AAPaint

Great advice, and I think I'm going to follow up on it. I've got the perfect cart for this. My old bridge fishing cart is going to be sacrificed for the greater good. May it make me enough money to buy a new cart, haha. It should fit right in the extra space on the new trailer I'm building, that I couldn't figure out a use for, and I'll be able to wheel it right off and do whatever I want. I was thinking about using a dolly at first, but forgot I had this cart laying around. I'm already working on getting the parts, so maybe I'll put up some pics of what I'm talking about when it's done. Thanks for the advice.

Looks good to me. It's certainly lightened up over the past 2 years, but still, no graying, which means the stain is doing it's job of protecting the wood. I would say this is exactly the desired result.

Welcome aboard. Just a heads up, they expect you to have a forum signature filled out, so make sure you set one up. Good luck helping those who need it most.

That's unfortunate, what happened? Were they just a pita? You can't please 100% of the people 100% of the time.

That makes sense. I thought you might have picked up on something undesirable. I can't wait till I'm at the point my problem is too much work again. I miss those days.

Ditto what Jim said, but why would you pass on it? Something wrong with the situation?

Yeah, that advice is just hard won experience. Running a service based business, CUSTOMER SERVICE is tops. If you find a chance to make yourself out to be a super hero (exaggerating some maybe) then take it and do just that.

Oh hey KGILL. I meant to stop back in here and tell you DO NOT BE AFRAID!This issue is NOT your fault. It could have caught THE VERY BEST of us off guard! This is an opportunity for you to blow your customers away with your level of service, for a cost of about $25 (for fairly good paint). Anyone could have done the same thing, with the focus being so heavily on removing the paint from the pavers. Don't look at this as a mistake at all. Look at this as an OPPORTUNITY to show your customers what an awesome contractor you are. Look at it as a chance to PROVE that YOU are the right man for the job, because you went ABOVE and BEYOND, where you really shouldn't have to. The fault lies with whoever painted the pavers. You are their SAVIOR! You are the guy FIXING the problems with their pavers AND their garage door. I was still thinking about your last reply when I popped in here this morning, and thought I'd brighten your perspective on the issue a little.

Just out of curiosity. What is being done with the runoff into the storm drains from these places, not to mention our roadways, every time it rains? Oh I see.......NOTHING! Exactly how long do these contaminants stay trapped in the surface of concrete with constant weathering? Right...nothing is forever. So, in reality, it's the cities that want concrete and asphalt roadways which should have reclaim systems intercepting all water that goes into storm drains, right? It's not exactly environmentally friendly to waste massive amounts of resources for every contractor on the planet to buy and maintain reclaim equipment when it could be done more efficiently by the cities themselves. I get the feeling this isn't really about environmental concerns. It's more about chest pounding and pushing the small guy out of business.

The software I use is DevWave's Paint Estimator Pro. I have used it for years to estimate everything from concrete acid staining, to painting, staining decks and fences, etc. I actually beta tested numerous builds of this software, and if you're doing any kind of work similar to what is mentioned, and YOU ACTUALLY KNOW YOUR PRODUCTION RATES AND COSTS, this software makes it a BREEZE to put together very professional looking estimates. You can check them out at Devwave dot com and tell them Adam Austin from AA Quality Painting sent you.

Be careful mixing dawn with SH, Dawn has ammonia in it, and the two really shouldn't be mixed.

David is right, just be careful. Also realize that some of the marks may actually stain the paint itself, and become impossible to remove. If it's a stain, that's good news, but if it's any kind of paint, it will likely peel with any real pressure. Always have contingency clauses in your contract for things like this.

There is a lot to know when it comes to sealing concrete. With my painting company, we did a lot of sealing, staining, and other work on concrete, but you better know what's up before you start. There are all kinds of different products out there, with different results, and different issues. If you're just looking to apply clear sealers, it's not as bad as painting, staining, and all the other things that can be done with concrete, but you can lose your behind if you end up with problems on concrete. There are literally hundreds of products for staining concrete from water based, to xylene stains, and acid stains. One thing I find funny is power washers are disturbed when a painter like myself crosses over into this field, but not bothered at all crossing over into our (painter's) territory. I say, learn your business real good, and ONLY offer services you are 100% sure you know inside and out. Get some ON THE JOB experience with ANYTHING you plan to offer first. Talk to people who do it regularly, and learn as much as possible before you get started. Just slapping sealer on is easy, until you realize there are things like efflorescence, moisture content, and even the type of concrete that can make a difference in what you're doing. I wouldn't want to deter you from making more money. If you have the skills, and the knowledge, then GO FOR IT...but don't rush into anything that's over your head. Take your time, learn it well, and go make the money. Don't let anyone tell you that you can't do it because you come from this trade or that. Those are the type of contractors who aren't here to help you, they're trying to stifle their competition.

Try a very easy final rinse top down with a water hose. Just let the water cascade down on it's own. Do this AFTER you've cleaned and rinsed as normal. Just one final pass letting it run down on it's own. Don't spray at it, let the water hit up high and run down.

