could possibly invest in your company, whether you’re new or an ole salt (HA!) at this. The next thing you know, you’ll be posting “Roof Cleaning by your company in your state” all over the public forums.

I have to disagree Paul, I think it was a great post and enjoyed reading it. I think you hit on some great points and every new member should have to read this post first!

Become premium member and use the search box. It really works great