April 8, 2025 • 26 mins
Expert cleaners AC Lockyer and John Buchholz reveal the secrets to properly maintaining Hardie Board Siding, especially in challenging coastal environments. They break down why pressure washing damages this popular siding material and share professional techniques that sanitize surfaces while preserving their integrity.
• Hardie Board Siding offers the aesthetic of traditional wood without vulnerability to termites and wood-destroying organisms
• Coastal environments create unique challenges with constant moisture, salt spray, and UV damage accelerating deterioration
• North-facing surfaces typically suffer from mold and algae growth while southern/western sides experience UV damage and oxidation
• Pressure washing causes permanent damage to Hardie Board Siding, creating distinctive "Mark of Zorro" patterns
• Professional "soft washing" uses specialized chemicals (Trinity Mix) to achieve 99.8% kill ratio against organic growth
• Addressing oxidation requires a manual brushing technique similar to car detailing, not just chemical application
• Coastal homes should be cleaned every 12-18 months, while beachfront properties may need quarterly maintenance
• DIY cleaning is possible but time-intensive—what professionals can complete in 2-4 hours might take homeowners weeks
• Proper maintenance can prevent the need to paint Hardie Board siding for the lifetime of the home
Need professional help with your Hardie Board Siding? Visit our dealer locator map at https://SoftWashSystems.com to find a licensed professional in your area.
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
AC Lockyer (00:16):
Hey guys, this is AC Lockyer here and this is Ask a
Soft Wash Systems Pro.
Now, this is a podcast where wego over the surface, the stain,
the tools, chemicals andtechniques you need to clean
your home or property.
And this week, hailing from thebeautiful state of North
Carolina, specifically fromWilmington, north Carolina, we
(00:40):
have John Buchholz.
Hey, John, how's it going?
Hey, now, when we're talkingabout Hardie board siding, you
are especially in a part of thecountry that has a lot of
traditional homes and sotraditional homes back in the
day they used to use cedarsiding or pine siding on, and
especially homes around the turnof the century they got away
(01:02):
from that for a while and wentto concrete block homes and they
were not beautiful, and inabout the last 30 years it has
absolutely exploded that peoplewant that beautiful turn of the
century, going into the 1900s,20th century home that's got the
beautiful board siding on itand the wraparound porches And's
just a, you know, either acountry home or a victorian home
(01:24):
or a coastal type of home, andthey require this siding.
But termites love siding, yeah,and so when you're, when you're,
looking at this, they're likewell, how do we come up with
something that termites aren'tgoing to eat, and the company
James Hardie, which is one ofthe manufacturers that make this
(01:46):
concrete board, this genre ofsiding James Hardie board.
They started making thisproduct.
Now some other companies havestarted making it too, and it
can be difficult to clean, butthey did this to make it a
longer lasting product that'snot going to be attacked by WDOs
(02:07):
, wood destroying organisms,things like carpenter, ants,
termites and, of course, ourfavorite WDO mold, mildew, algae
, lichens, bacteria, mosses,things like that.
So why don't you just tell us alittle bit about what you have
experienced when you come up tothese homes that have Hardie
board.
What are some of the conditionsthat you're seeing?
John Buchholz (02:31):
Well, here in our area we're a coastal community,
so we see a lot of sun damageto the Hardie board and then
it's always wet pretty much, sothere's tons of mold and algae
growing on the sides of thehouse and then lots of UV damage
(02:52):
from you know, just thebrightness of the sun just close
to the coast.
AC Lockyer (02:57):
Yeah, we're all very , very aware of the mold, mildew
, algae, dirt, grime getting onhomes.
But one of the conditions thatgenerally consumers don't
acknowledge or recognize rightaway is, once you clean all of
that off, then you'll find,primarily on the southern and
western sides of the homes thatget the most sunlight.
(03:17):
You'll find that these colorthrough building substrates like
the Hardie board board, thatthey actually come in a color
and they think I'm never goingto have to paint this home ever
again.
They realize, wow, all of myHardie board or this particular
genre of material has gotten UVdamage on, it, has gotten sun
bleached and it even has anoxidation on it that if you rub
(03:40):
your hand on it it gets chalky.
And we sometimes, when we cleanthose, the customer's like, oh
my goodness, your chemicalsruined my Hardie board.
And it's not that at all, it's,we've exposed a problem, so
let's address that.
Secondly, let's talk about inthe step or the order that
(04:02):
somebody would want to take careof this, because, after all
this, is a podcast where thehomeowner or property owner can
get information and try toattack this problem themselves,
and so we want to give them somereally, really good guidance on
that.
However, if they do get to thepoint where they are in over
their heads or they prefer notto attack it themselves, we're
(04:24):
letting them know what a realprofessional company would do to
solve this problem, and then,if they can't find that
professional company in theirarea, they could certainly step
out or reach out to SoftWashSystems, and we'd be happy to
send one of our SoftWash Systemspros out to take a look at
their problem and give them aproposal to take care of that.
So when you pull up to thesehomes now and you're getting
(04:47):
ready to give an estimate, youwalk around the home and you're
seeing these conditions.
What are some of the organicstains that you're seeing on
there?
Go ahead and give me thelisting of the most common to
least common and the leastevasive to the most evasive the
least evasive to the mostevasive.
John Buchholz (05:09):
So it's going to be deep down, it's going to be
the your green mold and algae,and that's primary, primarily
what we're seeing.
And when this goes to the, ifit goes black, it's going to be
really tough to get off andthere's normally a lot of paint
damage underneath that justbecause it's eating away at it.
(05:30):
um, and then also in our areawe have dirt gobblers that get
in there also have havoc onthose, because once they're in
Florida, we call them muddaubers, yeah, and those dad gum
wasps that get up there andmake those nasty mud nests that
just literally eat through paint, eat through stucco, it's just
(05:52):
eat through building surfaces.
