RPetry

Ron, Your daughter is doing a great job at that age. Might as well teach 'em young. My dad did at the horror of my mother! Time flies, before you know it, she'll be smoking through gears. A glimpse of the future? See: Both hands and proper position on the steering wheel as well as real driving shoes are all that is lacking in this video. Get her in go karts soon and you may have an F1 driver in the future!

Ron, Married a bit late in life, never had children. This is the best we can do ...

Very good advice.

Hey Rick, Glad you're back, like your name ...! A couple of R/T's are happening in the region come March. ACR's in Easton, Pa. and Matt's in Albany, NY the following week.

Jason, Depends on what you are applying. The Deckster is a veritable godsend for applying stain. Pressure setting, volume adjustment and spray pattern on the gun, filtering, etc. make it a workhorse for attaching a 5'er to it and just go like gangbusters. Chemical applications are a bit overkill and not needed. IMO, the Deckster is a must have for stain, but less so for chem applications. Reason being, you can only mix at max, without killing grass, plants, etc., 4 gallons to apply at once before remixing and fill up. It does not have a tank. The real ticket would be a Pumptec pump and plumbing fitted out with a large, portable tank for chem applications. As bleach and strippers are trashing my Shurflo pumps every season, this is the next upgrade I'm considering.

From what I gather, "Keyu" (which is spelled incorrectly by the OP) is a branded name. "Batu" is a misnomer for SE Asian woods such as the meranti, shorea, balau, or "Philippine Mahogany". Not the best hardwoods for exterior use.

John, We're Visual Pollution Specialists. Nothing more unsightly than crappy looking exterior wood.

Hard to believe, but 2013 will be the 13th year in the exterior wood restoration business. Sure doesn't seem that long.

John, As you know, we only offer exterior wood restoration. Since day one, this has been the only service I've been interested in providing. To define it as opposed to the generic "pressure washing" is simple. Business name, web site, truck lettering, advertising, company forms, bulletin board participation, basically everything about the business reflects this. On rare occasion we will clean an easy roof, wash a house, or spiffy up some residential concrete, but only if it dovetails with a wood job. And the customer has to come close to begging and catch me in a moment of weakness!

Shane, Don't worry, it only gets worse as time flies on! Don't worry about a thing, 'cause every little thing gonna be all right. -- Bob Marley Hope I do have a few more "New Years" in me! Same to you and all members of TGS.

Shane, I think Greg started and eventually sold the Deckguide site and other business entities to Brian Keating. Could certainly be wrong, my memory is shot. What did I eat for dinner last night?

Shane, Good catch, your memory is much sharper than mine. After Delco, Greg Rentschler's Deckguide site was next. Don't remember how long after that TGS was up and running.

Doug, Yup. That was the 1st and only site that I found prior to TGS that had any information on exterior wood restoration. Now ancient board design with no graphics, quotes or other bells and whistles. Did learn quite a bit from the Delco site.

Hey John, Best of the New Year to you and all. I joined up in April of 2003. Not sure how I found TGS, it may have been from another contractor or Tom & Barb of ACR. It would be fun to read our first initial 20 posts or so. Kind of like going back in a time machine.

Shane, I would consider it a valued "add on" to a stripper mix. I don't believe it makes a stripper mix more "hot" per se, but more effective due to cling and keeping the mix wet longer. Formulations containing ethylene glycol are usually considered a "booster" for NaOH based strippers as they make the mix more powerful. It's funny, I use ACR Products for nearly all my chemicals. Their private labelled "Booster" is actually the surfactant, while their ethylene glycol based mix, or what most would consider a booster is labelled "ACR 633-ADD". Go figure! Jason, Tergitol NP-9 is a product of Dow Chemical and originally under patent. Quite expensive the last time I looked. Now that it is off patent, other manufacturers produce essentially the same product at substantially less cost.

Jason, A qualified "yes" as I am not familiar with "Roof Snot". We use a lot of a knockoff of Tergitol NP-9, otherwise known as Polyoxyethylene Nonylphenol, available from ACR Products. A well as the cling factor on vertical wood, it keeps your stripper mix wet longer for difficult strips.

