The Overhead Cleaning You Didn’t Know You Needed
Performance Industrial takes on one of the most complex — and overlooked — cleaning challenges in commercial facilities.
When was the last time you looked up? In most commercial and industrial facilities, the answer is: not recently. The overhead infrastructure of a warehouse — the roof panels, joists, conduit, and structural beams that hold everything together — quietly collects decades of grease, grime, and dust, largely invisible and almost entirely forgotten. For one undisclosed client with a nearly 50-year-old building, that cycle of neglect was about to end.
Performance Industrial, the South Glens Falls-based commercial and industrial cleaning company whose tagline — Dirty. Difficult. Done. — has become something of a mission statement, was called in to do what most cleaning companies won’t touch: high-pressure power washing of a 26-foot warehouse ceiling, soup to nuts, with full safety protocols and direct accountability to the client.
A Building That Hadn’t Seen a Scrub Brush in Half a Century
The project began with a client who had a vision: a fresh coat of paint on the ceiling and joists of their large open warehouse, paired with updated lighting and a top-to-bottom interior refresh. But before any paint could go on, the surfaces had to be clean — truly clean. And a building approaching 50 years old, with rafters and structural steel that had likely never been washed, presented a significant challenge.
“When you look at a building that’s 50 years old, that’s probably never been cleaned, and those rafters and joists — what we’re able to do with power washing was pretty significant,” said Sean Willcoxon of Performance Industrial. “Even if they decided not to paint, they already have a much cleaner slate.”
The before-and-after photos tell the story more vividly than words can. Decades of accumulated grease and particulate matter, gone — the structural steel returned to a state that some observers mistook for freshly painted rather than simply clean. The transformation was that dramatic.
Safety First. No Exceptions.
Power washing at 26 feet in the air, surrounded by live electrical conduit, data lines, and a fire suppression system, is not a job that leaves room for shortcuts. Performance Industrial treated this project with the same rigor it brings to every job — and then some.
Before a single drop of water was sprayed, the company conducted an extensive pre-project safety review and even completed a test sample as early as May to validate its approach. On site, every team member operating a lift holds a lift certification. Every ground crew member holds an OSHA 10 certification at minimum. Full PPE is mandatory across the board — eye protection, hearing protection, hard hats, and steel-toed footwear.
Because heavy machinery was running inside the facility, the team also wore personal carbon dioxide detectors — individual units on each worker, not just at the perimeter — to protect against the invisible threat of CO buildup in the large enclosed space.
The electrical hazards required a coordinated approach. Performance Industrial partnered with an electrical company to de-energize all power in the areas being cleaned. Exposed power sources, outlets, conduit runs, and data connections were fully protected before any water was introduced. The fire suppression system received similar attention: sprinkler heads were individually covered before cleaning began — and uncovered every single night before the crew left the building. Sprinkler heads are never left covered when Performance Industrial is off-site. Period.
Rounding out the safety framework: the company engaged a third-party safety firm to conduct unannounced monthly assessments. “We’re asking somebody from the outside to come show up and not tell us, so that we can make sure that we’re doing the right thing,” Willcoxon said. “If it’s not taken seriously, people could get hurt.”
Building a Better System on the Fly
One of the hallmarks of Performance Industrial’s work is a relentless pursuit of efficiency without sacrificing quality. On this project, that instinct proved invaluable. The crew started with two lifts on site. They added a third. Then a fourth. As the project progressed, the team developed a choreographed workflow: the lead lift moves out ahead, protecting electrical connections and sprinkler heads; two power washers follow close behind; ground crew handles floor safety and slip hazard control; a large floor machine simultaneously recovers water and cleans the floor surface below. The last lift cycles back to remove all sprinkler head protections at the end of every shift.
The results of that iterative approach speak for themselves. “The amount we can accomplish in a day has probably doubled, with the exact same result — purely because of our wonderful team that’s constantly looking at new ways and efficiencies,” Willcoxon said.
Each morning begins with a daily safety huddle: what was accomplished yesterday, what’s on the agenda today, where all PPE is located, what emergency procedures look like, and where the muster points are. It’s the kind of structured discipline that defines a professional operation — and it’s the same structure Performance Industrial brings to every commercial and industrial job it undertakes.
About Performance Industrial
Founded in 1986 and headquartered in South Glens Falls, New York, with a second location in Albany, Performance Industrial has built its reputation as the region’s go-to source for commercial and industrial cleaning, painting, and flooring. The company serves a broad roster of clients across New York, New Jersey, New Hampshire, Massachusetts, and Vermont — including manufacturers, hospitals, research facilities, universities, casinos, grocery chains, and banks.
Services span industrial cleaning, kitchen exhaust systems, sandblasting and pressure washing, commercial window cleaning, and painting and epoxy floor coatings. The company’s Safety Programs & Certification division reflects the same commitment to doing things right that defines every job they take on.
For the client in this project, Performance Industrial hopes to continue expanding the scope of the work as the building’s refresh continues — and potentially take on the painting phase that follows. But the cleaning alone has already delivered something remarkable: a facility that, for the first time in nearly half a century, shines.
Dirty. Difficult. Done.
Learn more at performanceindustrial.com or call 518.793.9274.
