MMI Enterprises

Think their Superpimp beat them up and they never heard from again.. :)

On the pressure treated.. no it just means that at least some methods and results of pressure treating I seen leave the wood not as strong as it once was. When pressure treated is used or advised for use in a structure it more often than not is on the parts that are close to where the insect/rot may occur namely near ground level. This also happens to be where there is less exposure though to direct sun and constant heavy expansion...like say under a deck. It doesn't go through as quik a wet to dry/cold to hot cycles that can cause all the warping and damage and it is of course resistant to the insect damage hence it makes for good use on decks. Stick it in a verticle situation of say a pergola or for fence posts without protecting it and watch it fall apart or blow down is my feeling. We had hundreds and hundreds of fences blow down here recently and plenty were pressure treated posts. PT is no cure all IMO. On the Omax.. I use Omax, is durable good looking stuff. Can't say it is easy as I know not yer abilities but I find it easy with the right equipment. With a pump up sprayer and soap and water I would have to call it a nightmare.. The horizontals don't really fall into a deck catagory as the speak of horizonatl deck surfaces relates to foot traffic use and it's degradation effects. Here is some pics for your consideration of omax redwood: ..home owner didn't find it easy so he brought me in. You'll be hating life if you hand brush a 20x20 pergola..

Make sure the little reed/magnet thingy(or whatever it is..lol) is not moving and is clamped down. Vibration changes worked mine loose to where just the slightest change in machine running would not let it make the circuit.

That anywhere from 2-4x too low even at entry level pricing. Add in that a decent portions of 3k homes are gonna be 2 story and they be workin for only half their beer money.

There are ways to turn wood gray without staining. (don't ask)... Time does it naturally via UV light or there are chems that can do it. However the usual needs of exterior wood is for it to have amounts of moisture/oils, natural oils to where the expansion related damages of warping, splitting, cupping, etc. are minimized. If usual penetrator type oil protectors are used over such I believe it usually looks like hell as the flat silver is lost to dark uglyness. just my oppinion... I'd have to say we have another case here for the Olympic Max products due to wanting low to no maintenance and fact that once the plants grow all over it it will never get done again. Do it in that trendy nantucket gray if ya like.. Could also try out them expensive silica densifier products like sealwise(sp?) to force a petrify on it. But then you can never go back to it being like wood again and many would contend it not time tested enough. I would not go pressure treated for several reasons...looks like hell, not as strong as solid wood. Process hollows it out and takes away all the good stuff. Yes it disease, insect/rot protected but it will warp, crack and fall apart just fine compared to normal wood. If you do a one time semi trans protection with most any product it will likely still be standing in 10-15 year but will be rickity and perhaps an eye sore. If you solid stain it with say a cabbot solid oil product it should be structurally good for awhile longer but it will likely show lots of ugly wear and need a new coat in 5 to 10 maybe sooner depending on exposure and watering habbits, etc..Most new construction installs with your requirements just turn to solid staining which wll keep the wood texture unlike paint.

Can we get pics of all the doggie poop accumulation when the snow melts please? :)

Yes Sammy and Ronnie was good stuff. An older friend of mine told me once that he gave Sammy a ride to a local station before he made it big and straight up claimed he was gonna be like the biggest rock star... Kinda turned out that way too for awhile there in leading VanHalen on a couple good album. I mean it wasn't VanHalen and it wasn't the red rocker Sammy that I knew and liked but it was something. When I was a kid I rocked out to DangerZone by Sammy and Wango Tango by that other crazy mofo The Nuge. The Nuge is a slaya mang!! ..round about that time I got the pox and missed the Stones at the Stick for their 'day on the green' which was toted to be their last gig ever...haha. yea right. Hey did ya all hear Candlestick is once again?

Anyone want the flu?. I have it and all I got to do is breathe on ya...haha. In old days they stick everyone together and get it over with all at once.... But mang..this stufff is bad this year try stay clear of it. Almost as bad as 4 year back when I had that asian junk. This time I made mistake of going up the hill into elevation before it was gone. Wife and I both got so pukey sick up there and when I got back down my ears would not pop. Took 5 sudephed, 2 phenerin, 3 acetametaphin to get the putrid lump of bile to move from my head to my chest and that didn't happen until like 4 in the mornin. ...should I edit that for my customers?..lol... :) ..sorry, just changin the subject..

what happen..a bunch of runoff?

