Hiring a Calgary power washing outfit may not be the first thing that springs to business owners’ minds when they ponder how to drum up new business. But the truth is that a clean, well-cared-for business exterior draws in customers. On a subtle, subconscious level, customers notice the attention that goes into creating an attractive storefront. After all, a business owner who takes such care of the building’s exterior clearly pays attention to details.

But this is only the first of several benefits of power washing a commercial property. Calgary commercial property owners can also enjoy these positive outcomes of power washing building exteriors:

Avoid liability for slips and falls. Customers can slip on that greasy patch by the dumpster and sue the property owner, for instance. And algae growing on exterior surfaces can also prove a real hazard. Pressure washing your building’s exterior removes these legal booby traps.

Employee morale boost. Workers are naturally more stoked about going to work at a location that looks great. On-the-job pride naturally accompanies cleanliness.

A fresh start for your building’s exterior. Experienced Calgary pressure washing pros know how to remove the toughest grime and stains. Scotts Pressure Wash technicians can remove gum, exhaust buildup and the most stubborn graffiti. For those who rent out their commercial buildings, a pressure washing “facelift” is often enough to attract more lucrative renters.

Any damage will be covered by insurance. While our employees almost never cause damage, the truth is that the wise commercial property owner must be (legally) prepared for anything. One legal self-defense move is to hire a professional power washing firm in Calgary rather than trying to go the DIY route. If damage does occur due to your pressure washing contractor’s work, it will be covered by liability insurance. The same cannot be said for damage that occurs under the hand of your staffer.

Now that we’ve seen the advantages of power washing, let’s consider the flip side: Failing to regularly clean your building’s exterior could cause you to lose business. To avoid causing damage, and to enjoy perfectly clean results, call our Calgary pressure washing experts today.

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Edmonton’s harsh winter climate is tough on roofs, which can be destroyed by strong winds and icy hailstones. Given these hazards, Edmonton property owners are keen to avoid causing any roof damage themselves – say, when trying to clean the roof come summer. Many a property owner has wondered whether it’s possible to clean a roof via power washing. The answer is a very qualified yes.

The qualification comes in here: If you aren’t careful, you could cause serious damage to your roof. And given the dreadful cost of a new roof, it pays to be extremely cautious. If you really want to play it safe, your best bet is to hire a professional Edmonton power washing firm like Scotts.

Our pressure washing professionals have years of education and experience, so they understand how delicate pressure washing a roof can be. Although power washing machines may seem self-explanatory at first glance, the truth is that these powerful gizmos require education and experience for proper operation. On too high a setting, pressure washers can blast shingles entirely off a roof, or simply destroy its ability to protect against the elements.

Sometimes the question a home or business owner must ask is, “Will the potential damage resulting from pressure washing be justified by the damage that will be caused by leaving the roof in its current condition?” Moss and algae are deadly to roofs. If left too long, these tiny plants can make a roof permeable. So if pressure washing is the only way to remove the growth from your Edmonton roof, it may be necessary, despite the fact that it will likely cause at least some damage.

In weighing your roof cleaning options, it’s important to check with the manufacturer’s instructions. Oftentimes, these suggest combining a low-pressure chemical wash with a low-pressure rinse. This will remove fewer protective granules from your roof.

There are many benefits of having a clean roof, including:

• Increased long-term structural stability once moss and algae are gone.
• An improved curb image, free of algae streaks and moss. For business owners, this means more business; for homeowners, a higher resale price.
• Lowered cost, since you’ll probably have to replace the roof earlier without regular cleaning.

If you’re looking to achieve these advantages but lack pressure washing experience, may we recommend our professional Edmonton pressure washing services? We invite you to kick back and relax as our expert technicians clean your roof safely.

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Contractors use pressure washing for melting mud off vinyl, blasting mortar off brick and lifting stains from concrete. All these dirty situations, and many more, are found on the average construction site. The pristine blueprint vision of a home quickly becomes sullied with the day-to-day operations of a construction crew. From Victoria to Vancouver, power washing helps contractors restore a building site to spic-and-span status once construction is complete.

However, the unqualified, inexperienced pressure washer is a danger to any construction project. Without proper training in selecting pressure washer settings, contractors can cause costly, lasting damage to a building project. Indeed, the wrong pressure washer can leave a brand new home or office building looking much worse than the original construction mess.

Below, we list a few construction industry tips for pressure washing. We’ve culled these handy hints from decades of experience cleaning up building sites in Saskatoon, Calgary, Ottawa, Edmonton and Vancouver.

