James

When your working high end woods (ipe' ,mahog, port orford or yellow cedar) it's best done with a brush. The oils have to be worked into the wood and penitration is slow. This could turn into a X rated reply !!!!! I'll stop now...

AAron, the amont of time it takes to wash a house for painting prep Doesn't justify a large lay out of cash. You can prep 3 houses in 2 days with one machine and have your guys their for 2 weeks painting . The painter's I know that run two crews have a small investment in pressure cleaners . The big issue is what direction to go in. Now you have one year behind you. For the next 5 years that will change with what kind of work you do and what kind of reputation you gain. Sounds like you need a line of credit to pay monthly bills and payroll. Until you get paid ?

The only thing I have to say about this is safety to the driver. I have a trailer and a 350 Ford Van . I will not carry bleach inside if I don't have to or any other major chem. If you do this day after day the fumes and minor spillls add up. Know matter how great of a design your chem's should be seperate from your air you breathe !! Block off the cab from the back . you've gone this far. next spring you won't remember .. Due to Brain Farts ......

I use read seal and i make my own semi's. i also use ready seal clear as a first step in the preservation of older decks then a semi on top of that. There is a big difference between all these product. You have penitrating oils, film formers and hardeners. A subject for after the new year !!! I do not use any product that I would have to strip off .

The only way to get a true gage of color with penitrating oils is to make your own. I take piece's of every kind of wood and do to it what I will do to their deck. I have different type's of wood in my aging laboratory( side of house ) getting ready for my spring sample's.

Acid doesn't work on wood as a cleaner as the wood ages because it doesn't get rid of the mold/mildew. Its ok in the first 3 months of a decks life. After that mildew might be your new friend. Oxi-stuff will darken new pine, cedar or any new wood. I find Bleach doesn't do this. Stripper's darken the wood and draw tannins to the surface..

Have you tried anything yet ? This is the painter's problem ! You can try 0000 steel wool and rub it offf if it is small spray spots. Try acetone and rub it off. No matter what you do it will change the appearance of the area a bit.

Rich Little? Isn't that that the guy who impersonate's as a master window cleaner ? I never did high rise. I started my biz 17 years ago. Residential as Tim said is great for the pressure cleaning biz. The customer will trust you more with all their work because your there once or twice a year.

I use Ready Seals or oxalic. Ready seals is phosphoric based. This is for neutralizing not cleaning. Acid cleaner's for wood are crap !!!!

Just put the plants back in the same spots? Bleach , water, Dawn' , Little TSP. Acid. Dark Red Texas Tea. Dark Red looks great I used it a lot this year. It makes the wood look very rich.

Next reality show is " EXTREME SHOPPING" Female Bargin hunter's go nuts!!!!

My wife's biz stopped the day afer 9/11 (graphic design for the trade show industry). It 's just starting to come back now in little pieces. What we did (US) or what Bush has done I think is correct. 9/ll was a wake up call for us to take action. To weed out terror before it gets to our land. The problem (Iraq) has become a public relation nightmare. No weapons of mass destruction, troops being killed, the media only showing the bad, Bushes buddies lining up to pad their pockets . People over in the middle east hated us before because of our history and polices. Now It's the world............

He must of got his Good Look's from his mother!!! Great News !!!

I did a 500 sqft cedar deck this year. I quoted 1600.00 to strip. I did a test spot I thought I was going to make a killing. It took 30 hours. I figured there to be 4 coats of poly, sikkin or glue. Had to use a porter and cable tungsten carbide paint remover. Then sand! That was after 15 hours of strong, stronger and the strongest chemicials. Then sanding which also failed. I told the cust. this was not biz anymore but a hobby. I'll be back tommmorow.......

How many out there follow deck builders and have relationships ? How many do decks that are less than a year old ? How many or what precentage of the decks you do are cedar ? Reed you don't count!!

Paul , it was Brian Auger (played with Claptin). Reed, I used to do what you suggest. I found this to be a waste of time. The wood is just not ready to absorb oil. And there it no ill affect to the wood by letting it sit Just better results by waiting I do find and I've stated this many times most problems with cedar happen in the first year. Because of not understanding the benifits of weathering and using it to your advantage.

Was the door still wet when you nuet. ? Before you do anything take nuet, and rub it on if the black goes away its tannins. otherwise its forth down and you lost.... After strripping Cedar, mohg ,redwood ect it's best to wait until the wood is almost dry before nuetr alization. You can't use stain blockers if you use ready seal or anyother penitrating sealers

you said it; the Ry Man......

Paul , just got back from seeing Paul Auger (blues organist).......... might be mis spelled ? Too many black and tans.... UCONN Basketball ...!!!!!!!!$$$$####$&&&** Season tickets !!!!!!!! Good nigh ty

you count now. lets here ?

I also keep an acidic soap solution in a 5 gallon bucket If anything dries. This will remove it quickly . This does not take long. And I do offer windows by hand. Or you can reactivate the dried solution with the house wash and rinse . The key is do it that day...

I keep them wet and agiitate with a brush and rinse

After all the comments about new wood. Only one guy does it.No body works with new decks ? Cedar anyone ?

I just want to work 200 day's a year and average 500 to 800 dollars a day. I go to bed Dec. 26 wake-up in Jan. go Florida for 10 days go back to bed and wake up Mardh 16 ( St..Paddys 17 ). April's booked. Ritz cracker you have to calm down. If you want to get big. Sit down with you SCORE rep. and do a BIZ plan. If you went into biz ( 2003) in my state CT. you would be in the toilet. I've had bad weather since last April 2002. Don't become a Royal Flush ! You have many grand idea's which will work in time. In this type of biz take it slow.

The more you learn, the more you earn. Practice, knowledge and a couple years work will help. Deck chem's after awhile are pretty easy to figure out. Cleaners ,striippers. and nuet (acids). Everything is based on dilution . This take's practice and many strip jobs. Masonry I buy pre-mixed, and house wash stuff I buy chem's and add bleach.