Alexy, Needs something less, not more. Forget the stupid fence, Katie needs a string bikini.

Diamond Jim, Jeeze, I thought we had an upper crust clientele. Compared to you and Roger, we work for paupers. No wonder I can only afford coal for Christmas presents.

Roger, Holy Smokes, do you mean THE Mr. Gates, ah, like Bill Gates, the co-founder of, umm. Microsoft and possibly the world's most generous philanthropist along with his buddy Warren Buffett? Wow, that has to be the most impressive customer ever here on TGS or anywhere else. Wimbledon is no slouch either, sure would make great referrals! What a name dropper on estimates. I can hear it now, "well yes Mr. Wimpenny, we service Bill Gate's property as well as Wimbledon in season". Terrific! With customers like those two, soon you'll be driving to quotes in an Aston Martin Vantage GT4!

Hi Roger, Good to hear from you, the international charter member of the BDA! Very good web site, I'm surprised that ipe' has taken England by storm. Great wood and source for reoccurring maintenance income. My best to the mother country for the holiday. Does the Queen still broadcast a radio/TV message on Christmas Day?

Shane, That is a corral? Lord, property that size could be a small county back here in NJ! Use to see scorpions and 'rattlers hiking in the Grand Canyon. Thankfully, never got tagged.

Scott, Those garage doors are poorly constructed. T-111 is fine for sheds/barns, but I'd never consider its use on a large focal point of a house exterior. From a glance, the cedar also does not look to be of prime quality. What is unknown is why the cedar trim has not stained well. From your stripped/unfinished #2 picture both the cedar and T-111 appear to be ready for staining. Looks good, with no old pigment left. However, with all the shiny, white, and mottled areas on the cedar after staining, I suspect that not all the urethane was removed and that some of it may be "in" the wood. You mention that glue is also present on the surface. This may be near impossible to sand out, and trying by applying pressure may warm up and spread and drive the glue even deeper into the wood. If these were my doors, I'd strip off the Bakers/TWP and get back to the #2 picture look. Clean, apply acid, and buff every few years to freshen to that new wood look.

Adrian, As the kids say, "My bad". You are one of the long time active wood co.'s here on TGS and have proven your mettle many times over. Certainly more than a "vet", how about "seasoned pro"? There are certainly others I neglected to mention in my original post. ... Eric, Congrats on your fast growth business. I can appreciate that wood restoration is not conducive to high production needed to support 8 employees. Just servicing wood in our seasonal climate is probably more appropriate to a smaller, niche type of business. A tough, but admirable quandary. Do what you really want to do, or expand and do what you have to do. Sounds like you have a good plan.

All good posts. Diamond Jim - Hah! Ipe'911. That is hilarious and true. Would be a catchy name for a company. Rod - You and Beth have done wonders with TGS, highlighting a business previously hidden in the shadows to potential contractors and the general public. We continue to book business from this web site. Jason - Best wishes on your new business. Stick to your guns on pricing, your $1.00/sq. ft. friends will not be able to survive for long. John - You don't count, you clean parking garages for Lord's sake! Just kidding of course, your posted wood work over the years has been exceptional. But what kind of satisfaction (aside from $) comes from a clean garage? Your contribution to the PW business has been exceptional over the years. Tracy - AFAIK, you are one of the few that has spent much, if not the majority of your working life in the PW / wood restoration business. Most of us got into this business as a 2nd, 3rd, or 4th career change. I was one of those "air conditioned office guys" for 25 or so years, stressing out in project management and then software design and coding. To be honest, sweating and getting dirty and oily was a liberating and peaceful change. Charlie - Good point. There appears to be a growing "instant gratification" mindset in the younger generations, as evident in the Twitter, text messaging, digital games, IPad phenomena. This may spill over into preferred business, a quick get 'er done, blow and go type of operation. Nothing wrong with that, just different from my generation. I still believe that a craftsman / specialization type of business will appeal to some younger people, and the demand for that type of work will continue and thrive. Just look at you!

Shane, You have to apply more stain per job than any contractor here, by an order of magnitude. Seems to be so many fences in Texas, and huge! Must be a throwback to the cattle ranching days.