reed

I use a deckster but electric. I also use a pump up as necessary, but make sure if you use a pump up is has variable cone brass tip. The cone tip seems to work best. Reed

Oh NO, American Idol stars

Time, what's time, usually don't have it or not enough of it, i agree :) reed

Beth and Rod, if you ever consider starting PW repair, I might suggest a great starting point for this repair person is your local Technical College that offers small engine repair. What a great resource and a valuable relationship you can develop. just my .02 comment reed

Just so everyone knows, this calculation sheet was intially made by Mike Hughes years back. I have over the years tweaked it and made it a little better I hope. It prices according to sf and if one takes the final cost divide it by SF total, you will get the cost per sf. You can always go in and adjust any pricing section to conform to what your market will handle. I find that the homeowners really like seeing exactly how much sf'd they have and how pricing is made. When they compare it to others most times they don't get a full explanation from my competitors. I would like to publicly thank Mike Hughes for starting this spreadsheet and also hope that we continue to share info to make our industry better. I started out 5 years ago with lots of questions, and I got answers from so many people I can't remember all their names. And I thank each and everyone of them. Without input from others and using that input and applying it to my area, I would not be where I am now and look forward to growing with input yet to be recieved. It's always a learning process. I will always strive to share information that will better the industry as will others you see post here. Reed

90 is the approx coverage per sf I put in, you can adjust this for wood age (older the wood less coverage-new wood 120sf/gal) the times 19 is rounded up cost per gallon of sealer. this gives me the cost of sealer to be used. the $.45 is the charge per sf to stain by hand. The total cost for sealing includes sealer cost and labor. I seperate the sealer cost and sealing labor, in other words, sealing is 2 costs in one, sealer and labor. Hope this helps reed

Our registration is not much either, less than 50.00, BUT where Missouri gets you is in that you have to pay personal property tax on it evey year and when you buy a vehicle new or used, you have to pay the sales tax directly to the Department of Revenue at the time you get your plates or you don't get your plates. You can't finance the sales tax in this state either like you can in others. If you get a new BIG truck, you better save some $$$ for the sales tax. Reed ps, in IL, when you need new plates, watch out, they will cost you plenty.

I hate that "furry peach syndrome" too. reed

Sure, I'll find them now. Reed

Mike, there is never a moronic question. I have had the luxury of having great help the last several years. We can knock out a 1000sf deck in about 6 hours working at a good pace. I use ReadySeal and WoodTux. Both are wet on wet. Each product is different in it's application. RS can be applied 24 or more hours later after initial application. I seldom have to do this, but there are times when it's a must. WT is better light wet on wet coat. "I" do not recomend applying over a dry coat in that "I" haven't had the results I wanted in doing this. Others that use WT more than I will have their results and hopefully post them for you to get ideas from. My experience with RS and WT does not darken as you may think it would. With RS it actually enriches the color, with WT I haven't seen any difference in color, WT gives color right from the start. One reason I like WT. RS an WT both, do not hide the beauty of the grain. Another reason I won't use anything else. Results are spectacular with both as far as grain goes. Hope this helps you. Reed

If you have MS Office, there is a power point program embedded. I found it to be useful for a great "running" slide show. I just made one for an upcoming homeshow I am doing in St Louis in March. Reed

This is a heads up to those whom have to deal with uneducated decks builders. By uneducated I mean in refernce to the way deck, new and old are cleaned. I recently, 2 months ago, cleaned a new construction cedar deck. I did a test spot of approx. 4sf of the floor where the grill will cover. I determined that it was not needed on the rest of the deck. So I did an oxalic bath and light pressure rinse. My problem started there. I should have left the oxalic on it to put up a barrier to tannin. I let the deck dry to a reading of 8 to 10 percent, depending on the piece I check with the calibrated J-Lite meter. 3 weeks later the tanning had returned so I did a light was with oxalic again and lightly removed the surface layer of RS. Tannin disappeard and was letting the deck dry. Now in the meantime, this deck is 5 months old, knots started falling out left and right. My assesment is that the quality of wood was not good, probably grade 3 when he promised 1 and 2. Grade 1 cedar is clear, NO knots, this is usually a special order type wood. The deck builder in order not to honor his warranty and eat the labor to replace 10 boards pointed the finger at the chemical wash process. How ridiculous. Even I after I showed him the US Forestry literature that oxalic, citralic, and Oxygen based cleaners have no effect on density, lignin, and bonding adherences of knots and wood strength, he still is determined to blame the chemicals. The deck boards that I did the test spot using efc38 have ALL the knots intact. Imagine that. The latest saga is that the salesman for the deck builder is going to contact an agent with the local forestry service to come out and assess the wood grade. I hope the agent knows the latest science of wood cleaning and milling cedar. The builder even tried to get me to pay half the cost of board replacement. What a joke. My half of the bargain is to get the deck rewashed and restained period. But he has to satisfy the homeowner as to why the baords didn't last. I'll keep you posted as to the ongoing saga. Any comments? Reed

