RPetry

Phila. Phillies when very young. Grandfather and father took me to some games down to the old Connie Mack stadium. Saw Sandy Kofacx pitch a no hitter. In the early '80's was at the Spectrum for every home playoff an finals game of the '76 Sixers. Moses Malone was so dominating, Kareem was just beat up. Been a fan of the Eagles mostly, with a long time interest in the Raiders of the NFL. Suffering for many moons.

The good news is this "contractor" did not kill his customer.

Tommy, You are located in Phillipsburg, NJ? Holy smokes, you could almost spit to ACR Products. Thought I had it good here in Ringoes. I've been doing business with ACR for 13+ years now. They have been key to keeping me in business. We're not true pressure washers, but use a fair amount of specialized equipment, various chems, exterior wood stain, etc. Tom and crew have fabricated custom equipment, maintained PW's, and have just been a terrific partner. They carry more parts than I had any idea existed. Highly reccomended. ACR carries some used, but tested and maintained PW's. I would suggest visiting and talking with them first.

Tommy, If you are in NJ, it is not a long drive up to ACR Products, in Easton, Pa. Look them up and ask for Tom. Go to: http://acrproductsinc.com/. Tom and crew have a ton of experience in both PW service, chems, repairs, and just plain advice. Use 'em. That is what they are there for. I know 1st hand, ACR has been in business as long as Windsor Woodcare. First and only purveyor for my small business. They carry nearly everything I need, and we just service exterior wood. Otherwise, it is a guessing game just starting out. Thankfully, did not make that mistake. If you are going to do it, do it right. Once knowlegeble, online stuff is fine. Otherwise, you need a mentor. Start there. ..

Beth, Spruce and most pine wood is not worth the effort to split, particularly when it has not cured for many years. Too much resin, coats the flue, smoky, poor burning etc. We do have a large, well built LR fireplace and a fire pit outside in the back. The original owner and builder who we purchased the property from was a mason! We only use hardwoods in the fireplace and for $110 per face cord split and delivered, well worth it.

Beth, My nephew and I cut off all the branches, sectioned the trunk, and hauled it to our road in front by dragging with my pickup and chain. Rented a backhoe, dug out the stump and sectioned it, and deposited it in the strip of woods bordering the sides of our property. A local small nursery chipped it all up and took it away. The next spring we purchased 15 yds. of mulch from them. Bet part of the load was that tree. Got us coming and going!

Steven, Yes. 3 yrs. ago we finally got fed up with the congestion and overall nonsense living in a very crowded area. At that point we had 4 vehicles and a one car garage! Moved up to the "country", as far as this region of NJ has to offer. Lots of deer, assorted critters, and some coyotes. Corn field farm in the front of the property, and a corn/soybean and pumpkin farm in the back. About as "country" as we can get without jeopardizing my established market and having to drive more than 6 miles to decent retail. Overall, the best thing we have done in 25 yrs. of marriage. Much more pleasant, less hectic, quiet, one can actually see a lot of stars at night. Downsides are a lot of property to mow, much more home maintenance, and large trees to prune, cut down, and manage. Moved in ~ 2 weeks before hurricane Sandy hit NJ. Woke up to this downed 78' white spruce. Bought my first chainsaw! Hard to believe how much branches and wood are in a tree of that size. Worth the effort. Would never go back.

Maine is a challenging climate. Colder temps, shorter season for wood, and just a lot of precipitation. Much more difficult than those of us in the southern northeastern U.S. Still, a beautiful state. And for compensation, you don't put up with the traffic jams, high taxes, and rat race pace of life. Not a bad trade.

Big house. Lots of windows and dormers. It is a shame to put a solid stain on decent lap cedar. I'd charge an extra 20% on labor just to put up with the sacrilege.

Steven, I would guess, at least those of us that specialize in wood restoration. May depend on the stain you predominantly use. We, almost exclusively, use Ready Seal stain. That unit picture has never been used except for Ready Seal, and is ~11 yrs. old. Until this year, never flushed with a solvent. Other stains should work well. A/C should be fine, but I'd clean out with mineral spirits periodically due to the linseed oil. It dries and can film on parts.

Steven, A huge time/labor saver for us is Decker 5'er (or other similar units) for applying stain.