Pressure Washing Tips for Construction Sites

Use low pressure setting on bricks. You should never blast a brick surface with pressure higher than 1000 PSI. Any more, and you could end up scarring the brick and causing permanent damage.

Do not attempt to blast off mortar. If a messy job has left mortar on the face of bricks, don’t try to remove the mortar with a pressure washer. Instead, use a metal ice scraper with a blade to pry away mortar.

Be careful in selecting cleaning solutions. Non-biodegradable cleaning solutions can kill plants – definitely a problem if project landscaping has already been completed.

Our final tip for builders is to work with an experienced local company that has plenty of positive customer testimonials and a proven record of providing superior cleaning services. We are happy to be your pressure washing company in Vancouver, Edmonton and our other locations listed above.

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Every industry has its own way of progressing over time, and after 17 years of active membership in the Power Washers of North America (PWNA), I can tell you that the truck washing industry is no exception. As the current director of the PWNA, I would like to talk with you about the future of truck washing.

Let me begin with the present moment. At first, many truck fleet owners assume they can perform their own Ottawa power washing services. Sooner or later, however, high power washing staff turnover, expensive equipment repairs and lackluster results convince fleet owners to “go pro” rather than trying to clean trucks in-house. Another approach is to wash fleet trucks in truck wash bays, but this tends to be too pricey to sustain in the long term – especially considering that you have to transport the truck to the bay in the first place. Rather than spend precious time and money getting to permanent truck wash bays, most fleet managers eventually turn to mobile pressure washing as a cost-effective and efficient way to keep their rigs sparkling clean.

Now you understand why business owners turn to professional Ottawa pressure washing services. Going forward, truck washing mobile power wash companies like Scotts will have to contend with the following industry dynamics:

Continued increase in fuel prices. We have seen our costs of doing business double in the last few years, and increased fuel price is a contributing factor. In order to stay in the black, we have had to add a fuel surcharge to of 5 percent to every invoice, just as our suppliers are charging us. Keeping costs low is a continual challenge for every business in these days of high gas prices.

Increasing employee expectations. Given the nature of the job, turnover among power washers is often quite high. The improving economy will only contribute to this tendency, as workers will be able to pick from more job openings. Here at Scotts, we maintain a strong team of mobile pressure washing professionals by offering fair wages and benefit packages.

Added environmental concerns. As the planet warms and weather patterns continue toward the extreme, mobile power washing companies will have to be creative about obtaining clean water. Mobile washing companies may need to alter their services and operation areas as a result. Leading mobile washing operations will adopt practices and cleaning formulas that are safe for the planet, partially in order to win new business.

Growing industry organization. The PWNA was founded in 1992; this organization works to maintain consistently high standards for business ethics, environmental awareness and worker safety within the power washing industry. I have enjoyed the opportunity to help develop both best management practices standards as well as the Water Reclaimer Program for the PWNA. Going forward, I expect more power washing leaders will join the organization so our industry can better speak with one voice.

If all this talk of the future of truck washing has you thinking about the cleanliness of your own fleet, give us a call today. We maintain our head office in Calgary as well as satellite operations in Saskatoon, Edmonton, Vancouver and Ottawa. Pressure washing can be a tricky thing; it’s best to leave it up to professionals like us who know how to avoid long-term damage while achieving immaculate results.

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Train engines, turbines, printing presses – these and other constricted, mechanically complex areas demand special cleaning approaches. Traditionally, Ottawa pressure washers would recommend sandblasting for this kind of cleaning job. Sandblasting, sometimes called abrasive blasting, involves using water to deliver a blast of fine particles. The sand or other particles help pry grease and grime away.

However, there is now a more environmentally friendly option available to pressure washers. Calgary businesses can now opt for dry ice blasting. In this process, small pellets of dry ice (each about the size of a grain of rice) are shot out of a pressure washer at the speed of sound. Many industrial leaders prefer dry ice blasting because it does not damage surfaces like sandblasting can. Moreover, dry ice blasting requires no secondary cleaning process; while the dry ice pellets are at -110 degrees Fahrenheit upon application, they immediately go from a solid to a vapor state upon hitting the surface being cleaned. This means less damage and no cleaning agent to be removed. With sandblasting, in contrast, the sand particles must be removed after cleaning is done. Any rogue sand grains that remain after cleaning can clog up mechanical parts and cause downtime.

Dry ice pellets are composed of solid CO2, a substance that’s so safe for humans that it’s often used in the food and beverage industry. Moreover, the CO2 pellets used in dry ice blasting are a natural byproduct of petro-chemical industrial processes. Using this captured, stored CO2 offsets any new CO2 production during cleaning.

