Summer19_SSCWN

TRICKS OF THE
Perhaps it’s time to call the Kool-Aid man?
The wash I am dismantling has most of the panels (tri foam, spot free, etc) attached to
the brick wall with what looks like a lead anchor with a steel nail in the center. I have used
by 4” grinder on a few, tried to drill but that didn’t go so well. Tried to melt the lead(?) with a
propane torch but lost my patience before I could tell if it was going to eventually work. I have
gotten some great advice here, hoping for yet more. -DAN-ARK
Nothing is easy. Drilling them sometimes lets you
reuse the hole, but I only attempt that with mat
clamps now since there’s a lot of leeway and I enlarge
the 1/4” hole to 5/16”. I mostly grind the heads off
now, still slow and messy (Had a chunk burn a hole
right through my shirt and into my chest last time)
but it gets them flush with the wall. I tried cutting
into the steel pin with a cutoff wheel and chiseling
off the rest, but it took about as long as just grinding.
I don’t know what the material is but it’s probably
not lead or it would melt pretty easily. - MEP001
A 5lb hammer and a pry bar I can pull 95% of
them out. Actually been pulling some out the past 2
weeks at my wash. - TDLCONCEPTSLLC
I think they are called drive rivets and the bodies
are aluminum. They can be nasty to get out and are
just a quick and dirty way to hang things. Someday
that thing will have to be removed from the wall and
someone will have to deal with them. Other than
what has been suggested you can just use a cold chisel
on them but can be damaging to the item you are
removing. Sometimes the head comes off and other
times the whole thing will pull out.
...I remember another way I got them out. Using
the claw end of a small cat’s paw pry bar I was able to
pry the pin out a little ways by hammering it in between
the pin and the anchor head. Then removing
that and using a large heavy duty pry bar I wedged
in the claw end behind the head of the anchor and
pried them out. Still a booger to get out but it is
something else to try. -OURTOWN
When we were remodeling our self serves all of
the signs had those lead anchors we just chiseled the
head off then used the claw end to pull the nail out
and fortunately it pulled the body out as well. But I
will NEVER use those again at my wash. - DIAMOND-
WASH
I am have been ripping down the FRP panels at
my place just looks worn and tired way way way too
many holes from the plastic anchors and I am going
back with just brick stainless anchors no plastic or
lead anchors, to me nothing beats clean brick and extrutech
in an automatic bay and brick in self serve
- DLCONCEPTSLLC
There called “Metal Hit Anchors” or “Metal drive
Anchors” the body is made out of zinc. The easiest
way I’ve found to get them out is to use a chisel on
each side of the nail and break the zinc body in half
and then pull the nail out and the rest of the body of
the anchor should come out. We use plastic anchors
now with a plastic center nail. - RANDY
The last time I put up signs on brick I had some
strips of stainless cut and used plastic sleeves and
stainless countersunk screws to mount the strips,
then used outdoor rated double-stick adhesive to
mount the signs on the stainless strips. I marked and
drilled the holes in the strips so all the holes were
drilled into the mortar so it can be patched easily in
the future. - MEP001
I rehabbed a place that had about a million of
them in the concrete decked ceiling. Tried pulling,
drilling, grinding beating them. The end result for my
location was a propane torch. A minute on each one
and they just dropped out, with a nice clean hole left
behind. Might be a pita on walls if your trying to save
signs, but if you can chop the heads off then follow
with a torch to get the remaining lags out? - PGRZES
Come on in! The water’s hot!
Is hot water a must in self service or will tap water temp for all
services? What about from a customer point of view? - BR549MS
I’ve always heated my high pressure soap and
clear coat in the winter… Actually.... I Have my
GAS turned OFF mid March and turned back on
late September (based on weather). I pay a re-connect
fee .... but end out ahead vs the minimum fee
even if I don’t use gas in a particular month. - CHAZ
I turn off my water heater around the first of
June and leave it off until the end of September.
No one seems to notice/care. - I.B. WASHINCARS
The folks at KR have told me that room temp
water for the SS chemicals is as effective as using
hot water especially with the newer chemicals on
the market - and they could have sold me on a
new hot water tank. When we used hot water in
the winter months no customer noticed nor did
they care when we switched to room temp H2O.
For the IBA we have been told that hot water is
beneficial for Touch-Free IBA machines to get a
better outcome so we use a tankless on demand
system to reduce utility costs. - ROZ
I agree with Roz. We have not heated water in
years. - ROBERT2181
We never used Hot Water in our SS. But we definitely
use it in the IBA. - WATER GUY
I must be in the minority because I supply hot
water for my high pressure soap in all my self service
bays. It usually runs $100 per month for 4 ss
bays and 2 IBA March through October. - SOAPY
I quit using hot water years ago. Too expensive
with very few customers noticing whether the water
was hot or cold. - MEL(NC)
No hot water on self serve bays. I do for the automatic
presoak. Never had a customer complain.
- SPARKEY
I heat water for the HP and foam brush soap .
I have hot and cold T’d together so I can regulate
temp. The colder it is outside the warmer I make
it. I also heat the weep. - EARL WEISS
We have gained some customers because some
of our competitors decided not to repair their
boilers and run all cold water. - OURTOWN
I don’t think it’s all that important to have hot
... continued
28 • SUMMER 2019