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I have said it before that if a home has no gutters and a good amount of shrubs/landscaping etc. I pass on it. The profit on most roofs will not cover shrub damage. I carry an electric pump with me for homes that have lousy water pressure. Its a pump to help with washing your personal car. It was about $150 bucks and works great I have had it for about 4 yrs. Water pressure and gutters are a big part of inspection on an estimate, one spigot? Two? Gutters? Cleaned out? Now here is the big answer to what you asked. If you are covering the shrubs and flooding the ground you will be fine. If I was doing a house with no gutters then I would do it this time of year only, the shrubs are sought of dormant now and with no heat can really blow off the SH. I am not kidding, throw water on them like usual lil more where it comes off from no gutters. In the cold weather the shrubs get tougher......has anyone else noticed that?

I am a great ground man, who can get away with not tarping plants, because I control my roof guy, when I work the ground.

But we tarp everything now, shingle or tile, if no gutters are present. Then, we rinse the roof partially, while the tarps are still in place, wait till the roof stops dripping, then we pull the tarps, and rinse again, just to be sure.

The Gray Tarps (heavy duty) at Harbor Frieght are what we use. They are both cheap and rugged, my kind of Tarp!

We have a large plastic box on our flatbed trucks, JUST for all the Tarps we carry. 

Customers LOVE to see the tarps, and it has become a selling point for us. We find that customers don't understand the idea of just watering plants, especially when their chit dies. I guess I just got tired of hearing "Why didn't you Cover my plants" ?

We still lost a Bouganvilla Vine, and an Azela, but both customers said " Hey, you guys covered them, and tried to protect my plants"

One customer who lost the Azelea said "I wasn't there, but my neighbors said you Tarped Everything, so it's is ok" !

I can't work anymore, so I INSIST all plats get Tarped, if no gutters are present. 

Is it more work ? Yes it is, but I feel it is worth it.

As Pat mentioned the shrubs are definitely tougher. That's kind of why I took the job, I knew they were hearty shrubs and they are dormant. Other wise all of the jobs where the HO tells me that there is No gutters I instantly raise my price 150-200 dollars.

Ed I don't want to lug around the 500lbs of water, but what if I can be filling up the 55g at the HO house while I am tarping plants, taking ladders off etc? So I wouldn't have to lug it around. I know Seitz carries alot of his own water.

Chris I have also burned up a vine, it was entangled around the downspout. The lady was so pleased with how her siding came out after we did the house wash she didn't care about the vine. I also bought tarps from Harbor Freight. I also have plastic sheets from Home Depot. They work great and they are lighter and more maneuverable then tarps.

We don't have to worry to much about the green house effect up here, but we always pretty wet.

We use plastic sheets, 4x8 left behind election signs, and lots of water to divert the solution off of sensitive plants.  Since we use an 8.5 gpm pressure washer to power wash homes we use it to water the plants before, during, & after the roof cleaning process.

Roof Cleaning Long Island N.Y 516-763-4108 wrote:

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Hey Dan I hear you may be getting a snow storm in a day or two?

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 Pat,

Please don't say that(snow). I'll take the rain but not the snow. Dan is 40 minutes from my shop. He'll have to plow me out.

Hank

I wash houses as well as roofs, and we have alot of jobs we do where people are on a well. I won't use well water even if the supply is adequate. We carry 300 gallons of water. Like Larry, we also use the washer for rinsing plants and windows and such. That way I know what my supply of water and spray force is gonna be the same on every job.

Jeff

Roof Cleaning New Jersey wrote:

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Jeff, you dont at least replenish you tank as you go? Some house could very well use 200-300 gallons. Small houses no problem, but a larger home would dry you out.

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 We don't use a buffer tank. We hook both machines directly to the customers spigots. Water cost down here is aprox $3.21 per 1000 gallons. We normally never even come close to a 1000 on a job.

Roof Cleaning New Jersey wrote:

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Jeff, you dont at least replenish you tank as you go? Some house could very well use 200-300 gallons. Small houses no problem, but a larger home would dry you out.

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 This was what I was talking about Ed, makes life much faster an easier. I need to get taller tanks that hold more water. As far as a house wash is concerned, 55 would be enough, but you just have a hose from the House running to your truck, refilling it.