Russell Cissell

Extreme Solutions, Inc. is holding a wood restoration photo contest for our customers. Whether you use our products every day or have only tried them once, you are welcome to participate. The contest is being hosted right here on TheGrimeScene.com! To enter, simply post any wood restoration picture showing the use (or results) of any product in the Extreme Solutions, Inc. wood restoration suite found at www.esproducts.net Include a brief description of what your photo shows. Once posted you are in the game! Each photo will be assigned points based on a predetermined scale. Each photo will earn up to 80 points. The reaction your photo brings from viewers plays a big part in it's ranking. Photos will also earn points for creativity, composition, image quality and product representation among other things. Each Photo will also be assigned to a category. After the entry deadline, the top 3 photos from each category will be posted in a Grime Scene Poll for final judging by your fellow contractors who use this site. You don't have to use our products to vote or share your opinion so even if you are not entered in the contest let us know which is your favorite photo! The categories include Best Deck Picture Best Wood Home Picture Best Series The winner of each category will receive a $500.00 credit in our online store at http://www.esproducts.net/ In addition three photos will be selected from the entire field for a wildcard category. This can include one of the pictures from the other categories or any other wood restoration picture that is submitted. The top 3 wildcard photos will also be posted on The Grime Scene for final judging by your fellow contractors who use this site. The winner of the wildcard category will receive a full years supply of restoration chemicals including HD-80, EFC-38 and Citralic Brightener/Neutralizer. That is over a $1,000.00 value! If you have any other questions about the Extreme solutions, Inc. Photo Contest, feel free to post them below, or call 1-866-536-7393 for official rules and regulations. If you have trouble posting or prefer to remain anonymous you can e-mail the picture to imrcc1@aol.com and I will post it for you. The deadline for entry is December 20, 2006. Best of Luck! Russell Cissell http://www.esproducts.net/ imrcc1@aol.com 1-866-536-7393 The fine print ESI is collecting pictures for educational and marketing purposes. The goal of this contest is to add to the ESI image archive and all entries will be considered for that purpose. If your entry is selected for use either in ESI's educational or promotional programs you will be asked to issue a release for such use. All participants in the ESI Photo Contest reserve the right to deny permission to reproduce their image for such purposes. Permission is not required to participate in this contest. ESI will select and post the three finalist in each category by January 1, 2007. The final contractor vote will be open from January, 1 2007 through March 1, 2007. Each $500.00 first prize credit can be applied to any product in our online store. The credit can also be used toward shipping. The credit will be issues immediately following the end of the voting period on March 1, 2007. The Grand Prize winner of the Wildcard category will receive free restoration chemicals for the entire 2007 season. This includes HD-80, EFC-38 and Citralic Brightener/Neutralizer. This product is for the winners use only and is not to be sold or otherwise assigned to a third party. Product will be delivered monthly on demand based on scedualed/antisipated work. You may enter as often as you like and may have multiple photos in the final judging. Photos do not have to be recent. As long as they show the use/results of any ESI wood restoration product they qualify. If you would like to enter a photograph that is not in a digital format you may do so by mailing the photo to: Photo Contest Care of Extreme Solutions, Inc. 955 LeFaivre Street Portage Des Sioux, MO 63373. We will scan and post the photo on your behalf. If you would like your original photo returned, please include a self addresses return envelope. You may enter the contest anonymously if you choose, however in order to be selected for the final three you must grant permission for your name to be announced if you are chosen as the winner of any category including the Wildcard category. Point System Complexity of job - 10 Points Product Representation - 10 Points Image Quality - 10 Points Overall Composure - 10 Points Creativity of Shot - 10 Points Description - 10 Points Viewer Reaction - 20 Points

After talking with another contractor today I became very curious about pricing. I've been specializing in wood restoration for over a decade. The price varies by region of the country and also from company to company within each market. I am very interested to see how the prices here in the St. Louis market stack up with those nationwide.

When someone can borrow money to buy equities, how can it possibly not falsely value the market? The big issue is less about regulation than it is oversight.

