Brian Keating

The normal mixture of oxalic and water is 8 oz. (about 3/4 of a cup) of oxalic per gallon of water. It will disolve much faster if you use warm water. I usually mix it the night before I plan on using it.

stoppie101, For staining railings I think the fastest way is to stray on sealer with your pump-up and then follow up with a shur-line stain pad. They hold a lot of sealer and are very durable. If you have a tight spot to get into put some sealer in a Windex bottle and spray it with that.

stoppie101, The brighter will help a little but flower pot stains are very difficult to remove. I would use an oxalic or citric acid brightener to remove a little more of the stain. Also, it is a good idea to always follow your stripper or cleaner with a brightener/neutralizer to balance the pH level of the wood. The cleaners usually cause the pH to be elevated to between 12-14 and the neutralizer will help bring it back to a neutral pH level of around 6-8. Most brighteners have a pH of 1-2.

Bryan, If your going to repaint them I would strip the railings/spindles to get any loose varnish and dirt off before painting. Make sure you prime with an oil based primer before painting. The thing you need to protect is the floor when painting the rails. I would recommend using a brush but if you spray them make sure the whole floor is covered or you will be sanding over spray off.

Bryan, Did you see the pictures of the quick connects we were talking about in the chat last night?

Bryan, On average you can get about 200-300 sq ft of floor out of a pad. On an average deck I use two to three pads. Stay away from screws and nails. They will tear them up in a hurry. You usually only need to use them on cedar or other soft woods. CCA pine doesn't seem to "fur up" like cedar. The better you get with your dwell times the less defurring you will have to do. As far as a velcro back pads goes, I don't think it would work. I don't think velcro would be strong enough to hold the pad on. The backer pads are 7" and the pads are 9" x 1/2"-3/4" thick. Since the pad is usually never flat against the floor I bet it would not stick. It would be flying off all the time. Plus how would you get velcro to stick to the scotch brite materal of the pads?

Gavin, You need to make sure you have a Makita 9227c or equivalent sander/polisher. A grinder will not work, to much power. For the Defurring pads to work on the Makita you need to get a 7" Backer Pad and locknut. You can check your local home center for them. I'm not sure if Beth carries them or not.

Beth, Is the Hang Time still back ordered?

bellwayne, The first question I have is what type of sealer do you plan on using? You can use an airless with just about any sealer. I personally use Ready Seal and have found that a Flojet/Surflo is the way to go. You get a nice even application with the Surflo. I only use my airless when applying a solid finish like Cabots.

Aaron, How much do you plan on spending on advertising this season to get the amount of work to meet your goals? How many jobs to you plan on doing per week?

Rob, Call Joe Walters to get a quote. He is one of the few insurance agents that will write a policy for pressure washing. I carry $500,000 in liability and $20,00 for equipment. My premium is around $950 a year. It just went up about $60 from last year. His phone number is 412-831-8222

Sun Brite's All-Brite at full strength works great. Just don't let it dry on the surface. Let dwell about a minute or two. A little light brushing might be necessary on tough stains.

If stripper is left on a wood surface for to long the wood will begin to fur up. The fur is from removing the natural glues in the wood. The pads are used to remove the furring. A sander can be used to remove the furring but the defelting pads cut the time by 50-70%. They also remove any stain that may have been left behind when the wood was stripped.

I agree with Everett. We should end this discussion now and pick it up at another time. Thanks for the support everyone. Beth, If we have gone over the line please feel free to delete any posts that are not respectful to you or the BB.

I am meeting with Greg on Monday and will discuss any outstanding orders that have not been filled. I will definitly make that my first order of business.

I will be taking over the board as well. I agree with you 100% Reed. It is a very good board for wood care. It has gone down hill a little the last couple months but I hope we can turn that around. A board devoted to only deck and fence care might be a good idea.

Greg is in the process of sell Deckguide.com and the TimberPro line of products. I have been talking with him about it for the last week and the contact for the defelting pads will be included in the sale of the business. The services side of the business has gotten to big and he doesn't have time to support the retail side any longer. If I happen to purchase the retail side from him I will start taking orders for defelting pads within the week. I know he had a problem keeping them stocked last year but I will try to order quantities large enough so that I won't have that problem. I will keep you posted on what happens. Also if everything works out I will be running a special on them. I haven't worked out the details yet but it will be worth while.

Based on his baseball accomplishment alone he should be in, but he was banned for life. The day he dies should be the day he is allowed in. Don't allow him to make any more money off his name. He's a scumbag who is using baseball to generate more money. What type of guy admits to a 14-year lie in a book that is released the same week as that years Hall of Fame class is introduced?

I would charge $925.00 to strip, neutralize, detail and stain this deck.

With that kind of rate is it a home equity loan? That would be another way to go and you can write off the interest on your taxes. That is if you get denied for the business loan and own a home.

The van looks great. Just curious as to why you chose to put it in a van rather than an enclosed trailer. I would think you would have a lot more room in a trailer. Once you get all of your equipment in the van it's going to be a very tight squeeze. I know you primarily do house washes and decks but what about extension pools and a surface cleaner? Add in a couple 5 gal. pails and you will be unloading the van at every house to get at your equipment. Just my $.02.

I also Know!

Same to you guys!

Rick - Sorry to hear about your truck. I have a 2002 Dodge Ram and have hears the same thing about them being easy to steal. I would not get "The Club" if I were you. I saw a show on stealing cars and a guy showed how to get "The Club" off in 10 seconds. There is a better device that goes around the gas pedal. I can't remember what it's called but the only way they can get it off is to cut the pedal. If you cut the pedal off you can't drive the truck. Have you gotten an estimate on the damage yet?

Very Cool, Reed. I will definitely pass it on.