They're ridiculous yeah, wealways tell them to go ahead and
knock it down as soon as yousee it forming.
It doesn't cause as much damageto the surface.
Those are pretty much the mainthings for us that we run into.
AC Lockyer (06:12):
Yeah, because you're on an East Coast coastal, so
you're going to see thegliocapsa magma, which is the
black streaking.
You're going to see somemustard algae.
Especially in the winter, itseems, seems to flash, bloom out
and that's kind of a greenishcolor.
Uh, people actually get it inpools too.
It gets in your pool, gets inthe surface of your home, and
that's a winter phenomenon andthose things are a little easier
(06:35):
to clean.
When do you know a homeowner orproperty owner is really in
trouble with their Hardie boardsiding?
John Buchholz (06:46):
When they start having the moss growing on the
side of their house, we do runinto that and again, if the
algae and mold is turning colors, that's really when the house
is really in desperate need of acleaning.
And then around here we alsohave salt in the air and that's
(07:08):
also eating away at the paintand surface as well.
So you just we try to get inthere and tell them they need to
really have them clean every 12to 18 months to help protect
the longevity of theirinvestment, their home.
AC Lockyer (07:23):
Yeah, and that's and that's when we really talk
about cause, just like a boat, Iused to fish tournaments
professionally in the saltwater,in shore saltwater fishing, and
every time you took your boatout of the water you would need
to make sure that you rinse itout, hooked a hose up to the
engine, rinse out the engine,make sure you wash the boat.
And one of the products that wedeveloped at SoftWash Systems
(07:45):
Final Wash back when I used tofish tournaments literally our
Final Wash, because it is a goodstewards product.
It's biodegradable, water-based, low VOC.
I would literally, while myboat was in the water, if I was
keeping it in a slip the week Iwas fishing the tournaments, I
would literally wash down theboat with the Final Wash and it
breaks up the salts and alsoneutralize them so they can't
(08:06):
corrode the boat with the finalwash and it breaks up the salts
and also neutralize them so theycan't corrode the boat.
And we do that too with thehomes and when you're dealing
with coastal properties, whetherthe home has mold and mildew on
it or not, you really got tomake sure that at least yearly
if you're on the beach, ifyou're actually right on the
water and you're getting windand salt spray in your home
(08:28):
quarterly, you need to make surethat you wash it down with our
final wash product and that's awhole nother discussion but what
I've also seen around thecountry because you're there in
Wilmington.
What I've also seen around thecountry is really thick mold and
mildew and we were talkingabout earlier.
On the southern and westernsides.
(08:48):
You get UV damage on the northand eastern sides because in the
morning you get sunlight, butit's moist sunlight.
So you've always heard the BoyScouts saying how do you know
which way you're going throughthe woods?
How do you find north in thewoods?
You look on the sides of thetrees and the sides of the trees
that have moss on them is thenorth facing side, and the north
(09:09):
facing side of a home canreally get obliterated by mold,
mildew, algae.
If we're going into mosses andlichens, that's the side that's
likely going to have it, and I'msure you found in your area
(09:33):
that on the north sides of thehomes.
You know some of the homes arestrategically placed and they
get a lot of sun.
John Buchholz (09:36):
Some of them are facing north and they just get
whacked with the organics thatthey do.
Yeah, yeah, it takes a wholelot more effort to get them
clean at that point in time.
AC Lockyer (09:42):
So when you say more effort, what are we talking
about?
John Buchholz (09:46):
Um a lot of time, like we're having to do
multiple applications to get itto come clean, so that we're not
using pressure to try to removeit because we wanted to
sanitize the surface and kill itoff or it's not gonna just come
back, it's gonna have to be newgrowth that gets it to um that
would start growing the side ofthe house.
(10:06):
So in our method of doing that,with our soaps that we use um,
it helps everything stay cleanerlonger.
Um, which we always tell peoplelike you know it works so good
that you you know you don'tyou're not calling everybody as
often because it just staysclean longer and um, which is
(10:30):
good for them.
It's better value for thecustomer and everything.
AC Lockyer (10:32):
But so you made two really, really strong points.
There is sometimes it's goingto take multiple applications
one thing you didn't mention,which I I know you do, but we
see it a lot in the extremenortheast, the stream northwest
of.
We have licensed affiliates inthe UK, so the further North you
go in England, I remembercleaning a building in Scotland
(10:53):
and it literally had 200 yearsof moss on it.
It was moss almost as old asour country, you know.
And so, yeah, just reallyreally extreme conditions there.
But sometimes you have to takeout a scrub brush and so we
don't go to a pressure washerlike most companies.
(11:15):
And hey, listen, if you're ahomeowner or a property owner
and you're listening to thispodcast, you're watching this
YouTube video and you're tryingto figure out how to clean your
property yourself.
Don't go to a pressure washer.
Don't use a pressure washer,because pressure washers are
extremely treacherous anderoding on Hardie board siding.
Have you ever seen homes thathave been pressure washed before
(11:38):
when you go out to your jobs,that they maybe chose the wrong
contractor before you and you'veseen damage on the Hardie board
?
Have you seen that?
John Buchholz (11:48):
We see that a lot , and a lot of times it's a
homeowner that doesn't realizethey're going to the damage
until it starts to dry and thenthey kind of it's like you can
see, it's pretty much to thelevel that their wand would
reach yes, the step ladder,because they're out there on
that doing it or on extensionladder being, you know this, far
from the house.
AC Lockyer (12:07):
And they're just causing.
John Buchholz (12:09):
It's like a little, uh, kind of like a
zigzag type thing.
We call it the mark of zaro,yeah, and sometimes they
actually take chunks out of theHardie board.
