RPetry

Brian, The 2 decks are ~1200 sq. ft. PT of horizontal and step risers, no balustrade as the perimeter is masonary stucco walls. Also a kind of L shaped built in bench. Hard to describe but relatively little vertical wood. In this area of NJ I would guess tear down and rebuild would be 20-24K. Jon, Yeah, that blue color is kind of scary. Why can't these manufacturers market a product thats reasonable to apply, doesn't cost a ton of $, and is effective on these garbage acrylics? The answer from one manu. was real straight-forward, "wood guys will not pay for a superior product". And I'm sure he is right. Owns the co., makes some of the best strippers in the business for all sorts of applications, and has been doing it for 18 years. As a whole, we're hucksters doing anything to make a quick buck. Has anyone run into an acrylic deck finish that the previous contractor bothered to lay down an oil based primer? How many throw on a quick single application of Ready Seal on the horizontals and grab the check? For that matter, how many even use a decent stain? I admit to taking shortcuts when I first started out. But with a little effort, experience, and the wonderful resources like this board, tried to learn to do things right. In all good conscience and logic, how can anyone work this hard to do a rotten job? Enough said. Reed had a post on another thread that mentioned the word "Jane" written in one layer of acrylic. I'm afraid thats not an exception in this business.

Tony, I do have a large squeeze bulb on the unit for priming. I think Phillip may have hit on something concerning outgassing. May be temp. related but not directly. Possibly the sodium percarbonate creates a lot of byproduct gas initially because of the hot water used to mix. By the time the mix cools, a lot of the outgassing is finished. Guess an easy test would be to just try the Shurflo with plain hot water. Mike, Guess I'm impatient and don't like to stir forever. And I'm not touching the bleach debate! Thanks.

This stuff is insidious. Bad for business, bad for the consumer, IMO bad for wood, and the manufacturers just don't care. After the third deck this spring wanting a "restoration" because of peeling acrylic I decided to make a personal protest and boycott any stain manufacturer that makes this stuff. Guess what? Even Cabot's that I had some respect for the quality of their solid stains is making the stuff. I hate solids. Will take one or two a year when its slow or its a friend or a neighbor of a good customer but come on, build the friggin thing in plastic if you want a painted look. Case in point. Cedar deck, decent size, footprint ~ 800 sq. ft. 5/4 ok wood. Customer likes the look of their neighbor's PT deck and tells the contractor to do the same. Goes on vacation. Two years later the deck is a mess, and the custom made vertical balustrade is rotting. Yeah, an oil based primer should have been used. But come on, once the acrylic fails its only a matter of time before moisture gets into the wood with nowhere to escape. A Delmhorst meter, pins sunk to the max, showed readings between 14% and out of range. Cedar is rotting underneath this nasty stuff, hidden from view. Terrific people. Friendly, down to earth, and kind of understand whats going on. Being a sap for nice people, commit to stripping the horizontals as a first step. Yeah, I can get it off with $200 / 5 gal. stripper, but are they able to pay for the labor in applying this "pudding" by hand to 100' of balustrade ? We both lose. Its no win. Yeah, RemovALL 310. Got a sample to test in the mail today. If it can go through an airless less than the size of a VW bug and works, its a maybe. Spent more money and time wasted on mediocre strippers than anything else in this business. I've got more... Try matching Cabot Soiid colors from different retailers. Or better yet, matching Cabot Solid colors from the same retailer with different solid stains. Or one more....did Valspar really just purchase Cabot's? With the new VOC regs in the Northeast, its only going to get worse. Ok, rant over. Don't feel any better but please...no acrylics on exterior wood.

Mark, You can try & wade through the US Forestry Lab articles at the following link... http://www.firstgov.gov/fgsearch/index.jsp?nr=10&mt0=null&ms0=should&mw0=acrylic+deck+stain&in0=domain&dom0=www.fpl.fs.fed.us+www1.fpl.fs.fed.us+www2.fpl.fs.fed.us&submit=Search&db=www-fed-all&st=AS&rn=10234&parsed=true Or try your own search on that site.

Arbors, (or pergolas as we call 'em on the East Coast) can contain an amazing amount of wood surface due to all four sides being stained. Measured out a 20.5 x 24.5 one last week. Not including the four support posts which were a prefinished synthetic material, the total amount of wood to be stained was 877 sq. ft.