545 PEOPLE Politicians are the only people in the world who create problems and then campaign against them. Have you ever wondered why, if both the Democrats and the Republicans are against deficits, WHY do we have deficits? Have you ever wondered why, if all the politicians are against inflation and high taxes, WHY do we have inflation and high taxes? You and I don't propose a federal budget. The president does. You and I don't have the Constitutional authority to vote on appropriations. The House of Representatives does. You and I don't write the tax code, Congress does. You and I don't set fiscal policy, Congress does. You and I don't control monetary policy, the Federal Reserve Bank does. One hundred senators, 435 congressmen, one president, and nine Supreme Court justices 545 human beings out of the 300 million are directly, legally, morally, and individually responsible for the domestic problems that plague this country. I excluded the members of the Federal Reserve Board because that problem was created by the Congress. In 1913, Congress delegated its Constitutional duty to provide a sound currency to a federally chartered, but private, central bank. I excluded all the special interests and lobbyists for a sound reason. They have no legal authority. They have no ability to coerce a senator, a congressman, or a president to do one cotton-picking thing. I don't care if they offer a politician $1 million dollars in cash. The politician has the power to accept or reject it. No matter what the lobbyist promises, it is the legislator's responsibility to determine how he votes . Those 545 human beings spend much of their energy convincing you that what they did is not their fault. They cooperate in this common con regardless of party. What separates a politician from a normal human being is an excessive amount of gall. No normal human being would have the gall of a Speaker, who stood up and criticized the President for creating deficits. The president can only propose a budget. He cannot force the Congress to accept it. The Constitution, which is the supreme law of the land, gives sole responsibility to the House of Representatives for originating and approving appropriations and taxes. Who is the speaker of the House? She is the leader of the majority party. She and fellow House members, not the president, can approve any budget they want. If the president vetoes it, they can pass it over his veto if they agree to. It seems inconceivable to me that a nation of 300 million cannot replace 545 people who stand convicted -- by present facts -- of incompetence and irresponsibility. I can't think of a single domestic problem that is not traceable directly to those 545 people. When you fully grasp the plain truth that 545 people exercise the power of the federal government, then it must follow that what exists is what they want to exist. If the tax code is unfair, it's because they want it unfair. If the budget is in the red, it 's because they want it in the red. If the Army & Marines are in , it's because they want them in . If they do not receive social security but are on an elite retirement plan not available to the people, it's because they want it that way . There are no insoluble government problems. Do not let these 545 people shift the blame to bureaucrats, whom they hire and whose jobs they can abolish; to lobbyists, whose gifts and advice they can reject; to regulators, to whom they give the power to regulate and from whom they can take this power. Above all, do not let them con you into the belief that there exists disembodied mystical forces like 'the economy,' 'inflation,' or 'politics' that prevent them from doing what they take an oath to do. Those 545 people, and they alone, are responsible. They, and they alone, have the power. They, and they alone, should be held accountable by the people who are their bosses provided the voters have the gumption to manage their own employees. We should vote all of them out of office and clean up their mess! --taken from unknown source

Rick If the product is 30% solvent it would not be VOC compliant for the NE Corridor. If I'm not mistaken compliance requires a total VOC of less than 2 LB per gallon. Am I missing something?

Ok, I have heard about enough out of you palm tree huggin, sun lovin', gator chasers! Some of us have to live up north and take care of the rest of the country. We can't just all be a bunch of Sun King's in paradise. Not yet anyway! I used to live on Matalache Island when I went to school in FL. I remember calling home one Christmas while walking around in my yard shirtless and laughing at my father who was "deicing" his driveway for a party. Why did I ever come back? They should really have a strong four letter word for winter.

Ryan Wood-Tux is a good product, but it is very high in resin solids making it a little more difficult to apply. If you are shopping for "ease of use", I would recommend looking at Woodrich Brand Timber Oil. Wood Deck Cleaning & Sealing Products - ideal for wood siding and log homes

Dwell time is the key to tough strip jobs. Be patient, let it sit there as long as you can stand and keep misting it with water to keep the chemical wet and active. Brown Sugar and Western Cedar both look good on most types of PT lumber. Our Warm Honey Gold color tends to look sort of orange. WHG is batter for darker woods.

Honestly it wasn't so much a free sample as a "reward" or my way of showing how impressed I was with Rick's web site. The information he makes available combined with the quality design is just the sort of thing that enhances the professional image if the entire wood restoration industry. Keep up the great work Rick!

Rick What a great use for a free sample! That couldn't have turned out better for anyone. Pictures look good too. It is pretty much a straight paraffinic. We use 10% alkyd just to body it up a little and help keep the transoxide pigments in suspension. We really load our finishes with pigment so if we didn't increase the viscosity a bit you would have an awful lot of settling.

I respectfully disagree. I believe that all wood should be protected as soon as possible. If for no other reason, it helps to keep environmental contaminants from invading the wood. I have never heard one sound argument for letting the wood "weather naturally". To me that concept has always been more of an excuse than a solution regardless of the type of wood in question. When it comes to the discerning customer who pays top dollar for an exotic hardwood such as Ipe, letting it "weather" is not a viable option. Think about the furniture in your home. Do you think those who build the furniture let it sit outside for a year before finishing it? How about a brand new cedar home or log cabin? Is it also best to let them weather for a year before offering the wood some protection? What about the wood handles on your outdoor grill? Do they come to you finished, or as raw wood that you are supposed to let "weather" before you finish them? If your argument is that Ipe is a hardwood so it is an exception, I would have you look at the wood details on any yacht. These are most often Teak, Ipe or another hardwood species. How many 6 month old yachts do you see cruising around with gray, silver or black wood trim? With proper surface preparation, the right finish selection and application methods all wood, hard or soft can be successfully protected immediately after installation. Waiting for the wood to come around to your way of doing things is about like sitting in a race car and waiting for the finish line to come to you. It's just not a winning strategy for anyone.