Got it Thanks. I have been in contact with Ed Burke of WRCLA, and he too had agreed that the knots falling out were the result of nothing I could do or have done. I sent the homeowner a copy of all correspondence, I have yet to hear from the homeowner, so he may be just taking the builder to litigation. Who knows. What a pain in the you know what. Thanks Beth and Rod, I really appreciate all that you and Rod do for our industry and the help you provide everyone. Reed

At that time no, big lesson learned. Now I do. Hindsight. Thankfully this was a repeat customer and he knows the quality of work I do. I did a deck for him at another home he owned and I had to severly strip that one, no knot problem. I have asked for others to post copies of their contracts so as I can tweak mine. Hopefully we will get some to post theirs or at least some exclusion clauses. reed

This deck was in total sun all day, no shade, that's why I question wood quality for this project. reed I agree with you, moisture was really low.

This deck was new construction. It required a light cleaning and brightening. I started with a test patch of weak strength EFC38 and a test patch of DeckBrite in an inconspicuous area. I determined that the deck could be cleaned with just an oxallic bath and the EFC38 was not needed. The entire deck was bathed in oxallic to brighten and help knock down the tannin. Then I rinsed the oxallic off. I don't know why I rinsed it off cause I normally leave oxallic on. Deck was allowed to dry, meter showed between 8 and 10 percent. I applied two coats of RS light brown and the deck was awesome. Two weeks later the homeowner called and asked me to come and look at the deck. Tannin had come through horribly. I put more oxallic on it, it knocked it down and then rinsed and applied one more light spray of oxallic and left it on. Two days later meter showed 6 to 8 percent and I was ready to seal. Homeowner asked why the knots were coming loose. I told him that the knots were coming loose before I started the deck the first time, which he agreed he had seen that. And I told him that I have suspicions that the wood was not of very good quality. He stated the builder told him it was graded exterior construction knotty. He stopped me from sealing a second time. Now here we are. If you look at the first couple of posts I put on this thread you will see what has transpired. Reed

The sf calculations are use for pricing and estimating the amount of sealer needed. I can adjust the sealer coverage based on the age of the wood.ie, will it give me 100 or 80 sf per gallon. I roll most decks. Sponge twinkies and pad the floors. Lattice is measured normally using width x height. Though it is not a solid sturcture, the typical measurement utilizes the pain in the ass factor to make up the difference. Every deck I do gets two coats minimum. Handrails I try to put at least 3 coats in that they and the floor take a huge beating normally. I put heavy coats on. Rolling and padding gives me super coverage per sf and if there is any left over, it can be used on other jobs. I don't eye ball price to the customer. I can pretty much tell what the price will be, but I want a hard copy of sf and I have found that my customers like it too. I will post a pic of this deck next to the calc sheet above. Reed

Thanks Ryan, really would apprciate it. She can feel free to email me if she doesn't feel like posting it to the public. reedster@charter.net Thanks again, Reed

Brian, glad I can help. Thanks for the document. It gives me a place to start for this coming years contracts. Reed

Being that this is my only time I am to be involved with a lawsuit, I am totally at a loss for what my next step should be. Any suggestions? Reed

Knots Landing Saga, Heard today the "knot" issue maybe going to litigation.. Homeowner is going to have to bring in the mill, the lumber yard, the "transporter" of the lumber, the deck builder and me. Can't see how all these people can be named in a suit. Will just have to see how this plays out. Reed

Beth, I posted the calculation sheet others have been asking for. Thanks for doing that. Now others need to post some forms too. I would be interested in a deck contract. reed

Could you send it to me one more time please? In fact I would like to see if others have made modifications and how they work. I thought the price would be near 4K. Reed

Celeste, I take it that you don't do the linear measurement stuff right? As I recall your excel and mine are basically one in the same. So there is no linear measurements, it's all SF'd. This job would be in the neighborhood of just under 4k. And that's factoring in about 250.00 for the "ladder work" you will need for the upper deck. Got to hate those don't ya????? What was the excel total? Reed

Will do, I am going to get the chrome swivel and the spare tire for sure. Also going to get the independant suspension. Not a big fan of leaf springs on this kind of trailer. I do think that it opens from back to front and will get the self opening door props. Cooler carrier for sure and covers for both. My total cost for all the extras and trailer is around 2600.00. Reed