We’ll mention one more major environmental advantage Ottawa pressure washers enjoy with dry ice blasting: No hazardous waste. With sandblasting, sand particles bind to potentially contaminated grime. Special steps must then be taken to dispose of this tainted sand. In contrast, the dry ice used in dry ice blasting vaporizes upon surface contact, greatly reducing the waste stream. The USDA, EPA and FDA all approve of dry ice as a non-toxic, non-hazardous material.

Because dry ice blasting is more effective and earth-friendly than sandblasting, it’s quickly becoming a preferred cleaning method among pressure washers. Calgary to Charlottetown, dry ice blasting is the best way to clean industrial machinery.

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Commercial kitchen owners must meet stringent cleanliness codes to pass health inspections. As Vancouver pressure washers, the most common cleaning projects we see in commercial kitchens involve deep cleaning entrance areas and blasting grease out of hood/duct systems.

Over time, grease used during cooking builds up on exhaust system surfaces. This layer of grime is a real fire hazard – so much so that the National Fire Protection Association recommends cleaning kitchen exhaust systems down to bare metal. Mobile pressure washing outfits have the equipment to bring a shine back to hood/duct systems – even the hidden sections you can’t see.

Mobile pressure washing operations can also thoroughly clean restaurants’ parking lots and sidewalks. As experienced Vancouver power washers, we have the expertise needed to blast away slippery, unsightly stains while avoiding damage.

Mobile Pressure Washing Tips for Commercial Kitchens

Scrape, apply degreaser, and pressure wash. To begin cleaning exhaust systems, scrape away excess layers of grease. Next, apply a degreasing agent to loosen grime. Finally, use a pressure washer to remove stubborn filth.

Protect against overspray. The chemicals used to power wash kitchens are not safe for human consumption. Therefore, it’s important to prevent cleaning chemicals from splashing onto kitchen preparation areas by hanging tarps and capturing runoff.

Carry commercial liability insurance. Accidents happen. Professional Vancouver power washers carry insurance to protect themselves against equipment damage and worker injuries. This insurance protection is one reason why most restaurant owners choose to hire professional mobile pressure washing services rather than tackling their own pressure washing projects.

Deep cleaning a commercial kitchen is no small task. Save time, energy and hassle by letting us handle your kitchen pressure washing needs.

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This flu season has been brutal. Alberta, for instance, has seen 1,100 cases of the flu since August; Edmonton alone has had 450 documented cases. We’ve all heard about the importance of regular hand washing to prevent picking up flu viruses, and flu shots can protect against the sickness. But business owners and government workers can also help stop the spread of influenza by regularly cleaning shared spaces.

Edmonton pressure washers know the influenza viruses can live on a non-porous surface for up to 24 hours. When an infected individual touches a railing, door handle or any other object in your business, they are unwittingly passing on influenza virions (virus particles) to the next person who happens to touch that spot. Once the flu virus is on your fingertips, it takes only one touch of the mouth, nose or eyes to send the virus into your body.

Protect your customers and employees from the misery of the flu by following the tips we’ve gathered below on how to clean communal areas during an influenza epidemic.

Stopping the Spread of Flu: Effective Cleaning for Communal Areas

Consider hiring Edmonton pressure washers. There’s nothing quite like pressure washing for intense cleaning. Here at Scotts Pressure Wash, we offer fleet wash services for vehicles as well as onsite pressure washing for businesses. Our expert pressure washers can deep clean any part of your business, whisking away the flu virus along with the built-up grime.

Schedule pressure washing for off hours. Government guidelines state that transit stations and other shared areas should be pressure cleaned when no passengers are present. It also makes sense for business owners to schedule pressure washing for off hours, when customers won’t be inconvenienced.

Clean and disinfect frequently touched areas. Any surface that is touched often should be cleaned daily. Start with soap and water, and follow up with a disinfectant spray. Computer screens and keyboards, desks, doorknobs, phones and faucet handles are just a few of the surfaces that should be cleaned every day during flu season. Disinfectant wipes may come in handy for this purpose. If you maintain a group of shared assets, such as a truck fleet, wash out the common areas directly after each shift.

It has been estimated that the flu costs businesses $10.4 billion annually. Following the above tips can keep your employees and customers healthy, reducing the investment lost to this persistent illness.