That is music to my ears. I generally turn down acrylic stripping due to the extreme labor of laying it in by hand and cost of BTN. Most people are unable or unwilling to pay the price I have to charge. Meanwhile, their wood swells so there are virtually no gaps left on the horizontals so that water just lays on the wood, adding further moisture underneath the failing coating and promoting rot. I appreciate the airless info and also application tips. Even if I have to hit the vertical wood with a wire brush after the first mist, it sure beats anything else that I have heard or experienced as far as removing acrylics. Dependent on weather, I should get to the job site mid to late this coming week. If I can get my hands on some quantity, I'll spend a day just testing. Thanks again Jon. I'll let you know how I make out on this thread. Maybe I can save a few decks without customers taking out a second mortgage!

Jon, I must be dreaming... ICI's Hydrostrip 503 is the same product as Napier's Removall 310 and it goes through a reasonable airless and costs less than $40 per 5 gals. and it will remove, not just break up in already failed areas, acrylics from wood? I must be dreaming... Never heard of ICI but found a listing for a store ~ 40 miles away. Closed now but I'll try again Monday. If any of my statements are not correct, please respond. My profuse thanks for your help. Gotta settle down and hit myself upside the head. Gotten excited by strippers before only to be let down on the job. But I have read many of your posts over the last few years and you are certainly one of the most experienced and knowledgeable contributors. Thanks again.

Jon, I have an old Binks Super Bee, 3/4 HP, 1/2 GPM, 2500 PSI that weighs a ton but will probably outlast me. I assume this is adequate to push the Removall 310. A little help if you don't mind. Do you have to remove all filters? What size tips do you use? And where do you purchase it? I bought a sample from some company in Ohio and if I recall, their price per 5'er was ~ $250 plus shipping. Seems way out of line as I can purchase the same quantity of Back to Nature BFS II at a local industrial supply for ~ $180. Napier Environmental's distribution in the Northeast seems to be very poor. Boston Restoration Supply outside of the city carries it but thats a long way from NJ. Thanks in advance Jon for any info you can supply.

You may want to print and post this back at the barn.

Got a question. I can purchase straight sodium percarbonate 60 lb. bags at a substantial savings over commercial prepared wood cleaners. Have seen various mixes for wood cleaners, for example The Chemistry Store publishes the following.. Sodium Percarbonate 80% Soda Ash 10% Sodium Tripolyphospate 10% Another formula I have seen is... Sodium Percarbonate 80% Soda Ash 4% Trisodium phospate 15% Non-ionic detergent 1% Question is do I need to use these extra ingredients for an effective cleaner on PT and old fence grade cedar? Without some big commercial mixer, scales, etc. its a bit difficult to mix throughly and accurately. My hope is that ~98% sodium percarbonate in solution and adding a dash of detergent is acceptable. We always use a citric acid brightener after cleaning. Any advice or thoughts would be appreciated. Thanks.

Jon, As far as I know, this is a new Cabot solid just on the market this year. Their specs state that it is a one coat, no primer product. Go to http://www.cabotstain.com/pdf/tds/1600_tds.pdf for more info.

Cabot now has a 1600 series solid decking stain that they claim is a one coat wonder. I used the product on a deck earlier this spring and am initially impressed. The stuff is thick as molasses with a very high solid content and dries to an almost epoxy like finish. Cleaned the lines of my airless with 2 gals. of mineral spirits and had to throw the mineral spirits out, there was so much solid content in solution, similar to grains of sand. I'm curious on the lifetime of the stain and will check next spring.

ClassicPW, Trex soaks up semi-trans stains easily. I've never stained one, but have had to use max. protection when staining wood balustrades/handrails with a trex deck surface. Go to http://www.trex.com/Universal/technical_info/tech_painting.asp for more info.

Funny how some things work out for the best. 6 yr. old mahogany deck stripped of CWF, brightened with citric, and finished with Cabot's Austrailian Timber Oil - Honey Teak. The built in flower boxes had already been planted, so stripping the top trim was not possible. Pulled out the orbital and sanded. Same wood, same finish, but the different color is due to lack of brightener on the trim. Actually turned out better than the original plan. - Rick

or at least some embarrassment. Just noticed the oil fingerprints on the side of the flower box! Going back to the job site this afternoon to oil the fascia and a final touch up. Mineral spirits on a rag will do the trick. - Rick

Job lead for a deck located in Morris County, NJ. These are parents of a very good customer of mine so quality work would be appreciated. If you are interested, please email me at wwoodcare@comcast.net and I will get details. Rick Petry