Posted by Scott Northrop:
I have decided to begin blogging a bit about what is happening at Spraytech, why we are the
correct solution for maintaining the exterior of your assets, how technology is changing the
world of cleaning at a lightening pace, and well whatever else I want to blog about. My
preacher father and dear mother will certainly frown occasionally at my language and will tell
me in texts and phone calls how swearing quickly shows the ignorance of a person, but for
some reason those 4-letter words routinely pop out of my mouth……hopefully careful editing by
one of my mentors will help eliminate some of those. I will be transparent in that I am not
the sharpest tool in the shed; but I will occasionally have moments of brilliance, and I am really
funny, even if you have to think twice about what I wrote/said. I have a ton of opinions, and
sometimes they aren’t popular, but always know, that none of my words aren’t meant to be
offensive or hurtful. So here we go……
FIRST POST: USING DRONE & ROBOTIC TECHNOLOGY TO ELIMATE THE HEADACHE OF
WINDOW AND FAÇADE CLEANING
Commercial property owners have an amazingly difficult task when it comes to maintaining the
exterior of their property or structure. In most situations, anytime the property is over 30’
tall, you must deal with booms, lifts and humans hanging off ropes, to get your windows and
façade clean. As the height of the building increases, so do the headaches and dangers of
maintaining it, because now you are dealing with swing stages, scaffolding, gantry systems etc.
All these items need to be certified, require maintenance, insurance and oh yah, if you use it,
they are going to most likely break again :)). And the real kicker, even if you have a perfectly
fine operating swing stage, you still have to put a human’s life in danger to get on it, just to
clean the windows/façade of your building. Hmmmmmmmm. There is a better
way……using Drones and Robotics to clean your structure.
At Spraytech, we use a combination of drones, robotics, and traditional cleaning methods to
clean your structure. On the ground-level, we have an industrial-grade pump systems that
supply the water and cleaning solution to the drone. The Spraytech team can control the
temperature of the water, the pressure of the water that is being sprayed (PSI), and the amount
of chemistry being used to clean the structure. We never use booms, lifts, ladders, swing-
stages, or scaffolding to get the job done. The drone can apply heated water and chemistry
to the structure in a safe and efficient manner without putting humans in danger.
Our complete exterior commercial cleaning packages include: all exterior facades, windows and
pitched roofs. Our SprayTech team will use conventional cleaning equipment as well as drones
and double-filtered deionized water for a spot-free clean of the entire exterior of your commercial property. The use of drones allows us to get to all the areas of your property that aren’t easily and safely accessible using traditional means.
PROCESS: A water supply hose is “tethered” to the drone (see example videos), supplying the
drone with filtered and heated water. The water is filtered to less than 10 parts per million of
total dissolved solids leaving a spot-free result and customizable pressure to provide the safest
cleaning method. (In most cases, cleaning solutions are not needed but may be added on a
case-by-case basis by customer request.)
For window cleaning, we use our Clean Water System. The water is heated and applied with
moderate pressure. The windows/facades/roof will be cleaned without brushes or any physical
contact. The drone can reach heights of up to 175 feet, and it can operate fully equipped in
wind speeds of up to 20 mph. The drone has a RTK positioning system and several distance
sensors, so the positioning accuracy is within a few cm. All parts of the drone are monitored via
the integrated Health Management System on the remote control. The system warns of any
possible faults delivering the safest cleaning methods possible.
Some Special Considerations:
- The type of material of your facade construction will determine the pressure/heat that
we use while cleaning. Also, whether cleaning solution is used is determined by how
soiled your windows/structure is. - Keep in mind, we will only be able to clean areas that are not obstructed by vegetation
or other obstacles. - We do not move vegetation or other obstacles of the exterior surface.
- Traditional cleaning techniques are utilized on all areas that are reachable without a
ladder below 20’. - WE DO NOT CARRY LADDERS, ROPES, RAPPELLING SYSTEMS OR ANY EQUIPMENT THAT
PUTS OUR WORKERS IN HARMS WAY.
SOFT & HARD WASH HARD SURFACE CLEANING: Our Spray tech team uses the best industrial
equipment on the market that provides pressure up to 4500 psi and up to 300-degree
heat/steam to thoroughly clean all of your hard surfaces concrete, pavers, flagstone etc.
Amount of pressure (PSI) used, and temperature of water, is dependent on surface type. We
also deploy a surface cleaner (see image) to remove the toughest of surface stains for long-
lasting results. - CLEANING SOLUTIONS: Our Spray Tech team uses the best in industry cleaning solutions and
preservation solutions to enhance the cleanliness of your property. Our recommendation is
not to add the cleansers on at time of booking so our technicians can first access the depth of
organic and non-organic pollution on your property. Oftentimes, the use of our spot-free
water and heat does the trick, making cleaning solutions unnecessary. Our technicians can
review our post-clean treatment products that will enhance the length of your structure and
you can decide at time of cleaning.
We truly hope you consider us the next time you clean the exterior of your structure. At the
very minimum, we will give you another option that you probably have never even heard of.
Thank you for taking the time to read my thoughts. All of us here at the Spraytech team would
love to earn your business. Call us at 1-888-264-0225 or email info@spraytech.io!