Unfortunate that it's sticking to the garage door. It's likely completely bonded to the paint on the door too. I don't personally know of any way to remove it. You've basically reactivated the paint by applying the stripper, and as the stripper dries, the paint is going to bond to whatever it's on, and often times very fiercely too. The bond isn't chemical, it's going to be physical as the paint sets in to the paint on the door. Sanding may be your only option to remove it. One gallon of paint will do a couple garage doors easily, and if you're any good at spraying, you could repaint their doors for very little expense and less than 20 mins time invested. It takes longer to cut in the garage door bucks than to paint the doors. Heck, it takes longer to get the sprayer ready and clean up than it will take to paint them. This is the route I would personally take, and I'd do it at no charge, because it's not a major deal, and it was unforeseen. This will leave the customer ecstatic with your performance and cover your behind too. Of course, you can explain it to the customer honestly, and paint the door for free if they provide the paint, because I really don't think you'll get it off without some damage. Show them the rotten wood, and tell them they need to do something anyway. Just be honest, and be professional about it. I don't ever see stuff like this as a problem. It's a chance to make a customer really happy, and maybe get some referrals for it.

Funny that. I never learned how to do anything else but downstream. Drop hose in bucket, spray soap, rinse, done. Bucket stays with the rig, no moving anything but wand and hose.

Yup, very good idea. Hosting companies don't like hosting stolen, copyrighted material.

Just thought I'd pop back. The guy has his name and photo on the contact page. Send Guido to take care of him. ;)

I had this happen once before with my old website and painting business. You just have to be on the lookout. Have a friendly attorney send a cease and desist letter. That should get their attention.

What oil stains almost put you out of business. If it's this much of a concern, I for one, would like to know exactly what product you are talking about, and how it failed you. I am very interested in what you have to say and what your experiences have been, whether they mesh with everyone else or not. Please do elaborate. If something is this bad that it could cost you your business, I want to know exactly what product that is. As a business owner, I think information like this is vital, so please share more. I'm sure everyone who is using oils would like to know which product you're talking about, unless I'm the only one who doesn't?

I'm wondering if I hold the record for lurking on this forum. I've been a member for....oh I don't know...something like FIVE YEARS, but never posted, hah! Some of you I've met on contractor talk forums years ago, when I had my last business. I had to shut that down due to health reasons, and we were grossing $20K month, so I'm not new to all of this. My last business was mostly painting and pressure washing, but I also did wood care and concrete acid staining. I know more about coatings than most people out there, both due to experience and reading the labels, and manufacturer's specifications. I've been certified with Wolman and Penofin for about seven years, and just went and recertified with both of them under the new company name. I don't know everything, but I understand coatings and their properties better than most. I decided this time going back into business I am not going to be doing painting anymore. The work is just a little more than I can handle with this peripheral artery disease. I'm trying to avoid all the ladder work that comes with painting, the old legs can't really take it anymore. I am also hoping to avoid a lot of the low ball painters and illegals by doing strictly wood care, and some pressure washing. We have a sizable market for these things here (Jax, FL) and instead of spreading myself thin doing all types of coatings, I chose the niche of wood care, and we're going for it. I've got my new website up and running, almost 100% complete, and I am working out some of the other things that are needed. Unfortunately, when you are out of business for a few years, it doesn't matter how much money you USED to make...So I am starting my new business on a shoe string, JUST LIKE LAST TIME! Yay! I don't know how much I'll post, but I figured I'd drop a line and say THANK YOU to most of you here. You've been a great source of information over the past seven or eight years, and I figured I'd break my streak of five years of lurking to say thanks. Also, having a forum signature with a link or two won't hurt my search engine rankings either. :D My new site is up at http://www.weatheredwoodrestoration.com Here are a couple shots from a deck I just recently completed. There are a couple more scrolling on the home page of my new site as well. This was Behr Acrylic we stripped, did a fair amount of sanding when we were surprised by remnants of a solid underneath it (mostly under the handrails, go figure), and then stained Ready Seal Dark Brown. I only wish I had a lot of the before and after from my last business to use on the website. I'm working on getting some stuff up for the gallery page, but everything else is in order for now. Give our site a once over and let me know what you think. The entire thing was done by yours truly.

Thanks Danny, I hope everything works out on your project.

Yes, the acid neutralizes the caustic stripper. Wear a respirator though, because the mist will choke you to death.

Yes, it's still unsafe to humans and plants once mixed. After rinsing and dilution, it's not so bad, but you don't want it on your skin or your plants. Keep them wet, or cover them while using it. Be careful covering your plants, use clear plastic, you could kill them if you use something like black garbage bags. You don't have to worry too much about getting it on you once diluted by rinsing, but it can still burn you. Usually there is no issue when rinsing, just wet down anything you're worried about before, during, and after. If you get a chunk of gooey old stain with caustic on your skin, you'll know it's there, I promise. In another life I worked in water filtration, and made the filters a lot of pressure washers use for de-ionized water. We used sodium hydroxide (caustic soda) and hydrochloric acid to charge the de-ionizing resins. Then we used sulphuric acid to neutralize our waste water's ph before dumping into the city sewer. Once your caustic is rinsed with enough water, it will become a neutral ph again, and will basically be rendered harmless. I have, unfortunately, been drenched with caustic and hydrochloric at different times from lines bursting under pressure and other plant mishaps. Neither is very nice on the skin, but caustic (in it's pure form like we used there) is the worst. It's a slippery and very heavy viscous liquid that does not rinse easy, and when it starts burning, it's because it's IN your skin, not on it. It's nearly impossible to get it "off" and stop the burning once it's set in, and it can leave some nasty marks. Not trying to scare you, but be careful and wear proper protective gear. The diluted kind you will be using isn't as bad, but if you get it on you, you're going to really wish you hadn't. Think of your plants in the same manner, they won't like it either. Be careful.

The oxalic acid will not only brighten the wood, but that's the part that helps get rid of the stains from the nail heads. Make sure your rinse good after using the acid.