Gavin

Hey guys & gals. Did a cedar sided house in 45 mph wind and ended up getting a few drops of stain on some of the flagstone. Can someone recommend the best method for cleaning that up? It was Ready Seal dark brown. Thanks Gavin

We did have tarps down but unfortunately we were working in heavy wind and the wind carried some of the stain (drips) 30 to 40 feet away. Not only did it blow the stain but it also kept taking the tarps with it. This house is on top of a very high hill by itself so the conditions were constant. Got rained out on this one a record 6 times!! Lightning, wind, rain, hail... you name it and it happened on this job. Thanks for all of your replys. I'm giving it a shot today. Gavin

I agree with big Mike. I do all horizontals (including the rail) in the transparent and all verts in white. Do the semi-solid first. 2 reasons. You can sand any you might get on the horizontals before you stain them and tape won't stick to the transparents anyway. I charge at least a 1.00 more per square for 2 tones. They take twice as long with all the prep work and taping. They also look the best! Gavin Oh, and to actually answer your question; I do the whole spindle including the backside of the top rail and the fascia (skirt) on the bottom.

Personally, I wouldn't recommend doing it yourself if you don't have any experiance with wood restoration/stripping/cleaning. You could do a lot of damage to your home if you get water under the siding and it could end up looking worse and costing more time and money to fix. Save money and hire a pro.

Isn't this a contractors web site?

Got a call to clean these 20' tall canopies for a Conoco gas station. They cover about 3500 sq ft over the pump areas. He just wants the underside cleaned only. Looks like they are covered in light deisel soot and carbon dioxide. He said he had another pw company come out and they did not get them clean. Said they didn't brush either. He didn't say what chems they used or how they applied them just that they didn't get it clean. I'm going to do a test area using an alkaline based diesel smoke remover to determine what it will take to get it clean. I was planning on using my x-jet to throw it up and also to rinse and apply a light wax. Was hoping to get some input into some of your methods or how you may have cleaned something similar and what it took to get it clean. I will brush if need be (he even has a scisor lift I can use) so that's not a big deal. I am concerned about reclaim and what that may entale. Since I mostly do residential work I don't have to worry about reclaim but I also don't have $5000 to spend on a system either. Can I trap the runoff and use my flotec to pump it back to my holding tank? If he takes my price he will have 25 stations for me to do which could also lead to a regular maintenance bid. Any input on this matter would be greatly appreciated! Thanks all! Gavin

Hey guys, I haven't really seen this issue talked about, maybe it has but I haven't run across it recently. How do you guys handle paying yourself? In my first year I have really just been using the money I have made to pay off my start-up costs. I'm finally in the black and now I'm trying to figure out how to pay myself moving forward. I have the luxury of a wife with a very good job so I haven't had to rely on my business alone. I realize I should be taking at least 30% (net) and putting it away for taxes but I wanted to get some input before I really start making a lot of money next season. As always, thanks for your input! Gav

I have an accountant so that's not the problem. Granted, I spend what I need to when I need to but I was just wondering if you guys take a percentage of your net for your pocket and put the rest into business savings, equipment, etc. Gavin

Actually, I believe the Cuprinol is Acryllic based. Dries really fast and soaks in really well! Hey Tony, I just noticed you are wearing a Red Wings jersey in your profile picture. Sorry about that! I'm mean that you're a Wings fan..... just busting your chops. Cheers from Avalanche country! So sad, no hockey this year.

In my case I already owned the 1500 years before I started the business so I went with what I had. I never said it was my first choice, just that I haven't had any problems with it. I too would go with a 2500 minimum if I was going to pull a trailer full time. Like I said before though, I will be buying a box truck next season and won't have to worry about pulling one.I'd like a new truck as well but it looks like the business will get one first. Maybe 2006

I just discovered rinsing with the hose off. Much better then dragging that 15' hose around. I was thinking of attatching a 30' hose and maybe using velcro straps to hold it to my pressure line so they don't get tangled. The one thing I don't like is the x-jet swivels freely off the end of the gun and I have a difficult time directing my stream sometimes. I'm thinking the velcro idea might help with keeping it stable as well......or at least semi-stable.

I used HD-80 to strip paint from a concrete porch (why it was painted.......we don't know) and it worked very well. Mix it with hot water and let it dwell at least 15 minutes. Hot water alone can do wonders on concrete. I always start there.

I've heard over and over again that the Chevy Duramax is really good. Personally I have a 98 Chevy 1500 Silverado and have had no problems pulling my trailer. And that's with altitude (I live at 6500 ft.) and mountain driving. Granted, I don't have a 225 gal tank or a double axle trailer to pull either. I believe the towing capacity is 5000 lbs. so it may not be big enough for what you are trying to do. Being in business for one year now I have only needed to haul water ONE time so, for now, my 110 gal tank works fine (and I'm still under a 1000#'s with a full tank). I will be buying a 15' deisel box truck next year and will be going to a 300 gal tank for commercial work that I'll be shooting for. I average over 500 miles a week and that will be one of the main reasons for the diesel. Can't decide if I want that Izuzu with the flat front (kind of scary) or the GMC with a little bit of a front end. Decisions, decisions...