I mean it, it can be pretty,pretty bad when they do that
AC Lockyer (12:25):
and Hardie board is not a cheap surface, so you
don't want to do that and haveto replace it.
If you have done that and youjust have wand strokes in it,
sometimes it's on the southernand western side, because
they've merely just strippedaway a little bit of the
oxidation, which we'll talkabout that.
That's a solvable problem andwe can.
We're going to teach you guys alittle bit on that.
(12:46):
We're going to run through someof these things pretty quick.
But, you definitely don't wantto pressure wash them, so you're
going to treat them, sometimesmultiple times, and you're going
to hit them with a scrub brush.
What are we treating them with?
These are products that we usehere at Soft Wash Systems, but
you can also purchase them outthere with many of our
distributors around the country.
What products are we using?
John Buchholz (13:16):
So this is our Trinity mix and it's sodium
hypochlorite, which is a tonguetwister, and especially this
early in the morning.
But, then greenwash, whichimpacts all the organic matter,
and then our TerraWash, whichgoes after all the dirt and
grime, and then sometimes we addin a rain fresh.
That helps it cover scent,because when you're killing all
that nastiness off your house itreally can start to stink a
(13:39):
little bit.
So we're with that.
AC Lockyer (13:42):
Yeah, and that's the other point too that you made a
few moments ago is you saidwhen we treat a surface we're
sanitizing it.
We actually have lab proven99.8 kill ratio against the
algae, mold, mildew, lichens,bacterias, viruses, mosses,
lichens, all of those things.
Okay, fungus is growing on thehome.
(14:03):
We get that 99.8 kill ratiowhether you're using a soft wash
systems licensed affiliate oryou've gone to one of our stores
, like the Wash Life store, topurchase those products yourself
, which you can do.
It's kind of likedo-it-yourself pest control At
the Wash Life store we do havewhere homeowners can come in
there and purchase theseprofessional level chemicals.
(14:24):
They're all labeled correctlyand they're available to you.
Level chemicals they're alllabeled correctly and they're
available to you and you can tryto tackle the job yourself, and
many, many times you can,especially if you catch it in
its early stages.
But we actually do sanitize thesurface and that's why it stays
clean so long for sure.
(14:45):
All right, good.
So we know that the trendy mixat that one to 2% sodium
hypochlorite, the green wash atone ounce per gallon, the Tara
wash at one ounce per gallon andthe rain fresh at one ounce per
gallon, we know that we canspray that on a home, we can
agitate a little bit, we canrinse it, we can do multiple
steps of that to remove safelyand without pressure, without
(15:09):
degrading the surface, thosedifferent organic stains off of
the home.
But now we've rolled around tousually the southern or western
side.
We clean the home and the homedries after we clean it.
What have we discovered?
The condition that exists nowon the Hardie board siding.
John Buchholz (15:31):
All the oxidation uv damage the white.
If you rub your finger acrossit, the the white um haze.
AC Lockyer (15:36):
That ends up coming off like dust on your fingers
yes, and dealing with thatreminds me of the karate kid.
Do you remember the movie thekarate kid?
I know you're a little youngerthan me, but you certainly watch
Cobra Kai, right that I have.
Yeah, okay, cool.
So the old Mr Miyagi wax on waxoff, wax on wax off.
(15:56):
If you had this condition on acar, this is the same oxidation
you would get on a car with apaint job.
Okay, you have to use a rubbingcompound and rub it off and
then come back and wax the car,remove the oxidation and wax the
car.
And so how we achieve that?
(16:16):
Using our soft wash systems,chemicals that are available out
there to property owners.
How do we achieve that?
Describe that process a littlebit.
John Buchholz (16:27):
So that process I am going to say before you go
applying any product to the sideof the house, make sure you do
a test spot first.
AC Lockyer (16:37):
Yes, so that's step one.
After we tell you what to do,do a little test spot and make
sure it's going to work and makesure it's the result that you
want.
John Buchholz (16:47):
Then you would be pre-wetting the side when
you're going to clean,especially in the sun, so it
cools the surface down, so thatit will actually do it, not just
evaporate as soon as theproduct is inside the house.
AC Lockyer (17:03):
Yes, you want to make sure you pre-moisten it so
that it gets all the oxidationand all that surface wet and
ready to receive the chemicalbut cools it down so you don't
flash burn it with the chemicaland create a blotchy effect on
the side of the home.
John Buchholz (17:17):
so, getting back to the uv damage, oxidation, um,
we would use a product calledoxy wash, where, again, we
pre-wet the surface, we spray iton there with a pump up sprayer
.
We got a little nice littlebattery, one that gets to some
nice distance.
You have to brush every inch ofthe side of the house.
AC Lockyer (17:39):
Hold on, hold on.
There's not a miracle chemicalout there that you can just
spray on and it just removes allthis oxidation.
John Buchholz (17:45):
I mean, that would be nice.
AC Lockyer (17:46):
Let me know.
I'm sure there's a Mr Miyagi inhere laughing somewhere.
it's like remove the oxidation.
John Buchholz (17:58):
So you brush it, you know, from the top down and
um, and you make sure you'rekeeping it wet as you're doing
it, and then you reallythoroughly rinse and then it's
good to go.
Yeah, some of the paint mighthave had issues before that you
exposed even more.
But it's just just make surethat you're setting those giving
(18:20):
the homeowner or the homeownerhimself realizing, hey, I might
expose something, right.
AC Lockyer (18:27):
You have to set their expectations.
You know the older the Hardieboard is, the longer the organic
materials have been allowed tofester on it, the lesser
desirable results you're goingto get.
The more oxidation there is,the less desirable results
you're going to get.
