RPetry

Best wishes Rod. Strum a few chords, bang on the drums. And don't work too hard...!

Beth, That old thread is downright hilarious. The pelican picture is amazing. Adrian, That is some foul berry bird poop. Aside from hand scrubbing with soap and water, or Jim's suggestion of steel wool and stain, don't know. If the bird stuff has dried, sanding might work, but if still wet, I'd be afraid of driving the berry juice down into the wood, especially pressure treated pine. This is making me sick to my stomach, think I'll stop now.

Paul, The wood is ipe', which is so dense and hard, weathering really does not seem to have much effect or deterioration. We'll probably get to the job in about 2 weeks. It will be interesting to contrast the finished old ipe' with the neighbor's finished new ipe'.

Jon, Ready Seal would be similar. There are a few tricks, but it is near impossible to match old to new PT wood with a semi trans oil. Nice rich color, especially for new PT wood. Looks like you missed the end grain on the right handrail!

Adrian, There are differences between Baker's and Ready Seal. From what I understand, Baker's purchases its paraffin oil, resin, and possibly other stuff like mildewcide, from Amteco, the parent company of TWP. Ready Seal has its own paraffin oil, proprietary resins, mildewcides, etc. I think Baker's uses clay pigments, while Ready Seal uses finely ground iron oxide pigments, except for their Gold color. This difference may account for the better longevity of Ready Seal on your fence.

Adrian, I think Shane had his wires crossed. There is no relationship, blood or otherwise, between the owners of Baker's and Ready Seal.

First two years operated as a DBA. Switched over to an LLC on the advice of an accountant customer.

John, Do not know maintenance procedures with Defy. With Ready Seal, its a light cleaning with a bleach - soap - water solution and let dry. Re oil with a single light coat.

Jon, Regular RS does contain some mineral spirits, but nowhere near the percentage of Baker's or most other oil stains. AFAIK, the "redwood only" line does not have any solvents. Back to your test. I can have 2 gallons of Ready Seal shipped to you at no charge. Medium red is my personal favorite on pressure treated, but I am unfamiliar with Baker's and A-C as far as matching. Please send me your shipping address and color selection. My company email is best, see the signature line below.

Jon, If I am not mistaken, RS changed their mildewcide formulation a few years back. I do not think there is any zinc in the product now. If Baker's does not contain any mineral spirits, what are they using as a solvent?

Matt, Yes, the stain is RS medium red. I could check my stain orders the past few years, but I would guess we use it 3 to 1 over the other RS colors. The only bad thing about it is the name, its more brown, with just a touch of red tint. The old, moldy deck at the top of the thread is 6 yr. old ipe', that has never been cleaned or stained.

Daniel, The first picture, circa this century, has a watermark. It reads "Copyright Scott Currier 12/16/0?. The last digit is unreadable.

Jon, Sounds like a good business opportunity. Nah, never mind, there is no real ocean in Texas, especially near Dallas. The Gulf of Mexico is not the ocean.

Daniel, I'm afraid you are too late. Check out Wikipedia, that 2nd photo has been on the site and known for many years.

Jon, No problem. If I can't wring a gal. of RS from Peirce, I'll ship and send a gal. of med. red myself. Sorry Jon, did not catch that. A percarb cleaning, at about 6 oz./gal., with a light wash. Citric at 6 oz. or oxalic at 4 oz. per gal., and no rinse of the acid. Depends. On a fairly hot day with softwoods, with the stain soaking in quickly, we'll take a lunch break and hit the wood again with the 2nd app. But normally, if the job is local, we'll come back the next morning and apply the 2nd app.

Jon, You are a hoot. Look, I'm no Ready Seal ambassador or distributor. Could care less how much stain they sell, as long as they keep in business. And they have been around a lot longer than my little operation. Tell you what. I'll call tomorrow and see if I can get a few gallons of RS stain shipped to you at no charge. Email me your address. Your deck is pressure treated, I would suggest medium red, by far my most popular color. For prep, you have to strip off the Defy, Timber Oil, or whatever is on or in the wood. A true strip, not a pigment strip. Rinse well and apply 6 to 8 oz. a gallon of powdered oxalic or citric, whatever you have in stock. Don't rinse the acid off. Make sure the wood is dry, if you have a moisture meter, 12% or less is ideal. Slop on some RS stain. HLVP, truck brush, or hand wise with natural bristle brushes. I mean really slop it on, as much as the PT wood will take within 10 or 15 minutes. Hit the wood the next day with a decent app of RS oil once again. Relax, drink beer, and watch NFL football. If you are serious, email your shipping address.

Jamie, There is something about Texas and fences. Its a big business. I know Ready Seal pre-stains a ton of fence sections in their manufacturing factory before they get installed. Must be a left over from the cattle baron Wild West days. Go for it.

Daniel, Not true. If the wood is prepped correctly and enough stain is applied correctly, old, beat up PT wood can look fine. Case in point. 22 yr. old pressure treated, townhouse deck. Full sun, never maintained, and I know. This is a close neighbor. See attached picture.

Ken, Gottcha'. Shane use to post a ton of pictures and that opaque look still sticks with me. Never have used Baker's, no opinion aside from Shane's pics. At least it is paraffin oil based!

Ken, Sorry to hear of your past troubles with Ready Seal. Honestly, in the 8 years we have been using the stain, one call back for more stain (actually that was ESI's Timber Oil) and no clothing claims or carpet damage. We do stipulate in the contracts and enforce with a final email not to walk on the decks for 48 hours. Not that you will damage the finish, but God forbid someone tracks oil into the house or onto their blue stone patio. The picture posted above is definitely a true semi-trans oil. The pictures that BDA Texas Shane use to post with Baker's was way more opaque, close to an A-C semi solid.

Ken, Hmmm... We have been in the wood restoration business probably as long, if not longer, than PressurePro's. We have RS customers that have been with us for 8 years now. Unless you like the opaque look of clay pigments, care to elucidate why?

Yes. For 8 yrs. we have been using Ready Seal stain, which is a paraffin oil. A light 1.5 - 2.5% chlorine bleach with a little soap is applied to the wood and lightly pressure washed. A single relatively light application of stain is applied. This is for maintenance. Exactly as Ken describes. One more factor. In two years with horizontal wood (decks), and 4 to 5 years on vertical wood (fences), there is still paraffin oil in the wood, protecting it against moisture damage. Jamie, To be honest, a high percentage of my customers really don't think about protecting their wood. They just want it to look great. That being said, cedar has the properties of rotting, and fairly quickly, if it stays wet for long periods of time. That could be a selling point.

Hate to admit it but I was 46 or 47 when I started Windsor WoodCare. Created 2 other unrelated businesses in my late 20's and mid 30's.

Rick, Sold. The above was the only Joe Walsh album I ever owned. Would like to hear some new, well that is relative as its old, J. W. stuff. Some good rock and blues have been produced in the past 10 yrs. White Stripes comes to mind.

Life's been good to me --Joe Walsh Another rocker, from the old school. Joe Walsh was a bit crazy, but a good musician and songwriter. Frank Zappa lent his talents to the song. But Seriously Folks is a real good album, should be nominated for its music, let alone the best album art of that decade.