[singing]The band on the run is searching everyone!! for their hot wings..haha... ..man that was a different time and place. Think I caught it in rerun though as I remember blasting ac/dc, led zep, montrose..as well as 45's and 8tracks of elvis, merle haggart, dolly parton, willie nelson, kc and the sunshine band, glen cambell ..you name it. Those other things called 78's we had a collection of too.. odd growing up hearing rock one minute then weird old stuff with titles like "this old house" the next. Some how even weirder comedy lp's based on robin hood got twisted in as well. People don't realize it but much of the newer catch tunes, rythms, etc. are based off such old parody/mockings.

Latex as meaning physically an emulsion (generic definition) has been around forever. Doesn't latex's departure from standard old time oil/milk/lime/ (casein oil latex paint), which were full of all sorts of other dangerous chems, to a water emulsion based (still a casein latex paint) get credited to Sherwin's Kem-Tone paint of the mid to late 1930's? They cover the Earth is what they say.. :) ps--The advancement away from oil allowed the product not to spoil was one aspect far as I can tell...

You'de have to ask it's manufacture of course for specific info but...... ...I suspect it an alkyd emulsion and, if not mistaken, it's carrier is solvent-borne. To imply it dives different with water present than without could simply mean that it's choice of emulsion maker (emulsifier) or additive, which comes by way of a surfactant/detergent, leans the mix higher on a hydrophilic-lipophilic balance scale more towards being more water soluable than oil soluable. This has to do with Bancroft's rule which often goes the way side since all we hear is oil or water through our limited layman ears...myself not excluded. - Bancroft rule - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

"The terms solvent-based or water-based are not, strictly speaking, accurate. The coating is not `based’ on water or solvent, but is either dissolved or suspended in it. The terms `water borne’ and `solvent borne’ are more accurate descriptions."

That said...usual method of imparting protection by a water product is to instill some form of a synthetic resin/binder to the mix to both seal out moisture and trap in the pigments, biocides stuff. They don't have to have such but it is advantagous for product to last longer and pigments to not come out. The more resin there is the thicker it likely be hence making for possability of shinies in the solids sitting on top. Such products used like these they recommend only one coat which helps avoid the problem. Charlie, Perhaps this talk should not go without saying that just cause a product is a water product does not mean there is no oil in it. Oil can be, and is implied as being in them all the time with terms like 'penetrating oil formula'.They been making emulsions of oil and water for years.... Far as future maintenance goes...never can tell. If it a good penetrator with not too much solid there may not be much issues presented down the road to repair or recoat. Thing is, down the road may equal many many years which don't fit into many companies plan for reocurring customer base.. I would have to agree on the idea of focusing on there only being coating manufactures. Any good company perceived as only a paint or stain company has chemists that can make either and often times do make both. Difference between going from a stain to a paint is boosting the amount of pigment to go from transparent to opaque solid and then an increase to the resin/binder to lock it in. Generally speaking I believe many stain bases are made with the correct amount of binder to allow it to tie up from about 2-5% pigment and still keep it's penetration ability and it's per coat integrity. The 'per coat integrity' integrity is of course just a fancy way to descibe having enough binder to lock things in durably for use or further top coating.

Celeste, I would b uy such a drop cloth/tarp.. What I do for my shields is I cut them the perfect size to fit in a 55 gal trash bag. After spraying they come off and can go straight to the fire can.

..don't forget it has to have a detachable symbol clapping monkey that climbs up to the top ridge and roots ya on to completion :)

Why..was it a naughty one? darn..

Aluminum would be best. They take alot of weight. My current ramp is one of the aluminum diamond plate ramps used off the truck docks to remove pallets. Measures about 6x3.5' and is maybe 3/16" thick. Has beveled support rails along sides is all to give it strength. Gettin tired of tossing it in and out and scratching items up with it so I been planning on making a door ramp myself. Hardest thing is to design it so when it drops you have a smooth transition from floor to ramp. I suggest going to a rental lot and looking at their trailers as some are good and some leave a tad to be desired on the transition. My aluminum one has a bend for the transition.

Have to teach them at some point how to squirt in some fashion to live up to the name...maybe turn them into a gleaking tag team. :) Congrats to ya Grandpa!!