Or you bought a home where theprevious owner put off taking
(18:50):
care of these stains, and that'swhen normally Hardie board is
color through, it comes in acolor.
You shouldn't have to paint ahome with Hardie board,
especially if you take care ofit correctly In your lifetime.
As long as you're here on thisearth, you should not have to
paint Hardie board unless it hasbeen neglected or abused or
(19:11):
shot with a pressure washer orsomething like that, or gotten
holes or chips in it.
You got to come back in andbondo it and there's kits that
they make for that that jamesalready sells and then you have
to paint it.
So now you're dealing withpainted Hardie board, which
probably makes your tummy go.
Yeah, because painted Hardieboard can be tough to clean.
(19:35):
Yeah, it's usually because thepeople who painted it didn't
prep it right.
And now you're coming in toclean that Hardie board that's
had paint on it, and even with asoft washing technique, which
is only about aboutI.
Just enough pressure to applythe chemicals.
The chemicals do all thecleaning and we just rinse it
(19:56):
away.
With about 140 pounds persquare inch about double the
strength of a garden hose.
We rinse it off of the building, sometimes because poor prep
was done and they didn't killthe organics underneath.
The organics started growingand the paint has started
bubbling or separating.
You get paint removal andblistering and peeling and stuff
(20:18):
like that.
And that's not our fault,correct,
John Buchholz (20:23):
Correct, not our fault.
AC Lockyer (20:25):
Yeah, so you know, when you, when you look at this
James Hardie board and you lookat the conditions as we wrap up
here, this is a project that ahome or property owner could
take on themselves.
An apartment community that hasa maintenance crew, a facility
that has a chief engineer.
This is something that theycould definitely take on
(20:46):
themselves, but it can beexhaustive themselves.
But it can be exhaustive whenyou go out and clean, like a
very typical for these types ofhomes, because they're generally
custom homes.
These homes are usually in the3,000 square foot plus range.
They're four bedroom, threebath, living room, tv room, loft
(21:07):
type of thing, big, nicekitchen.
These are pretty big homes Withour trucks, with our trucks and
our equipment, our techniciansand as well-equipped as we are
doing these.
How long does it take for youto clean the Hardie board on a
home like that?
John Buchholz (21:26):
Normally it's anywhere from two to four hours
and it's normally it coulddepend on how many levels you
know if it's one story, twostory, the amount of dormers
that they could have, the accentpieces that they put above the
roof line, type things.
Sometimes you're having to geton a ladder or our saving glory
is to get old water fed poles tobe able to get the, but you can
(21:48):
still be both feet on theground, um, um.
So yeah, if you don't havethose things and the safety
stuff you know, if you are usingladders, make sure you get the
stabilizers on there so it's notgoing to be moving, shifting on
you, um, but yeah, it'snormally about two to four hours
from.
You know, setting up, taking,know all the property protection
(22:09):
stuff we do.
AC Lockyer (22:17):
Because you tape off all the outlets.
You watch for nice littleintercom and speaker systems,
for all these new securitycameras on the homes.
I mean sometimes it takes anhour just to get the home ready
for this exterior soft washing.
John Buchholz (22:29):
And having to watch for some of those, uh,
painted and wood stained doors.
AC Lockyer (22:34):
Very, make sure you're being careful with those
yeah, it can be difficult, soit's not uncommon.
I mean you say two to fourhours, but it's not uncommon
when you pull up to some ofthese nice custom homes with
Hardie board on them that it'san all-day just for you and you
do these all the time you are,you are loaded ready, prepared
(22:57):
with all of the cool littletools and techniques and you
know our systems.
We have on the trucks andeverything.
You're ready to do these and itmight take an entire day.
Very true, yeah, what could youimagine it would take a
homeowner to tackle this projectthemselves?
John Buchholz (23:14):
I mean, we've talked to people before where
they said they worked on itevery Saturday for a month and
still didn't get it the way theywanted.
AC Lockyer (23:21):
Wow, that's incredible.
And so you know, if you guys docome to the Wash Life store and
you purchase some of thechemicals and all, we're going
to help you.
We even have some rentalequipment and stuff like that.
Um, but you need to block outsome time on this and really
know what your time is worth.
We're certainly willing to helpyou, and even John you know
(23:42):
John, I'll say this, but I knowyou if the homeowner called you
and said, hey, I just boughtsome stuff and everything else,
could you, could you come overand tell me if I'm doing this
right or not?
You would come over and helpthem, wouldn't you?
We'd go over and give them someadvice.
Yeah, give them some advice.
And why would we do that?
John Buchholz (24:03):
Because we believe in helping everyone
learn the correct methods andthe safe way of doing things,
because you have enough peoplecomes back to help you as well.
AC Lockyer (24:15):
That's right, Zig Ziglar, if you help enough
people get what they want,they'll help you get what you
want, and so that property owner, that that engineer on the
facility, that homeowner mayjust go.
Oh, that was for the birds.
Next year I'm going to call who?
John Buchholz (24:34):
Well, hopefully, Pelican Pro Wash was you but
soft wash systems
AC Lockyer (24:38):
We're gonna call John or a local soft wash
systems Pro, yeah, and so yeah,so it's very, very cool.
So, guys, yeah if you'reinterested in purchasing the
products, and all you cancertainly in here will be a link
for you guys to go visit theWash Life store or any of our
distributors that do carry ourproducts.
But if you want to engage themuscle of soft wash systems guys
(24:59):
like John, our different softwash systems pros around the
country you can go ahead and goahead and click on the link.
It'll take you to our dealerlocator map.
We showed that at the beginningof the show when we flew into
John's area and you could seewhere John was.
You'll see we have about 150soft wash systems license
affiliates in eight countriesaround the globe and we are
(25:21):
growing, and so pretty muchanybody that's watching this
video.