Steven, Check out the Makita 9277 buffer with 3M pads. A bit heavy using on vertical wood, but fast and efficient. Shakes do not require a firred mahogany or ipe' finish. May be a lot faster. Pads are available from ACR or other purveyors. You are only blowing off the "fuzzies". Some use Osbourne brushes, tried it, but never got the touch. IMO a lot slower than the Makita and 3M pads. Using random orbitals, we never use anything higher than 60 grit for any species of wood to prep for staining.

Steven, You have the tenacity of a saint. 120 grit sanding on shakes would put me either in the looney bin, out of business, or both! Looks terrific.

Steven, Very nice job. Are you buffing those shakes with 3M pads?

Guy is the real deal. Had the pleasure of sitting down with a bunch of friends and getting to know him over drinks. Very interesting, knowledgeable, astute PW'er and just all around nice, engaging person. Next year will even be better!

Id's are blacked out for good reason. From: xxx Sent: Sunday, August 9, 2015 9:38 AM To: xxx Subject: Re: Linseed warning. FYI. Pretty sure this $1M I owe from liability claims from your poorly labeled product will be difficult to pay after I decapitate myself by jumping in front of train. Too bad they'll go after my wife next. Sent from my typewriter. On Aug 18, 2014, at 6:20 PM, xxx > xxx, > > I'll deal with the xxx complaint if you handle this one :) > > What a day, > > xxxxxx > > ps His voice mails last week were last with multiple "f*ckers" > > From: xxx > Sent: Monday, August 18, 2014 2:14 PM > To: xxx > Subject: Re: Linseed warning. > > I don't want to talk. It's obvious to me that stirring the can is the most important aspect is the product according to the labeling. It burnt my house down and killed all my pets, so my guess is so. Too bad is so neglectfully labeled. If I were standing in front if you I would destroy your office and scream and cry -- a full grow man, usually reserved with a graduate degree in the fine arts. > > I burnt my house down and killed my cats and I am more responsible than you. > > Good luck in court. I hate you. > > > > > On Aug 18, 2014, at 4:35 PM, xxx wrote: > >> Hello xxxx, >> >> Please give me a call so we can discuss your question. >> >> Many thanks, >> >> xxx >>0-000-000-0000 >> >> >> >> From: xxx >> Sent: Monday, August 18, 2014 1:34 PM >> To: xxx >> Subject: Linseed warning. >> >> >> Hi, is your xxx stain a linseed oil based product? >> This has to be a joke. If not, stay put as a contractor!

Steven, It is a redacted copy of an email I received this week from a stain manufacturer.

Home run Thad. Congrats are in order. Enough kudo's, next year will be a big challenge. Go get 'em.

Just got back from the D.C. PWRA convention. Thad and crew put on an outstanding 2 day event. Just a ton of contractors and high quality vendors. And a chance to catch up with friends in the business.

Wood gals and guys make magic. That is why we do it.

John, I'll be there. At the moment, Diamond Jim is also coming down with me. In fact, he is borrowing that scaffold unit I purchased from you years ago. It has been very handy in restoring some homes.

Tom, If you own, know someone, or can rent a planer that will handle the board dimensions, do it. Fast, easy, and the wood will be "brand new".

^^^ Very good advice. Read it twice.

Mike, In all honesty, you may be dealing with one, or two idiots. I'm fairly certain I'd pass on the job, unless ma and pa take some miracle common sense drug. "Experts", my foot. The only experts are those that do this this work competently for a living. People make mistakes, they don't know and believe in some silly marketing scheme. There is an old quote, "There's a sucker born every minute" attributed to P. T. Barnum. Probably not a quote from him, but a critic. After all, he made a small fortune from little of value and would never disparage his audience, and others called him out on it. Look, if a customer does not want to service ipe' every year, strip it and be done with it. A cleaning would be good once a year for appearance. Otherwise, no stain. Ipe' is near bulletproof. It does not need stain protection. Good luck. There are better potential customers out there.

Mike, Either your customer was not prepping the ipe' correctly, or using poor quality stain. The stain turning "dark" may be due to mold/mildew growth eating the linseed oil common in wood stains. Consumer grade oil stains often use cheap/ineffective or not enough mildewcide. And then applied a red acrylic on fine wood? Blasphemy. Dependent on climate and sun/moisture exposure, Armstrong-Clark or Ready Seal stains will last 7 - 12 months on ipe'. A light cleaning, re application, and you are good to go for another cycle.