Stephen I would not recommend using EFC-38 in the presence of chlorine or bleach.

Pete Feel free to give me a call at 636-288-8512. Something isn't right from looking at those pictures. For whatever reason the finish didn't take right. Under normal circumstances, it should not look nearly that worn after only a couple months. I'm sure that we can come up with a solution for your customer.

Rick Up until May of this year it was the same. As ESI is no longer the manufacturer of Step 1 & step 2 it would not be a good idea to assume that in the future.

Because of the way the grain can raise on Ipe, and the fact that you don't gain any of the advantages typical of "seasoning" softer woods, I would recommend that you seal your wood right away. You will get a much nicer finish with the wood being new.

I would recommend using the Woodrich Brand Hardwood Wiping Stain. I would apply a medium coat to about 3 or 4 courses of wood. Then I would go back and wipe the excess stain off those boards using a dry rag lightly seasoned with mineral spirits. I would repeat that process across the deck, switching to a new rag each time one gets saturated with stain. (Be sure to place stain soaked rags in water to prevent spontaneous combustion.) The application on Ipe is more similar to furniture finishing than normal deck staining. You should plan on doing maintenance about twice as often as you would expect with cedar. If you call ahead, I can have the product waiting for you in will-call down town STL. If you prefer, you can order online at Wood Deck Cleaning & Sealing Products - ideal for wood siding and log homes And have it shipped to your door.

There are three versions of Woodrich Brand Stains & Sealers. The reason there are three versions is like Ken said, each one has it's caveats. Timber Oil is a paraffinic oil based stain. It does carry 10% resin solids but that is primarily to help keep the pigments in suspension. Timber Oil is loaded with the same level of pigment used in Wood-Tux so the coverage rate is far better than you would get with most paraffinic stains. We also use the highest grade of oil available making Timber Oil a very low odor product. Has to be used on dry wood. Stain & Seal has a much higher level of resin solids making it a curing finish. It's not as easy to use as Timber Oil but still not very challenging. Again, loaded with pigment, great coverage. Older wood often takes two coats if you want to load it. Can be applied to damp wood. Wood-Tux/Wiping Stain is extremely high in both resin and pigment solids. Easy to over apply the first time if you have never worked with a heavy bodied product. Coverage in excess of 200 square feet/gal with a one coat application. Hardwoods coverage in excess of 350 - 400 square feet/gal. Can be applied to wet wood. In a sense you can think of them as "oiled down" versions of Wood-Tux but in reality, only the percentage of oil to resin changes. The percentage of pigment and other solids is virtually identical.

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Charlie Get a hold of me Monday. I haven't got that label in a PDF, but I'm sure we can do something to get you taken care of. You can reach me at 636-288-8512. Russell Cissell Extreme Solutions, Inc. Wood Deck Cleaning & Sealing Products - ideal for wood siding and log homes

Charlie Do you need an actual product label or just the text that is on it? Russell Cissell Extreme Solutions, Inc. Wood Deck Cleaning & Sealing Products - ideal for wood siding and log homes 636-288-8512

Corey Woodrich Brand Stain & Seal is very similar to Wood-Tux. It is formulated with a lower amount of resin solids making it easier to apply. It is possible to get the same level of protection by using two coats of Stain & Seal. It should be applied wet on wet. Take care not to leave any puddles after the second application. You can find more information on Woodrich Brand Stain & Seal at Wood Deck Cleaning & Sealing Products - ideal for wood siding and log homes Russell Cissell Wood Deck Cleaning & Sealing Products - ideal for wood siding and log homes 636-288-8512

Pete By looking at your pictures, I would say the product is over applied. I understand that you brushed and then back padded. Back padding or back brushing are generally used to even out a finish. Your goal with Ipe is to completely take up the excess. For this a dry rag generally works much better. If you find the finish becoming tacky you can season your rag with a bit of mineral spirits. I try to explain to people working with Ipe that it is more similar to finishing furniture than staining a deck. Feel free to give me a call if you like. Russell Cissell Wood Deck Cleaning & Sealing Products - ideal for wood siding and log homes 636-288-8512

Of the actual bids that you give to potential customers, what percentage do you close? What percentage hire you for the work you bid? In your comments, let us know if you are happy with your percentage or if it is something you are working to improve. Also, if you know are you usually the high bid, low bid or somewhere in the middle?

Yeah, I think they call it a deterrent or something. I would argue the sum total VOC release could be drastically reduced by allowing manufacturers to formulate based on quality rather than politics. For every year I can keep you from going back to a deck it reduces more VOC than would be required to make a superior product.