We're perfectly willing to helpyou and coach you on how to
take care of these substrates,stains, with the techniques,
chemicals and procedures thatyou need to be able to clean
these areas.
But if you do get to the pointwhere you're like I don't think
I want to do this anymore youcan go ahead and click on that
(25:44):
location tab and we'll take youto a map and you can pick your
local SoftWatch Systems Pro.
Hey, john, this is great.
I'm so glad you're on here.
Thank you so much for joiningus today.
John Buchholz (25:57):
Thanks for having me.
AC Lockyer (25:58):
All right, great.
All right guys.
This is AC Lockyer with Ask aSoftWatch Systems Pro.
See you later.
Thank you.
Hey guys, this is AC Lockyer here and this is Ask a
Soft Wash Systems Pro.
Now, this is a podcast where wego over the surface, the stain,
the tools, chemicals andtechniques you need to clean
your home or property.
And this week, hailing from thebeautiful state of North
Carolina, specifically fromWilmington, north Carolina, we
(00:40):
have John Buchholz.
Hey, John, how's it going?
Hey, now, when we're talkingabout Hardie board siding, you
are especially in a part of thecountry that has a lot of
traditional homes and sotraditional homes back in the
day they used to use cedarsiding or pine siding on, and
especially homes around the turnof the century they got away
(01:02):
from that for a while and wentto concrete block homes and they
were not beautiful, and inabout the last 30 years it has
absolutely exploded that peoplewant that beautiful turn of the
century, going into the 1900s,20th century home that's got the
beautiful board siding on itand the wraparound porches And's
just a, you know, either acountry home or a victorian home
(01:24):
or a coastal type of home, andthey require this siding.
But termites love siding, yeah,and so when you're, when you're,
looking at this, they're likewell, how do we come up with
something that termites aren'tgoing to eat, and the company
James Hardie, which is one ofthe manufacturers that make this
(01:46):
concrete board, this genre ofsiding James Hardie board.
They started making thisproduct.
Now some other companies havestarted making it too, and it
can be difficult to clean, butthey did this to make it a
longer lasting product that'snot going to be attacked by WDOs
(02:07):
, wood destroying organisms,things like carpenter, ants,
termites and, of course, ourfavorite WDO mold, mildew, algae
, lichens, bacteria, mosses,things like that.
So why don't you just tell us alittle bit about what you have
experienced when you come up tothese homes that have Hardie
board.
What are some of the conditionsthat you're seeing?
John Buchholz (02:31):
Well, here in our area we're a coastal community,
so we see a lot of sun damageto the Hardie board and then
it's always wet pretty much, sothere's tons of mold and algae
growing on the sides of thehouse and then lots of UV damage
(02:52):
from you know, just thebrightness of the sun just close
to the coast.
AC Lockyer (02:57):
Yeah, we're all very , very aware of the mold, mildew
, algae, dirt, grime getting onhomes.
But one of the conditions thatgenerally consumers don't
acknowledge or recognize rightaway is, once you clean all of
that off, then you'll find,primarily on the southern and
western sides of the homes thatget the most sunlight.
(03:17):
You'll find that these colorthrough building substrates like
the Hardie board board, thatthey actually come in a color
and they think I'm never goingto have to paint this home ever
again.
They realize, wow, all of myHardie board or this particular
genre of material has gotten UVdamage on, it, has gotten sun
bleached and it even has anoxidation on it that if you rub
(03:40):
your hand on it it gets chalky.
And we sometimes, when we cleanthose, the customer's like, oh
my goodness, your chemicalsruined my Hardie board.
And it's not that at all, it's,we've exposed a problem, so
let's address that.
Secondly, let's talk about inthe step or the order that
(04:02):
somebody would want to take careof this, because, after all
this, is a podcast where thehomeowner or property owner can
get information and try toattack this problem themselves,
and so we want to give them somereally, really good guidance on
that.
However, if they do get to thepoint where they are in over
their heads or they prefer notto attack it themselves, we're
(04:24):
letting them know what a realprofessional company would do to
solve this problem, and then,if they can't find that
professional company in theirarea, they could certainly step
out or reach out to SoftWashSystems, and we'd be happy to
send one of our SoftWash Systemspros out to take a look at
their problem and give them aproposal to take care of that.
So when you pull up to thesehomes now and you're getting
(04:47):
ready to give an estimate, youwalk around the home and you're
seeing these conditions.
What are some of the organicstains that you're seeing on
there?
Go ahead and give me thelisting of the most common to
least common and the leastevasive to the most evasive the
least evasive to the mostevasive.
John Buchholz (05:09):
So it's going to be deep down, it's going to be
the your green mold and algae,and that's primary, primarily
what we're seeing.
And when this goes to the, ifit goes black, it's going to be
really tough to get off andthere's normally a lot of paint
damage underneath that justbecause it's eating away at it.
(05:30):
um, and then also in our areawe have dirt gobblers that get
in there also have havoc onthose, because once they're in
Florida, we call them muddaubers, yeah, and those dad gum
wasps that get up there andmake those nasty mud nests that
just literally eat through paint, eat through stucco, it's just
(05:52):
eat through building surfaces.
They're ridiculous yeah, wealways tell them to go ahead and
knock it down as soon as yousee it forming.
It doesn't cause as much damageto the surface.
Those are pretty much the mainthings for us that we run into.
AC Lockyer (06:12):
Yeah, because you're on an East Coast coastal, so
you're going to see thegliocapsa magma, which is the
black streaking.
You're going to see somemustard algae.
Especially in the winter, itseems, seems to flash, bloom out
and that's kind of a greenishcolor.
Uh, people actually get it inpools too.
It gets in your pool, gets inthe surface of your home, and
that's a winter phenomenon andthose things are a little easier
(06:35):
to clean.
