Hi everyone. I have a quick question. I have a new property management company who has requested gutter whitening for several condo buildings. Currently I use F13 for my gutter whitening and we hand scrub and rinse the gutters from the ground with a soft brush and a pole. However, is still in the 40’s -50’s here add isn’t warming into the 60’s until late March into April. So, my question is, what chems are you using for GW that still work really well below 50 degrees? F13 is freaking amazing but seems not to work as well under 60 degrees. I remember someone at last year’s huge convention talking at one of the morning round tables about something they use that works down into the 30’s, but I can’t find my notes. Thanks in advance.
Try Sprayway and a magic eraser.
That’s a lot of labor.
I would just tell them for optimal results the weather need to be above 60. There just going to have to wait.
Why the rush ?
Stupid wuestuon I know. We all get the phone calls can you come now like in 5 minutes I’m having a party tonight
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F13 Gutter Gernande is good. Ive never heard of temps effecting it too much.
You might try a strong SH mix first.
Gutter Zap also works well http://www.powerwash.com/gutter-zap-super-concentrate-1-quart.html
Yeah, that’s the plan, to just hold of til early or mid April. I just
thought someone had mentioned before about gutter bright or something like
that and was curious
I use a green pad, but no gutter work with snow on the ground since December.
I found the link for the original gutter Brite
After reading, it seems like F13 is just as effective. I may give it a
try. Titans for all the input
Josh Lile
Clear View Exterior Cleaning Services, LLC
www.clearview502.com
That sounds like a lot of work and material cost Hunterst.
He’s hand scrubbing anyway so it’s not any more work than he would be doing. I don’t have exact numbers but I’d guess a box of 8 magic erasers, about $7 on Amazon, and 2-3 cans of Sprayway, about $3-4 a can, should clean between 1000-2000 linear feet of gutter. ive found it easier to hand scrub with that combo than F-13 or gutter grenade.
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Why is everyone using weird stuff to whiten gutters? How clean do they have to be? The process below is my general routine. I’ve never been asked for a “gutter whitening”, but do it as a courtesy for gutter visible 2nd/3rd story homes who want the service.
- Debris removal by glove
- Snake and flush downspouts
3 Scrub with pad - Flush
I personally feel gutters should be charged by the hour. One of the first gutter jobs I had for a company charged near a grand for 2 hours of work for a crew of two.
It’s about being truthful and fair, as long as the sentiment is reciprocated.
Hand scrubbing won’t clean off bad tiger striping causedby oxidization. F13 is the fastest and most effective way. And it doesn’t work well below about 55 degrees.
Mix up a batch 10:1 with water, scrub it on with a truck wash brush on the end of you wfp, wait five minutes and rinse it off. That simple, and no ladder sets.
F13 is potassium hydroxide based, so if you look for similar products I would use one with that as its main ingredient.
We stopped offering gutter whitening over a year ago because too many times the paint would come off the gutter. We X-Jet SH straight out of the bottle for bad gutters. 90% of the time they whiten up. Plus our guys hated doing gutter whitening.
what C_wininger described is the best way, the Sprayway and magic eraser method I described is something good for when you need to get a job done and conditions aren’t ideal for that way. I don’t remember the situation that caused the Sprayway magic eraser way to be tried, it was either temperature was below 50 or client had added more gutter than originally scheduled and the crew didn’t have enough f-13.
yeah i think the magic eraser does the same thing as f13, just in a different way. removes a few-micron thick layer of the gutter face and gets down into some fresh finish on the gutter.
@kyle, GW is one if our most lucrative services. The last GW we did last
fall I actually had bought a couple of the six inch home Depot unger vice
versa and trimmed the squeegee arm off. The angle is perfect for poling
from the ground and covers the gutter pretty well. What I’ll likely due is
mix the F13 a little stronger with some 12% SH and clean like normal, then
spot clean and stingy area with sprayway and white pad. Thank your
everyone for your input.
Josh
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This year I’m carrying (3). 1 gallon sprayers on board One mixed 10:1 one mixed 13:1. And one mixed 15:1. Or something like that. Some times you need a stinger mix , and having it pre-mixed just saves time rather than playing games.
, I just don’t see any easier method than either spraying my brush directly or the gutter directly… then going back, an forth in 12-15" increments a couple of times from the ground mind you 
dwell an rinse
@clearviewky are you up selling upon estimate or at the time of the job. Do you ever include GW in your house wash.
I’m up selling at the job. I’ve started doing most residential estimates over the phone. Very similar to how Dave Carroll talked about at the huge convention last year. I don’t include it in house wash.
Guys hated gutter whitening with F13 or Gutter Gren. Clients hated the price.
Trends:
Often the gutters had been painted over so not getting it all anyway
Always seems to be asked for at the end of winter when temps were too cold.
if not doing a siding cleaning we just use a WFP and now see it this way
Gutter whitening: removing organic material. dirty, algae etc
Gutter restoration: going after the oxidation - and we don’t offer this.
I’ve never tried this, but how about using a bucket of hot water with your F13 mix?
You could keep your solution warm in a large insulated cooler. I would think that if your solution is hot enough to start with, you could get some reasonable work time out of a mix before it needs to be reheated with an immersion heater or something.
Just an idea…?
