Water.
Lots of water.
High-pressure water.
And drainage.
Steam is a miracle-worker.
Learn how to spray wide and evenly from a spray bottle. Get some strength in your trigger finger.
Power tools. Everyone uses power tools.
Specialised tools. Carpet cleaners use a special long centrifuge.
A workshop with jig-saws and drilling turrets.
Tape, nails, screws, drill bits, nuts and bolts, rawlpugs, in all sizes; glue, solvent, and cleaners; spare tins and plastic bowls; saws, files, and other tools you don't know exist and won't use again.
The car detailers use a special brushes to clean tirewalls, and other special brushes to get round all the chrome and grilles. They have vacuum cleaners with long flexible hoses. They take the front seats out. You and I have no idea what's involved in taking the front seats out.
Trade products, not stuff from the supermarket. Especially Trade Paint.
Sometimes you need the chemicals. You know which chemicals you need, right?
Most of the time spent on a painting and decorating job is not spent painting or decorating. It's spent on prep. Most of the time on any job is spent on prep.
Putting down sheets to protect against dust, stray paint and cut down the clean-up time.
Only plastic sheets protect against paint spills.
Filling up little holes, sanding down little lumps, sanding old paint surfaces.
The more time you put into prep, the less time you put into the activity itself.
Use masking tape. The guy saying you too can paint a straight line has forgotten how long it took him to learn.
Practice. Lots of practice.
Cleaning the outside is easy. It's cleaning the inside that's difficult.
If you clean the dirt off one side, a lot of it just goes through the material to the other.
But the thing I really learned is... some people are able to live with amounts of filth and dirt I find unimaginable. When you see them - in the 'customer reaction' shot - they look like ordinary people. Some of them will bring the same thing back to be cleaned only six months later.
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