When do you know a homeowner orproperty owner is really in
trouble with their Hardie boardsiding?
John Buchholz (06:46):
When they start having the moss growing on the
side of their house, we do runinto that and again, if the
algae and mold is turning colors, that's really when the house
is really in desperate need of acleaning.
And then around here we alsohave salt in the air and that's
(07:08):
also eating away at the paintand surface as well.
So you just we try to get inthere and tell them they need to
really have them clean every 12to 18 months to help protect
the longevity of theirinvestment, their home.
AC Lockyer (07:23):
Yeah, and that's and that's when we really talk
about cause, just like a boat, Iused to fish tournaments
professionally in the saltwater,in shore saltwater fishing, and
every time you took your boatout of the water you would need
to make sure that you rinse itout, hooked a hose up to the
engine, rinse out the engine,make sure you wash the boat.
And one of the products that wedeveloped at SoftWash Systems
(07:45):
Final Wash back when I used tofish tournaments literally our
Final Wash, because it is a goodstewards product.
It's biodegradable, water-based, low VOC.
I would literally, while myboat was in the water, if I was
keeping it in a slip the week Iwas fishing the tournaments, I
would literally wash down theboat with the Final Wash and it
breaks up the salts and alsoneutralize them so they can't
(08:06):
corrode the boat with the finalwash and it breaks up the salts
and also neutralize them so theycan't corrode the boat.
And we do that too with thehomes and when you're dealing
with coastal properties, whetherthe home has mold and mildew on
it or not, you really got tomake sure that at least yearly
if you're on the beach, ifyou're actually right on the
water and you're getting windand salt spray in your home
(08:28):
quarterly, you need to make surethat you wash it down with our
final wash product and that's awhole nother discussion but what
I've also seen around thecountry because you're there in
Wilmington.
What I've also seen around thecountry is really thick mold and
mildew and we were talkingabout earlier.
On the southern and westernsides.
(08:48):
You get UV damage on the northand eastern sides because in the
morning you get sunlight, butit's moist sunlight.
So you've always heard the BoyScouts saying how do you know
which way you're going throughthe woods?
How do you find north in thewoods?
You look on the sides of thetrees and the sides of the trees
that have moss on them is thenorth facing side, and the north
(09:09):
facing side of a home canreally get obliterated by mold,
mildew, algae.
If we're going into mosses andlichens, that's the side that's
likely going to have it, and I'msure you found in your area
(09:33):
that on the north sides of thehomes.
You know some of the homes arestrategically placed and they
get a lot of sun.
John Buchholz (09:36):
Some of them are facing north and they just get
whacked with the organics thatthey do.
Yeah, yeah, it takes a wholelot more effort to get them
clean at that point in time.
AC Lockyer (09:42):
So when you say more effort, what are we talking
about?
John Buchholz (09:46):
Um a lot of time, like we're having to do
multiple applications to get itto come clean, so that we're not
using pressure to try to removeit because we wanted to
sanitize the surface and kill itoff or it's not gonna just come
back, it's gonna have to be newgrowth that gets it to um that
would start growing the side ofthe house.
(10:06):
So in our method of doing that,with our soaps that we use um,
it helps everything stay cleanerlonger.
Um, which we always tell peoplelike you know it works so good
that you you know you don'tyou're not calling everybody as
often because it just staysclean longer and um, which is
(10:30):
good for them.
It's better value for thecustomer and everything.
AC Lockyer (10:32):
But so you made two really, really strong points.
There is sometimes it's goingto take multiple applications
one thing you didn't mention,which I I know you do, but we
see it a lot in the extremenortheast, the stream northwest
of.
We have licensed affiliates inthe UK, so the further North you
go in England, I remembercleaning a building in Scotland
(10:53):
and it literally had 200 yearsof moss on it.
It was moss almost as old asour country, you know.
And so, yeah, just reallyreally extreme conditions there.
But sometimes you have to takeout a scrub brush and so we
don't go to a pressure washerlike most companies.
(11:15):
And hey, listen, if you're ahomeowner or a property owner
and you're listening to thispodcast, you're watching this
YouTube video and you're tryingto figure out how to clean your
property yourself.
Don't go to a pressure washer.
Don't use a pressure washer,because pressure washers are
extremely treacherous anderoding on Hardie board siding.
Have you ever seen homes thathave been pressure washed before
(11:38):
when you go out to your jobs,that they maybe chose the wrong
contractor before you and you'veseen damage on the Hardie board
?
Have you seen that?
John Buchholz (11:48):
We see that a lot , and a lot of times it's a
homeowner that doesn't realizethey're going to the damage
until it starts to dry and thenthey kind of it's like you can
see, it's pretty much to thelevel that their wand would
reach yes, the step ladder,because they're out there on
that doing it or on extensionladder being, you know this, far
from the house.
AC Lockyer (12:07):
And they're just causing.
John Buchholz (12:09):
It's like a little, uh, kind of like a
zigzag type thing.
We call it the mark of zaro,yeah, and sometimes they
actually take chunks out of theHardie board.
I mean it, it can be pretty,pretty bad when they do that
AC Lockyer (12:25):
and Hardie board is not a cheap surface, so you
don't want to do that and haveto replace it.
If you have done that and youjust have wand strokes in it,
sometimes it's on the southernand western side, because
they've merely just strippedaway a little bit of the
oxidation, which we'll talkabout that.
That's a solvable problem andwe can.
We're going to teach you guys alittle bit on that.
(12:46):
We're going to run through someof these things pretty quick.
But, you definitely don't wantto pressure wash them, so you're
going to treat them, sometimesmultiple times, and you're going
to hit them with a scrub brush.
What are we treating them with?