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The humble parking lot is an important part of the customer experience for businesses with storefronts. Not only does it provide a place for your customers to park, but it can play a key role in the type of first impression your business makes. A poorly maintained parking area riddled with with grease stains and trash may send customers running to your competition. Proper maintenance of your parking area, on the other hand, will not only make a better impression but can also prolong its utility. It can also make your parking lot safer, as pressure washing removes stains and spills that can otherwise become a slip hazard.

While it may be tempting to pressure wash your own parking lot, there are a multitude of reasons to hire a professional mobile power washing company for this job. For one thing, washing a parking lot without capturing the runoff sends toxic chemicals into nearby watersheds. Green power washing companies have the technology needed to suck up runoff so it may be treated to remove pollutants.

Business owners will also see the following advantages by hiring out for parking lot pressure washing.

Mobile Power Washing for Parking Lots: Why Hire Professionals?

1. Save money by avoiding equipment acquisition and maintenance costs. Hiring a mobile power washing company is typically less expensive than purchasing and maintaining pressure washing equipment.

2. Liability is covered by professional pressure washers. If any damage occurs during pressure washing, your repair costs will be covered by the professional power washer’s liability insurance.

3. Save time by letting professionals move at their efficient pace. Business owners appreciate the power of specialization. Our Ottawa power washing professionals are specialists in deep cleaning – they can almost certainly clean your parking lot more efficiently than you or your workers can. Plus, hiring out for this job means more time to focus on the passion that drives your business.

4. Enjoy peace of mind, knowing it will be done right the first time. There’s no need to get stressed out about parking lot pressure washing. Ottawa business owners who outsource this task to a reliable professional can turn their attention to more important things, knowing the job will be done efficiently and effectively.

For the health of the environment, the engagement of your customers and your own peace of mind, it just makes good business sense to hire a professional Ottawa power washing company to clean your company’s parking area.

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Some people mistakenly believe that a pressure washer will actually push dirt into a vehicle’s paint, causing surface damage. While this rumor is untrue, a pressure washer can damage your car or truck by actually stripping away the body paint altogether. Inexperienced Vancouver pressure washing operations may use too much pressure, or they may hold the nozzle too close to the vehicle. Both of these unprofessional mistakes can cause serious damage.  Incompetent Vancouver power washers may also send pressurized water into sensitive spots, such as around the water seals, which can cause leaks down the road.

However, by hiring expert power washers, Vancouver firms can enjoy significant benefits from power washing, especially from washing fleets of semi-trucks. A clean vehicle sends a positive brand image while boosting driver morale. Finally, Vancouver power washers can be extremely efficient; power washing allows you to cover a lot of surface area quickly.

However, these benefits quickly fall away if inept power washing techniques damage a vehicle’s paint job. Professional Vancouver pressure washing services know to use the right amount of pressure for the task at hand and have the education needed to select the proper nozzle.

With multiple certifications and decades of fleet power washing experience, our power washing experts can deftly clean any vehicle without a speck of damage. There are Scotts Pressure Wash locations across Canada to serve you; our Vancouver mobile cleaning fleet can come to your business to maximize convenience and efficiency.

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In many parts of the country, roads would be impassable in the winter without salt. Snowplows sprinkle salt in their wake to prevent wet road surfaces from becoming icy. Salt lowers water’s freezing point, meaning water on the road will not freeze and cause treacherous driving conditions. So salt is very important for safety.

At the same time, it causes real damage to vehicles. When combined with moisture, salt oxidizes and rusts most metals. It will even eat through paint to the underlying metal. This is especially harmful for the components on the undercarriage, including coil springs, shock mounts, brake lines and body mounting hardware. Perhaps the most sensitive components to salt damage are the fuel and brake lines – obviously crucial parts for reliable operation. From Vancouver to Edmonton, pressure washers advise protecting vehicles before weather hits, as outlined below.

How to Protect Vehicles against Road Salt

• Thoroughly clean the entire vehicle before the winter season hits. (That’s typically late October in Edmonton.) Power washing operations are therefore quite busy just before the first snow hits.
• Apply a layer of wax, followed by a wax sealant, to the body of the car or truck.
  Seal the undercarriage. There are DIY kits available for this, or you may entrust the job to a professional.
• Pressure wash the vehicle’s underside as often as possible during the winter to rinse off salt.

Because improperly performed power washing can cause real damage, we recommend assigning wintertime power washing to an expert. Our Edmonton pressure washers will be able to safely clean your whole vehicle or fleet without harming any components. Our mobile fleet of pressure washers in Edmonton and several other locations across Canada can come to your location and wash your whole fleet efficiently and thoroughly. Pressure washing your vehicles several times throughout the winter will help protect against that necessary evil, road salt.

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