RPetry
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Everything posted by RPetry
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Ipe deck in Bahamas
RPetry replied to Chappy's question in Wood Cleaning & Restoration - Decks, Fences, etc.
Jon, Nice job in removing that foul product. Ipe' deserves better. -
week in hell
RPetry replied to Chappy's question in Wood Cleaning & Restoration - Decks, Fences, etc.
Jon, We have always had better results with using random orbital sanders with 60 grit paper when prepping ipe' for stain. Med - low speed and sanding with the grain seems best. Do not use 'em but osbourne brushes may be a bit too aggressive for ipe'. And the Makita's, being a rotary buffer, go across the grain. -
week in hell
RPetry replied to Chappy's question in Wood Cleaning & Restoration - Decks, Fences, etc.
I keep telling you Beth, a winter operation in Costa Rica! -
Prediction is difficult. This past winter, 2008's wood season looked bad. Our pre-bookings were down significantly, and less requests for estimates. By the early April, our book was out 6 weeks. Never had a slow period, even late August, and worked straight into the first few days of November. One interesting change was the number of new customers fixing up their properties prior to putting them on the market. This may be a marketing niche worth pursuing in 2009.
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None of the above. Just cold beer.
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Sanding before or after acid?
RPetry replied to plainpainter's question in Wood Cleaning & Restoration - Decks, Fences, etc.
Beth, Room temp, indoors, like 65 to 70 F. Not outdoors in mid-Atlantic winter. I have not idea what you and Rod have seen. I'd like to see it. As Jim alluded, it may be over mix of oxalic, and you are seeing oxalic crystals instead of so called "salts". I do not know, but am curious. This may be boring to the greater mix of members. Lets bring back "The Great Bleach Debate!" Hah, now that was fun... -
Sanding before or after acid?
RPetry replied to plainpainter's question in Wood Cleaning & Restoration - Decks, Fences, etc.
Ken and Beth, Instead of reading about it, do it. Any harm in that? -
I thought raising two pups was a chore. Thank heavens we never had kids!
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Sanding before or after acid?
RPetry replied to plainpainter's question in Wood Cleaning & Restoration - Decks, Fences, etc.
Kevin, Wood season is another 3 1/2 months away, I have too much time.... Would this be an interesting chemistry experiment? In a clean plastic container, add 10 or so ml. of 6 oz./gal. NaOH and 6 oz./gal. of citric acid. Do the same for NaOH and oxalic acid in the same proportion. Allow to evaporate at room temperatures, ie: inside the house, and see if any "salts" or "residue" remains. Or, even better, dilute the NaOH with 50 or 100 ml. of water (as a substitute for using a PW) and add the 10 ml. of acids. What say you? -
Best wishes, Tom. Due to his minx wife Barbara, Tom is actually 30. Lucky guy!
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Sanding before or after acid?
RPetry replied to plainpainter's question in Wood Cleaning & Restoration - Decks, Fences, etc.
Holy smokes Kevin, friggin' graphs, formulas, the whole nine yards. Chemistry is not my strong point. But a good rinse, ie: using your PW when stripping with NaOH or sodium percarb may very well negate any chance of "salts", whatever that is, forming with a reaction with an acid. Is this what you are saying in plain English? All I know is that many RS users, for years, have not rinsed off the acid neutralizer/brightener, with no ill effects. In fact, it has been postulated by others that a slightly acidic wood surface may actually be better for a straight paraffinic oil stain. Don't know about that, all I know is that 7 yrs. of RS, citric acid, and not rinsing works well for us and our customer's wood. -
Sanding before or after acid?
RPetry replied to plainpainter's question in Wood Cleaning & Restoration - Decks, Fences, etc.
Beth, This must be due to oxalic acid and/or mix concentration. Using straight citric acid at 6 - 8 oz./gal., we have never had any noticeable residue, salt or otherwise, on decks we prep. Using RS, we never rinse the brightener. Will second Jim and Matt's experience. Redwood and cedar are challenging woods to stain evenly after a hard sanding. A second app of brightener, specifically a specialty brightener in the case of belt sanding a floor, is best. -
Beth,
Yeah, we had a dusting overnight. The pups had some fun on this morning's walk. At the moment, it is real windy and just freezing cold. Not looking forward to this evening's jaunt around the neighborhood.
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I'm such a doofus
RPetry replied to Mountain View's question in Wood Cleaning & Restoration - Decks, Fences, etc.
Pete, That is a ton of wood for one residential job. You and your customer have just made Don, Jeff, and Peirce's Christmas a little bit brighter! Do you have a closeup pic (shaded) of the dark red? Never have used that color on PT or cedar. -
Beth,
Years ago, I did our downstairs LR & DR. About 4 yrs. ago, did the stairs to the 2nd floor, and the full 2nd floor, including closets.
The 3rd floor is a "loft", or large room with a big closet, and it is my office. The carpet is 20 yrs. old and just trashed. The stairs are the hardest part of installing flooring.
I'll be using the same hardwood, a country finish red oak made in Quebec, 3/4" T&G prefinished. You cannot purchase this at Lumber Liquidators.
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Hah, break is over. Rebuilding my server with the latest Fedora Linux OS. Ripping out the carpet and installing hardwood flooring on the stairs and 3rd floor. That should take me through January!
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Rod, You must not be a dog person. Matthew is rescuing dogs from a terrible fate. In lieu of kennels, which are quite expensive, try partitioning off a section of your house. We have two pups that are kept in a tiled kitchen - family room area. Baby gates work well. Most pups are housebroken very quickly if closely supervised for a week or so.
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Airless Sprayer Tip
RPetry replied to Mountain View's question in Wood Cleaning & Restoration - Decks, Fences, etc.
Hey Rich, I'm relying on memory, its been about 7 yrs. since we used an airless for semi-trans stains. May have been a 219? Much depends on the stain you use. A Pump Tec HLVP works real well with a thin stain such as RS, as we are looking to get a high volume of oil into the wood. We run it at 25 - 30 PSI for vertical surfaces and around 50 PSI for horizontals. This minimizes misting. And with a thumb adjustment on the gun, you can control the volume output of stain in an instant. -
Best wishes Diamond Jim. Wish you would have let us know of your B'day at ACR. I had an unopened 5 gal. pail of stain sludge in the back of the truck that would have made a terrific present.
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Same here Beth. I always look forward to ACR gatherings, especially in early spring when you are chompin' at the bit to get started for the season.
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Airless Sprayer Tip
RPetry replied to Mountain View's question in Wood Cleaning & Restoration - Decks, Fences, etc.
Pete, When we were first starting out, our go to stain was Wolman's F&P, which was a bit heavier bodied than Ready Seal. Used an airless to apply with a 217 tip on vertical wood. For floors, used a 315 tip reversed and back brushed. Once ACR started carrying Ready Seal, never looked back. Purchased a Pump Tec HLVP unit to apply the stain. The only time the airless is used is for the few solid oil jobs we do. Floors can be stained using Ready Seal with a large truck wash brush as shown in the picture. Goes fast. -
Dave, You are a bit far from Princeton, NJ, but are welcomed. We usually get started working late March or early April dependent on temperatures and weather. If you are going to the ACR roundtable this weekend, look me up. It is a very good start. Otherwise email as in the signature line below.
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2008 Sealer Poll
RPetry replied to Beth n Rod's question in Wood Cleaning & Restoration - Decks, Fences, etc.
Jim, "Look man, come over 'ere." "What's 'ya need?" "One bourbon, one scotch, and one beer". Classic. Name that tune.