These are products that we usehere at Soft Wash Systems, but
you can also purchase them outthere with many of our
distributors around the country.
What products are we using?
John Buchholz (13:16):
So this is our Trinity mix and it's sodium
hypochlorite, which is a tonguetwister, and especially this
early in the morning.
But, then greenwash, whichimpacts all the organic matter,
and then our TerraWash, whichgoes after all the dirt and
grime, and then sometimes we addin a rain fresh.
That helps it cover scent,because when you're killing all
that nastiness off your house itreally can start to stink a
(13:39):
little bit.
So we're with that.
AC Lockyer (13:42):
Yeah, and that's the other point too that you made a
few moments ago is you saidwhen we treat a surface we're
sanitizing it.
We actually have lab proven99.8 kill ratio against the
algae, mold, mildew, lichens,bacterias, viruses, mosses,
lichens, all of those things.
Okay, fungus is growing on thehome.
(14:03):
We get that 99.8 kill ratiowhether you're using a soft wash
systems licensed affiliate oryou've gone to one of our stores
, like the Wash Life store, topurchase those products yourself
, which you can do.
It's kind of likedo-it-yourself pest control At
the Wash Life store we do havewhere homeowners can come in
there and purchase theseprofessional level chemicals.
(14:24):
They're all labeled correctlyand they're available to you.
Level chemicals they're alllabeled correctly and they're
available to you and you can tryto tackle the job yourself, and
many, many times you can,especially if you catch it in
its early stages.
But we actually do sanitize thesurface and that's why it stays
clean so long for sure.
(14:45):
All right, good.
So we know that the trendy mixat that one to 2% sodium
hypochlorite, the green wash atone ounce per gallon, the Tara
wash at one ounce per gallon andthe rain fresh at one ounce per
gallon, we know that we canspray that on a home, we can
agitate a little bit, we canrinse it, we can do multiple
steps of that to remove safelyand without pressure, without
(15:09):
degrading the surface, thosedifferent organic stains off of
the home.
But now we've rolled around tousually the southern or western
side.
We clean the home and the homedries after we clean it.
What have we discovered?
The condition that exists nowon the Hardie board siding.
John Buchholz (15:31):
All the oxidation uv damage the white.
If you rub your finger acrossit, the the white um haze.
AC Lockyer (15:36):
That ends up coming off like dust on your fingers
yes, and dealing with thatreminds me of the karate kid.
Do you remember the movie thekarate kid?
I know you're a little youngerthan me, but you certainly watch
Cobra Kai, right that I have.
Yeah, okay, cool.
So the old Mr Miyagi wax on waxoff, wax on wax off.
(15:56):
If you had this condition on acar, this is the same oxidation
you would get on a car with apaint job.
Okay, you have to use a rubbingcompound and rub it off and
then come back and wax the car,remove the oxidation and wax the
car.
And so how we achieve that?
(16:16):
Using our soft wash systems,chemicals that are available out
there to property owners.
How do we achieve that?
Describe that process a littlebit.
John Buchholz (16:27):
So that process I am going to say before you go
applying any product to the sideof the house, make sure you do
a test spot first.
AC Lockyer (16:37):
Yes, so that's step one.
After we tell you what to do,do a little test spot and make
sure it's going to work and makesure it's the result that you
want.
John Buchholz (16:47):
Then you would be pre-wetting the side when
you're going to clean,especially in the sun, so it
cools the surface down, so thatit will actually do it, not just
evaporate as soon as theproduct is inside the house.
AC Lockyer (17:03):
Yes, you want to make sure you pre-moisten it so
that it gets all the oxidationand all that surface wet and
ready to receive the chemicalbut cools it down so you don't
flash burn it with the chemicaland create a blotchy effect on
the side of the home.
John Buchholz (17:17):
so, getting back to the uv damage, oxidation, um,
we would use a product calledoxy wash, where, again, we
pre-wet the surface, we spray iton there with a pump up sprayer
.
We got a little nice littlebattery, one that gets to some
nice distance.
You have to brush every inch ofthe side of the house.
AC Lockyer (17:39):
Hold on, hold on.
There's not a miracle chemicalout there that you can just
spray on and it just removes allthis oxidation.
John Buchholz (17:45):
I mean, that would be nice.
AC Lockyer (17:46):
Let me know.
I'm sure there's a Mr Miyagi inhere laughing somewhere.
it's like remove the oxidation.
John Buchholz (17:58):
So you brush it, you know, from the top down and
um, and you make sure you'rekeeping it wet as you're doing
it, and then you reallythoroughly rinse and then it's
good to go.
Yeah, some of the paint mighthave had issues before that you
exposed even more.
But it's just just make surethat you're setting those giving
(18:20):
the homeowner or the homeownerhimself realizing, hey, I might
expose something, right.
AC Lockyer (18:27):
You have to set their expectations.
You know the older the Hardieboard is, the longer the organic
materials have been allowed tofester on it, the lesser
desirable results you're goingto get.
The more oxidation there is,the less desirable results
you're going to get.
Or you bought a home where theprevious owner put off taking
(18:50):
care of these stains, and that'swhen normally Hardie board is
color through, it comes in acolor.
You shouldn't have to paint ahome with Hardie board,
especially if you take care ofit correctly In your lifetime.
As long as you're here on thisearth, you should not have to
paint Hardie board unless it hasbeen neglected or abused or
(19:11):
shot with a pressure washer orsomething like that, or gotten
holes or chips in it.
You got to come back in andbondo it and there's kits that
they make for that that jamesalready sells and then you have
to paint it.
So now you're dealing withpainted Hardie board, which
probably makes your tummy go.
Yeah, because painted Hardieboard can be tough to clean.
(19:35):
Yeah, it's usually because thepeople who painted it didn't
prep it right.