I have had great success with Cuprinol (now called Deckscapes/Woodscapes) on my two-tones. Covers very well and looks great.

I use the x-jet to throw down my brightener. Even on a deck 2000 sq ft it only takes about 5 minutes or less.

Thanks Alan. Thanks Tony. Gotta learn sometime..... might as well be now ; )

Thanks for the input guys. I'll continue to be carefull moving forward on this one. Alan, I've only got a 110 gal tank so I may have to make a few dumps. Don't know how much solid there is going to be since there seems to be just a light film of dust and pollutents. I'll let you guys know how it turns out. On a side note, I'm surprised more people didn't chime in on this one. Thanks again. Gavin P.S. Anyone want to say what they would have charged for a job like this? 3500 sq ft canopie. Just curious where I fell.

I have the original and it has by far been one of the best purchases I have made. Well worth it! Haven't tried the M5.

Hey Jon, Haven't been on the board in a few days so I just found out. Good luck in starting a new chapter in your life. I wish you the best and thank you for your thoughts and ideas over the last year. Colorado is incredible if you ever get the chance to visit. Please look me up! Take care. Gavin

Any plans to bring the meetings to the west in the future? I'd love to come but the drive seems to be 1000 miles or more in any direction from Colorado.

Len, I don't think the contractors on this board are telling you to run because they are afraid of a challenge. Quite the opposite. I think most contractors here have enough experience to KNOW when to run, not because they can't do it but mostly because it would be cost & time prohibitive. Another reason to run could be because of your experiance level combined with the size of the job combined with what equipment you have to do the job effectively in a reasonable amount of time. Example: I personally would not bid on cleaning a 100,000 sq ft parking lot. Why? Because when I show up with only my wand in hand, it would probably take me a month to clean it. Don't know if you thought of this already but what about the mess stripping is going to make? I mean 30,000 sq ft of (possibly 3 coats) of paint? Yuck! You'd probably spend and entire day if not 2 days, just cleaning up. And with very expensive animals around..... no thanks. Of course that's me. If you decide to take it I wish you the best and would really like to hear how it works out for you.

I pass when the homeowner wants to go from a solid to a natural. Actually, I have a customer that wanted to have me turn their solid stain (Navahoe Red) deck into a two-tone (natural horizontals). Luckily, I was able to convince them to just recoat with the same color for this year. Next year we are going to actually replace all the horizontal boards so they can get the look they want. One of the main problems (other than stripping off the main surface) was getting down between the cracks. I told them it was next to impossible and for what I would have to charge, it would be cheaper to just replace them....so that's what we'll do. Lucky for me they went with the solid color this year because I miss-bid this one by a long shot if they had wanted the two-tone. I thought, "well, lesson learned and I'll have to eat this one". I too had nightmares about how I was going to completely strip it. I ended up being honest with her (which really is the best policy) and telling her that not only would she not be happy with the results but I also would not be happy. She believed me and that's when she decided on just the solid for this year. Good luck, let us know how it works out for you. Gavin

I run into a lot of wasps also. They're pretty tenacious out here. On one deck I did, no matter what I did a few days would go by and they would build their nest in exactly the same spot. And they were NOT happy about it either and made sure and let me know. Somehow I still thought it was funny when my helper got chased though.

Sounds like it would be probably be quicker & cheaper to just replace the fence itself.

Personally, I would've charged her even more. And, I wouldn't be too upset about "losing" that bid. Sometimes that is a blessing in disguise. I do give discounts for square footage over a certian number but it still wouldn't bring me down to 1.00 per sq. 2200 is a VERY large deck which will suck up a ton of stain and could take quite awhile to complete. Sounds like at even $2000 straight up you'd still be losing. I also believe in working with people and believe me, I give breaks and discounts all over the place but putting myself out of business in the process isn't going to help anyone. I've done several "I just want to sell my house" decks and have not had to lowball to get them. I don't think most people realize the amount of work it actually takes to restore a deck and therefore really don't have ANY idea of how much it should cost either. I try to educate my customers but have come to realize that most of them just want it done and don't really care what processes or products are used (although I will NOT use cheap products). They are only concerned with the bottom line and it "looking" good. Kind of like I told my mechanic the other day......Even though it's nice to know, I don't care what "technically" is wrong with it......just fix it. If they really cared about selling their home then maybe they should also care about the quality they put into fixing it up and then maybe it would sell. A wise man once told me "you can polish a turd but in the end, it's still just a shiney turd".