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GM Carlos, The Housing Bubble has affected me, in the extreme! So, I'm constantly on the lookout for varying sources of work for our service business. My presentation must be lacking, because even with changes, I am encountering actual RESISTANCE from real estate agents, in particular. One might think pressure washing would be a great, cost efficient tactic to improve curb appeal of a residence and help it gain a step above others in a marketplace flooded with a 10 month supply of homes available. No joy! With so many homes in foreclosure, and vacant, I considered there must be opportunity, for those of us in the service business. I have not yet determined HOW to approach banks, and such, regarding those REO properties, with inquiries regarding maintenance and upkeep. However, I did make the rounds of various mortgage companies, in my travels, and offered my presentation to them. As it happened, I met a couple, working in a mortgage company, that had taken over a property headed for foreclosure and I did an exterior wash on the mobile, which led to an interior paint job, and then electrical work. What is needed, is a way to reach whoever makes decisions on REO, bank and lender owned properties. From information I've seen on the web, there are hundreds of thousands of these vacant buildings that shall degenerate even more if they are not given at least a minimum of care. r

When the white man came to America, There were no taxes, Women did all the work, All men did was hunt and fish. The white man thought he brought a new, improved system. r

I do mold work. Never blasted anything, but that would have helped, in a couple cases. We've plastic'd off whole sections of houses, opened the walls, and brought in the ventilator fans and heat. In some cases we replaced wood, in others, we applied an anti-mold killing product that was $250 a 5. I think the mold probably messed me up a couple times, for months at a time. I still get kind of a sensation when I get around a place that's got lots of mold, or when I get a big whiff of it. All we ever got was painters wages. If you could get hazmat scale, that would be good! r

DO you have a BRS on your chopper Adrian? They seem like a good deal to me, and I've never been the nervous type. Little brother has a snowbird gyro and I've seen their video where it sets down nicely when engine loses power. He smacked a rotor on takeoff in a crosswind gust... Now, he bought a Zenith kit and is going for the fast track sport plane license, which I heard the FAA is going to stop issuing soon. He does have license for, and rents sailplanes. ...Didja see that film, The Edge? It's among of our favorites. Geese sent them down to earth in that flick. In the past, I was occasionally transported to a grass strip on a coastal island... wild pigs rooting up the landing area was a prob. ...crashed the flite that followed my last trip, years ago. endo on landing. It put a doctor pilot and the rancher passenger in intensive care. bad nooz! Pilot error. He chose poorly! I can't quite remember how the saying goes, "Unlike the sea, when you make a mistake in the sky, Mother Nature is less forgiving." r Shucks! I forgot this thread was about membership costs and such... I would suggest sign up costs for the organization be $28,000 for the first years membership with a yearly increase adjusted to the prime rate. THAT should keep paperwork to a minimum, but worthwhile.

What are those spots on the trex in pic#3? r

Here in CA railing only required if deck is 30" off ground. Baluster spacing would be to prevent 4" ball from passing through. Pictured deckrail is decorative, but people gonna SIT on it! r

Great Ken, Will I have posting privileges??? ... One of my own mishaps I advise people of pertains to wallpaper removal. Our prep crew got 90% of it off, and I was to prep coat, and texture, before our painters came back. We did a bunch of sanding and I was about to go to the emergency room at the hospital at about 11:00pm that evening... dust from the glue set up in my lungs that night. I wasn't sure I was gonna make it. One of xxxx scratch that... it was the roughest night I can remember! Household projects can be perilous! r

Probably a great place to live, Carlos, but they sure don't belong in the bargain basement! My guess is they will lose value for the next two years. Gosh I hope this isn't a public thread!!!!!! Everyone who hasn't, really needs to spend an evening reviewing the HOUSING BUBBLE BLOGS Unlike algore, the gloom and doom THEY depict are backed by empirical hard figures, facts, and supporting information that is without dispute. We are in for a hard row to hoe! My friends spec is in an exclusive development of 2-5ac plots, level ground, and excellent views of mtns surrounding the valley with no takers. I'm sure he'll jump at less than 1 1/2 mil nowadays... r

Thank you all for the good information. I did speak with them, and they are now in sticker shock. And I only discussed preliminary things to get them on the right path for lasting value... Plenty of time for them to consider options. The problem is not going away. ...I discovered a portion of the flooring has been removed, and it's obvious they've been living under the house, too. Yuck. r

As I've said before, 30yrs in a trade would be of little value once all the commonly used products were changed or no longer available without constantly keeping informed of new products and techniques. A BB such as thegrimescene.com is the only way to keep up with change. There is a niche market for the old school, but it's quite specialized. There weren't many decks built when wood was hand hewn! Everything on the Acropolis is degenerating, because power cleaning was never possible... r

Beautiful deck! Restore-a-deck and Woodzotic work great! Pretty as a picture! r

Great rig! Plenty of room in trailer! It will work great for you! Buy American! r

Quote from movie, The Edge, "Never feel sorry for a man with an airplane." ...but I'm not sure if that applies to ten thousand parts moving through the air in formation... Cash won't help auto-rotate! Networking is always good for business. I never did it much, and my business does suffer for it. If I had it to do over again I would join everything and spend most my time promoting a business as opposed to hoping to prosper by doing good old hard work. r