All them bushes in the way I'de have to consider the BDA's methods to help get them out my way a few weeks before staining...lol..j/k :)

The conclusion section reads like a free Tibet campaign...Yea maybe we all should worry about too many hands in a manufacture cookie jar/role as it means low wages or job loss but I tend to see same as what Charlie (no pun) sees in this and say our coffers are better suited to weather a storm of imbalances and readjustment of job role. The imbalances to me seem more to be related to job role changes on a mass scale and wealth redistribution is just around the corner so the little man can survive. Isn't it about time that artificial value of things both material and abstract come back to reality?. Look at the houseing market. I have no problem with the adjustment. I didn't suck a ton of artificial equity out of a house and put myself in an upside down situation to buy an artificially priced item made in China, or Germany, etc.. Yes, have compassion for those that are struggling and having to readjust for sure but I don't see people starving in the street yet. Is it fair to say that a decent majority of Americans expect to live like kings and don't really want to break a sweat in harvesting and producing things to export. I think they like their little break and don't see the world for what it is in being a rough labourous place. Not saying we are lazy but that we would rather all be in an office making moneys off abstract things...anyway...Instead of hating Walmart we should hate ourselves for not ruling the kingdom properly in sending out emiceries/war parties to the four corners of the world to bring back the gold and allowing the artsy/soft senate to conspire against us..sorry wrong century and off topic again..:)

Yea the word taxed can be used generically as an amount of stress or burden placed upon an entity. American business is taxed coming and going in all sorts of manner both federal and local isn't it? I don't support making things hard for corps as the corps are everyman just like you and I by way of investing. Why double tax yerself. I support searching out not just equal footing with the rest of the world but rather better footing. I support harvesting resources of other countries. That is how this country grows in comparison to the world. Problem with our harvesting is that we've industrialized them in the process and they have wants too. The bigger the buyer we are (aka wlamart) the more power we could have over them to lower their selling price. Why hate Walmart?. they doing everyone a favour that the goobermint can't. Just change career if made in america puts ya out of business. Yes in the long run we may forget how to make things but hey we'll still have our natural resources in reserve when the rest of the world starts to go dry. Things like oil, wood, minerals is what I mean. Anyway. sorry probably off topic.. :)

I suggest being careful with bleach in this case due to it's byproducts. Color going from blue to green can be from salt... Hardiboard as I know it is a porous masonry type material and so the coating selection may not be a paint persay but rather actually a stain. Now blue stain for concrete or masonry can be made from minerals (aka acid staining). In the case of the color blue the mineral copper is used in the form of coppersulfate pentahydrate. We've all seen things of copper leave, leach, or oxidize a blueish/green residue right? When you add salt to copper sulfate you get copper chloride and it stains crete greener.. If you want to make a fountain look like the statue of liberty go get some root killer and mix it up with salt until you get just the right amount of green you want.. :) ps- not sure what the primer is made of but this Q & A implies you would not want to go through the paint neither as the primer is bluish/green:

Most all is alkyd these days unless using the parrafinic non-drying mineral oil stuff... To be clear, far as mixes and these products go, the alkyd resin portion is what takes time to dry. It is the addition of the blown (heated) and boiled(metalic dryers) oils to a mix that causes a faster dry via the oil/air oxidation/cross link. Generally speaking an alkyd can be anywhere across the board in terms of drying time(short,medium, long) due to mix percentages and how much of it boiled, carrier type, etc., but yet it can have the end flexability/dry out qualities of the various drying oils (short, medium, long) again due to percentages...as I've pointed out before, there are numerous oil paintings still drying out centuries later from when painted. Raw unboiled oils applies there. With that said I realize most use ready made products for exterior wood care and but find it almost useless to hear that an alkyd is being used without discussing it's known qualities. We all know of debackles where this or that didn't dry properly. Alkyd should be thought of as being for durability. And but specific case of moisture resistance, shine, usablity comes to play we need to tread into the 'short or long' of it..just a thought.. :)

Well you could take a long spar oil/marine varnish (a mix of synthetic resins and a high percentage of drying oils such as tung and linseed) and do it up with 1/3 tung and 1/3 naptha. That'll dry quik from the tung and naptha and still have the durability qualities from the varnish as well as the water resistance of the tung. Adding Japan dryer shouldn't even be needed if the selected products are already modified...test out first before doing a customers though.