[Richard iSparkle]

Am looking into pressure washing as an add on service to my window cleaning business.

Does anyone know about SmartSeal?  They offer a complete business package as well as, what appears to me at least, a very large range of specialist products for cleaning and restoring hard surfaces.  Seems like for every differnt surface they have a different cleaner, different treatment, different stains, different oil removal etc etc.

are they any good?  what does anyone think of them?

thanks

[bobplum]

i thought they were a double glazing company

[WGB]

Yea when i started out about 3 and half years ago before i started cleaning windows i bought my pressure washing equipment of them which is prob as good as ur going to get my washer is still running fine, but the sealing end of it is pretty weather dependent (april-september) especially block paving sealing which needs 3 consecutive dry days before you can put it down because joints in paving need to dry out properly or will make the sealant turn a misty white colour because of trapped moisture. There sealant is expensive to buy too and can run into quite alot of money when pricing jobs up after you put ur profit on which i thought put alot of custys off just for a couple of coats of sealant but does look very well when you have paving cleaned, resanded and sealed. I found the best money was in restoring tarmac drives but not with smartseal tarmac restorer if the tarmac is any way rough at all ur 20 liters for for close to £100 will not go far at all roughly around 30-40 square meters. U want an asphalt slurry sealant called masterseal which can be found here http://www.fernwood.co.uk/html/fernmac-asphalt-sealcoating.htm which comes in 200 litre barrels for little over £100 but that 200 liters is consentrated and you will have to add ur own sand and water which will make it over 300 liters which will make it into a nice thick slurry which will smooth rough tarmac out and give it that new look again compared to smartseal tarmac restorer which is just as thick as paint and 10 times the price. So would defo advise to go with tarmac restoring end of it for the low cost material and higher profits. hope this helps. Wayne

[Richard iSparkle]

Yea when i started out about 3 and half years ago before i started cleaning windows i bought my pressure washing equipment of them which is prob as good as ur going to get my washer is still running fine, but the sealing end of it is pretty weather dependent (april-september) especially block paving sealing which needs 3 consecutive dry days before you can put it down because joints in paving need to dry out properly or will make the sealant turn a misty white colour because of trapped moisture. There sealant is expensive to buy too and can run into quite alot of money when pricing jobs up after you put ur profit on which i thought put alot of custys off just for a couple of coats of sealant but does look very well when you have paving cleaned, resanded and sealed. I found the best money was in restoring tarmac drives but not with smartseal tarmac restorer if the tarmac is any way rough at all ur 20 liters for for close to £100 will not go far at all roughly around 30-40 square meters. U want an asphalt slurry sealant called masterseal which can be found here http://www.fernwood.co.uk/html/fernmac-asphalt-sealcoating.htm which comes in 200 litre barrels for little over £100 but that 200 liters is consentrated and you will have to add ur own sand and water which will make it over 300 liters which will make it into a nice thick slurry which will smooth rough tarmac out and give it that new look again compared to smartseal tarmac restorer which is just as thick as paint and 10 times the price. So would defo advise to go with tarmac restoring end of it for the low cost material and higher profits. hope this helps. Wayne

thanks Wayne,

thats all really helpful.

would you not recommend using the smart seal products for this reason then?  are there better priced alternatives for all of them?

[telfordwindowclnr]

Hi. I am a smartseal registered installer. I have no ulterior reason for saying this, I am not on commission, but they are brilliant. Not just brilliant, absolutely brilliant.  I have a lot of dealings with them.  Check out my allaround website. On there are pics from jobs I have done using their products. They are not cheap products, but they are the best, without doubt.

If you want more info, feel free to ring me tomorrow on my mobile.

[telfordwindowclnr]

Yea when i started out about 3 and half years ago before i started cleaning windows i bought my pressure washing equipment of them which is prob as good as ur going to get my washer is still running fine, but the sealing end of it is pretty weather dependent (april-september) especially block paving sealing which needs 3 consecutive dry days before you can put it down because joints in paving need to dry out properly or will make the sealant turn a misty white colour because of trapped moisture. There sealant is expensive to buy too and can run into quite alot of money when pricing jobs up after you put ur profit on which i thought put alot of custys off just for a couple of coats of sealant but does look very well when you have paving cleaned, resanded and sealed. I found the best money was in restoring tarmac drives but not with smartseal tarmac restorer if the tarmac is any way rough at all ur 20 liters for for close to £100 will not go far at all roughly around 30-40 square meters. U want an asphalt slurry sealant called masterseal which can be found here http://www.fernwood.co.uk/html/fernmac-asphalt-sealcoating.htm which comes in 200 litre barrels for little over £100 but that 200 liters is consentrated and you will have to add ur own sand and water which will make it over 300 liters which will make it into a nice thick slurry which will smooth rough tarmac out and give it that new look again compared to smartseal tarmac restorer which is just as thick as paint and 10 times the price. So would defo advise to go with tarmac restoring end of it for the low cost material and higher profits. hope this helps. Wayne

I agree the surface needs to be in good nick, but slurry seal is a very inferior finish compared to smartseal Tarmac restorer. Good to use if the Tarmac is chipping badly, but if the clippings are only just beginning to come away, smartseal Tarmac stuff is the business.

[WGB]

Smartseal would probably be one of the best companies out there for this kind of stuff there is another one called adseal www.advancedsealingsolutions.co.uk which have a good range too. If you go onto ebay and search for these kind of things you will prob get it cheaper but the quality might not be as good and not last as long. Cant really go wrong with smartseal equipment for good quality. Here is another site for pressure washing equipment they have a vast range of equipment and might be a bit better priced for the same brand of equipment than smartseal http://www.malcleanse.co.uk/ i have bought of these also with no problems.

The main reason why i want to move away from the sealing end of things is the weather. Im from N.Ireland and the only difference between the winter and summer here is that the rain is warmer in summer There is quite a high charge for shipping sealant over here too because it is flamable. If you are gonna have an add on service of pressure washing/sealing would recomend the sites that i have mentioned for quality. Wayne.

[Richard iSparkle]

Thanks Wayne and thanks Steve.

Really helpful.

I'll give you a call sometime soon Steve.  Thanks for your kind offer of help.

Richard