I hear that! Years ago I could handle all that, just jumped right in, literally. Now I'm wimpy. A warm water heated suit would be OK by me! I often thought of building a small commercial dredge for clearing silt from marinas and other waterway applications. It's all about pumps and tubes. It might go well with the PW service business. Then, a suspended riffle box in the dredge exhaust could catch fines that would drop out as debris was discharged in the selected area. Had a friend years ago who maintained a location at a sand and gravel plant, a big one, where everything passed over a drag plate in a wash system. He did well, 'til they figured they really didn't need him... Silver recovery from black & white photo processing also used to be a big thing. I used to have 10oz bars of .995... long gone now! r

Movie reviews... diversion, instead of production. Oh well. Apocalypto good action flic by mel gibson Blood Diamond action film w leo dicaprio fair acting job always good to see jenifer conelly Children of Men brit apocalypse flic always fun to see michael caine working! Davinci code entertaining but nothing spectacular Deathproof pretty much junk from the twisted quentin No Salma = stay home the Number 23 Jim carey does a good job in a straight role. Zodiac entertaining who dunnit jake is good & robert d jr working! the Good Shepherd matt damon, deniro & jolie boring Duma nice fuzzy kid story about a cheetah pet in s africa Big nothing entertaining and shaun of the ded in a different role Idiocracy funnystoopid little wilson bro is OK Stranger than Fiction interesting flic I really don't like w ferrel, but he did a fine job in this role. emma thompson is great. Thank you for Smoking (Its NOT cheech & chong.) entertaining always good to see sam elliot working and we watched Young Frankenstein, again. Funny movie and we watched Lock, stock, and two Smoking Barrels again among favorites Apocalypto was probably best of that bunch. too bad mel can't handle his vitamin B any better! Still waiting for another GREAT movie... maybe like Love & a .45 or Lost Boys... something with real impact r

Kevin, it might be time to dust off that mining gear. Au is at $750/oz now. r

Thanks for the advice, Sparkleman! r

Kevin, I can wire houses all day long, but have never done much motor work. That being said, you most likely will not find a residence with 3 phase power. Generally used in machine shops and industrial applications. This would require that the "machine" you mention be internally wired to run off single phase 220 which IS available in most homes. There is usually (hopefully) a diagram inside the connection box on the unit. The sticky part is the motor draws over what a standard 20amp breaker will allow, so you would probably want to employ a 30amp 220v breaker and use a 10 gauge cord for connection. If we are talking about your compressor, that will only start from an empty tank, it might be possible to change the value of the motor start capacitor to control the spike and surge created when starting the beast. (This IS beyond my capability) I'm thinking if your motor has 3phase capability it may not be using start capacitor, but internal start windings. You could also try changing the sheaves, if it is belt drive, to lessen the motor loading, but that would decrease your CFM available. Also, you could try a 20amp slow blow breaker. Did that confuse things enough? ...Yep, I looked up your wagner number on first post... Love to hate 'em! Glad yours is working for you! People give them to me from time to time. I keep the hose and cheapo gun, if any good at all and yard sale 'em for $10-$20 bucks. (They got little teeny-tiny parts inside 'em that clog easily.) I'll look for a price on those AIMS 2500w inverters... Can WE draft you to direct your DIY skill towards reclaim & recovery? ... I saw pics of a goldVac that used a 2 cycle leaf blower/vac on a 5 gal bucket... what would you think of that? Sump pumps are EZ. Next comes the filter/flocculant tank I'm unsure of.. r

Sounds like you're having plenty fun, Kevin! Small diaphragm pumps are good for most lite & med body products. I've got a couple HERO pumps around here, somewhere! I'm surprised you are getting such great service from your inverter! The ones I've seen always popped pretty quickly, but they must have been smaller ones. Anyhow, tripping breakers? I open the panel and stick in my own, and drop a pigtail out for hi-amp tools and a short cord to the tool. Most panels only use two types of breakers... r

2nd house looks great, too! This stripper can be downstreamed? Tell me more... What did you neutralize with? r Pictures really prove a product, don't they?

Thanks for the reminder... Hope the guy heals up well and quickly. r

If I had used redwood for expansion joints in concrete it would have been 2 x 4 with 8d galv nails in pairs, (1 each side) every 16" or so, to hold the board down in the concrete. If something like that has been done, I suppose you could use a nail-cutting blade in a circular saw, then a sawzall with a metal cut blade. Probably need to glue in new stuff. r

What am I gonna do with this old Evinrude Quad 40 ? I guess I could use it to set my mailbox on... Maybe I could try setting the mailbox on a defunct burner. This is really a picture upload test. Gallery still not working. r

John has the nicest toys! Glad to hear they are all dirty from use... The BEST trailer is, NOT. Let's go back to your last idea... how about a big skid with heavy duty camper jacks so it can lift up and you can drive that new Ford under it... Some part of storage can overhang the cab and you could extend out the back quite a bit past down tailgate if you incorporated lights.. It would all be better with a flatbed, wouldn't it? r

I can't think of any heavy duty application for torsion bar suspension. ????? r