And now you're coming in toclean that Hardie board that's
had paint on it, and even with asoft washing technique, which
is only about aboutI.
Just enough pressure to applythe chemicals.
The chemicals do all thecleaning and we just rinse it
(19:56):
away.
With about 140 pounds persquare inch about double the
strength of a garden hose.
We rinse it off of the building, sometimes because poor prep
was done and they didn't killthe organics underneath.
The organics started growingand the paint has started
bubbling or separating.
You get paint removal andblistering and peeling and stuff
(20:18):
like that.
And that's not our fault,correct,
John Buchholz (20:23):
Correct, not our fault.
AC Lockyer (20:25):
Yeah, so you know, when you, when you look at this
James Hardie board and you lookat the conditions as we wrap up
here, this is a project that ahome or property owner could
take on themselves.
An apartment community that hasa maintenance crew, a facility
that has a chief engineer.
This is something that theycould definitely take on
(20:46):
themselves, but it can beexhaustive themselves.
But it can be exhaustive whenyou go out and clean, like a
very typical for these types ofhomes, because they're generally
custom homes.
These homes are usually in the3,000 square foot plus range.
They're four bedroom, threebath, living room, tv room, loft
(21:07):
type of thing, big, nicekitchen.
These are pretty big homes Withour trucks, with our trucks and
our equipment, our techniciansand as well-equipped as we are
doing these.
How long does it take for youto clean the Hardie board on a
home like that?
John Buchholz (21:26):
Normally it's anywhere from two to four hours
and it's normally it coulddepend on how many levels you
know if it's one story, twostory, the amount of dormers
that they could have, the accentpieces that they put above the
roof line, type things.
Sometimes you're having to geton a ladder or our saving glory
is to get old water fed poles tobe able to get the, but you can
(21:48):
still be both feet on theground, um, um.
So yeah, if you don't havethose things and the safety
stuff you know, if you are usingladders, make sure you get the
stabilizers on there so it's notgoing to be moving, shifting on
you, um, but yeah, it'snormally about two to four hours
from.
You know, setting up, taking,know all the property protection
(22:09):
stuff we do.
AC Lockyer (22:17):
Because you tape off all the outlets.
You watch for nice littleintercom and speaker systems,
for all these new securitycameras on the homes.
I mean sometimes it takes anhour just to get the home ready
for this exterior soft washing.
John Buchholz (22:29):
And having to watch for some of those, uh,
painted and wood stained doors.
AC Lockyer (22:34):
Very, make sure you're being careful with those
yeah, it can be difficult, soit's not uncommon.
I mean you say two to fourhours, but it's not uncommon
when you pull up to some ofthese nice custom homes with
Hardie board on them that it'san all-day just for you and you
do these all the time you are,you are loaded ready, prepared
(22:57):
with all of the cool littletools and techniques and you
know our systems.
We have on the trucks andeverything.
You're ready to do these and itmight take an entire day.
Very true, yeah, what could youimagine it would take a
homeowner to tackle this projectthemselves?
John Buchholz (23:14):
I mean, we've talked to people before where
they said they worked on itevery Saturday for a month and
still didn't get it the way theywanted.
AC Lockyer (23:21):
Wow, that's incredible.
And so you know, if you guys docome to the Wash Life store and
you purchase some of thechemicals and all, we're going
to help you.
We even have some rentalequipment and stuff like that.
Um, but you need to block outsome time on this and really
know what your time is worth.
We're certainly willing to helpyou, and even John you know
(23:42):
John, I'll say this, but I knowyou if the homeowner called you
and said, hey, I just boughtsome stuff and everything else,
could you, could you come overand tell me if I'm doing this
right or not?
You would come over and helpthem, wouldn't you?
We'd go over and give them someadvice.
Yeah, give them some advice.
And why would we do that?
John Buchholz (24:03):
Because we believe in helping everyone
learn the correct methods andthe safe way of doing things,
because you have enough peoplecomes back to help you as well.
AC Lockyer (24:15):
That's right, Zig Ziglar, if you help enough
people get what they want,they'll help you get what you
want, and so that property owner, that that engineer on the
facility, that homeowner mayjust go.
Oh, that was for the birds.
Next year I'm going to call who?
John Buchholz (24:34):
Well, hopefully, Pelican Pro Wash was you but
soft wash systems
AC Lockyer (24:38):
We're gonna call John or a local soft wash
systems Pro, yeah, and so yeah,so it's very, very cool.
So, guys, yeah if you'reinterested in purchasing the
products, and all you cancertainly in here will be a link
for you guys to go visit theWash Life store or any of our
distributors that do carry ourproducts.
But if you want to engage themuscle of soft wash systems guys
(24:59):
like John, our different softwash systems pros around the
country you can go ahead and goahead and click on the link.
It'll take you to our dealerlocator map.
We showed that at the beginningof the show when we flew into
John's area and you could seewhere John was.
You'll see we have about 150soft wash systems license
affiliates in eight countriesaround the globe and we are
(25:21):
growing, and so pretty muchanybody that's watching this
video.
We're perfectly willing to helpyou and coach you on how to
take care of these substrates,stains, with the techniques,
chemicals and procedures thatyou need to be able to clean
these areas.
But if you do get to the pointwhere you're like I don't think
I want to do this anymore youcan go ahead and click on that
(25:44):
location tab and we'll take youto a map and you can pick your
local SoftWatch Systems Pro.
Hey, john, this is great.
I'm so glad you're on here.
Thank you so much for joiningus today.
John Buchholz (25:57):
Thanks for having me.
AC Lockyer (25:58):
All right, great.
All right guys.
This is AC Lockyer with Ask aSoftWatch Systems Pro.
See you later.
Thank you.
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