bigchaz

Haha i have a method...no more than 20 pieces at a sitting

Finally got mine....time to get to work!

Looks like money to me. I been thinking about painting my brown....considering it's 3/4 of the way there haha

Nothing worse than doing an estimate and heading down the steps to scope out the posts and the side of the deck from the yard and coming back up to the homeowner with that stench on your boot....

Rotech, welcome to the forum, something to keep in mind when you reply to topics be sure to look at the date it was originally posted. While you may have a good idea for this Homeowner, they haven't been here for over 3 years (2007).

We use TimberPro products (timberstrip or timberclcean), apply, let sit, and low pressure wash cold water. Apply timberbright to neutralize

you need bonding for exterior work?

Scott if a wheel falls off your trailer and you are two hours late to a job is that your fault? The contractor did what he could to move the job along...I don't see how you blame him. Its some specialized paint vacuum, there's probably 10 in the entire state, hardly reasonable to expect he have 2 or 3 standing by waiting for a breakdown

Those with Makitas, what speed do you run them at?

Deck looks amazing! Just my opinion but I would stay away from a clear oil at the very least so you don't end up highlighting any of the residual red in the nail holes or cracks. Something with some pigment will give you longer life and a more even finish. But honestly it could go either way since you've done so well in removing the old stain so long as the cracks don't bother you too much.

Apom, I didn't realize you had lattice for railings....a sheet of that stuff costs like 9 bucks you can make probably 4 panels. I wouldn't waste a second trying to save that junk. Heck on most regular jobs we bid I don't even bother washing existing lattice, just tear out and replace. If you tear out the frame and panels all you'll have to sand is the 4x4 posts and top rail (looks like you replaced it already?) Also don't use 100 grit....I dont go any higher than 60 grit but no one else would go over 80 grit.

Kevin, you sound completely sold on the product already so why even bother checking with us? I could care less what their website and technical information sheet says about the stain...what matters is RESULTS...in the field, from other contractors, from customers, etc. I have long held to the traditional standard of oil based stains with ample solvents...and in the very short time period I've been doing decks I've seen dozens of products claim miracles and deliver failure (Behr Premium, Cabot SPF, ANY solid stain). You ask for recommendations in other threads and like previously mentioned II have landed on Armstrong Clark thanks to the ability to provide the type of product (oil based, dry and nondrying oils, natural pigments, etc) I want on my customers decks and still deal with the VOC laws that are slowly destroying all thats good. As long as I possibly can I have no intention or desire to apply a water-based, acrylic based, or anything other than good ole oil stain to a deck that bears my companies name. This website (TGS) has thousands of members...none of whom have talked about and mentioned this Bond product. While I'm willing to accept that maybe we are all somehow missing something, the more obvious answer is that its not viable or widely accepted to risk trying on one of my valuable customers. I dont sell snake oil, and the quality of client that we market to is not stupid. With minimal education they know that most decks need maintenance between 2 and three years. The list of miracle products is a mile long...Seal Maxx, Perma Coat, SuperSeal etc. If you track any of them back youll find half of them are forced out of business for their claims and pop up under a new name. Also that warranty is a load of crap used for marketing only....you're out of your mind if you expect any kind of compensation from the company if the deck doesn't hold up 7 years. The interpretation of what is considered acceptable coating performance will be so arbitrary you'll have no leg to stand on. No way the warrenty covers UV degradation. Back to your project...you spent hours and hours stripping an old stain off, washing, sanding, etc. You know how difficult that can be. Now go ahead and put a silicone enhanced proprietary (aka bullsh**) acrylate resin product on your deck without anything more than one guy claiming it works and once picture of a deck that looks decent after 4 years. But be warned...once you put that nasty glue of a product on your deck YOU CAN NEVER GET IT OFF. It cannot be stripped, it cannot be sanded, it cannot be recoated with another product. The color cannot be changed. Also if you can't disclose whats in your product why should I bother trusting the company. I like to know what I'm using. So with all that said Kevin, honestly if you want to play guinea pig on yourself thats one thing....but the remainder of us running full time deck restoration companies cannot risk reputation, training of employees, years of documented results, thousands of successful deck jobs to mess around with something like OneTime Deck. So....good luck with that....

Still "performing" after 8 years. Doesn't mean it still looks good. Customers want aesthetics as well as wood protection. Words like "Acrylate" and "Polymer" make me cringe and I'd prefer they be no where near a deck

Jim we are going into year three (2.5) of Armstrong Clark....maintenance has been a hard sell...they still look great

Kevin, we switched from woodtux 2 years ago to Armstrong Clark. You are right that until recently no one knew of Armstrong However if you search for Armstrong Clark on the web or on here you will find a thread I started to gain more information on the product. Armstrong was/is produced in California and was never marketed strongly to the deck restoration indust ry or to the East Coast much. Once contractors like myself began to inquire about it, Jake Clark of AC was extremely responsive to questions and shipped I would imagine hundreds of pails of free stain for people to try. The confidence he has in the product was incredible and in addition to the excellent performance of the stain was what ultimately sold me on using it on all our jobs. I guarantee you will love everything about it...and so will your customers!

As much as you can get on the wood the better, we do wet on wet either a heavy coat initially followed by a misting or we mist the floor at the start of the job and finish with a heavy coat at the end.

I would rebuild the rails...replace all the spindles and top rails, just save the posts. Between the cracks won't be easy...if you can get an orbital sander or grinder you can sometimes use the edge of the sanding pad to get in the crack

Sam, like John mentioned, a pressure washer is for the most part nothing more than a rinsing tool on wood decks. The chemicals should be doing all the work for a proper restoration. I've never cleaned a deck with only a pressure washer....for it to have any affect you would need to use high pressure...a big no no.

wow that is an incredible job....what kind of pace are you doing for those decks? Thats more than I've done in 4 years

Homeowner water spigot

Hey Powerhouse, on the top of your screen please click on "settings" and then "edit signature" on the left hand side menu. This is the signature line that appears below each post to let others know who they are talking with and how to contact them. House rules, thanks!

Beth, there's obviously different ways to handle it, my point is that if the base pay is low enough the pool is a vital part of compensation. Similar in sorts to a commission. No call backs you make good money....lots of callbacks you barely make minimum wage. You better believe it would sort itself out. Just one way to do it, not right or wrong. Also this isn't my method, heard it from another large company somewhere on here.

I've heard before of companies doing a pool of money that is used each week to cover the cost of call backs. So you give them a base pay and then each week you also have x amount of money in a pool. If you get callbacks or have to make repairs you take that out of the pool. If they have no callbacks they get the full amount in the pool. I don't recall he details but someone on here explained how it worked. In short, the less callbacks means more money they take home at the end of the week.

Is it difficult to refill the pot while working? Some decks we will use 10+ gallons and some fences that take 20 or 25 sometimes.

Heres a shot of the deckster at work. I dont know much about the technology of a true HVLP (the pressure pot ones that people talk about) but this is what I am referring to for our sprayer. *edit....looking at it now I wish I could say it was still yellow haha!