Beth n Rod

Actually, I have a flat file with two coarseness, 1 side is fine the other side is rough for faster material removal. The rat tail file I use in the grove to get rid of the impact ridges from the bearings. These are a resourceful set of tools to have if you do not have another replacement plug on hand or till you can get some more ordered. I carry a 50 pack of 1/4 O'rings and 50 pack of 3/8 O'rings and a pick for removal and replacement of them when needed. I always carry 2 crescent wrenches and a set of vice grips and channel locks for changing qc fittings and not to forget the teflon tape! Rod~

Welcome to the BBS. We look forward to reading your posts. You might want to check out the roof cleaning forums, I think there are some posts on spanish tile roofing. I'm moving your thread into the Pressure Washing forum. This one is for job leads, folks looking for service from a pro. Beth

Cool! Hope to see you there. Beth

Mike, It depends on the condition of the boards. We have removed Cuprinol solid stain and gone to a semitransparent with no problems, but....the boards were in good condition. I do agree however that if severely cracked and splintered, it can be an issue. But properly sanding - fully sanding the deck and countersinking the nails, should relieve the problem. Flipping boards may also be an option. Cuprinol solid is not hard to strip. We have done it many times with HD-80. Just a suggestion...after sanding, before sealing the deck, wet the deck and look for any traces of solid that may remain. They will show up better with wet wood than dry wood (dry wood being lighter in color), if the stain was light. If what you see with wet wood jumps out at you and you don't like it, don't go with a semi-transparent if you don't like the remaining hue. Go back to a solid. If you can live with what you see when the wood is wet, let the deck dry and have the semi-transparent installed. Beth :seeya: p.s. post pics of your deck if you can....

Makes sense to me.....sanding I mean. Beth

Krep - If you are looking for a contractor, try posting a thread in the Job Leads forum ( right under this one) and put the city and state in the title, along with what the job is, for example: Deck Stripping - North Wales PA 19454 and then add the particulars. Lots of folks view the forums, and I'm sure you'll get a nibble that way. To us Cuprinol is an easy strip, would love to help, but you are out of our service area. Beth

He also keeps channel locks, and the sand paper on hand. He also keeps pick and a set of o-rings. Spare QC's and such are a good idea too. A spare part on hand, can save a load of headache. Beth

To clarify my earlier post...I would agree that some Sikkens products should not be applied. We would not install: Cetol DEK Cetol 1 & 23 We would as an option install: Cetol SRD Cetol SRD and Cabot's Aussie Oil both have alkyd oil in them. Hope this clarification helps. Beth

Aside from the advice others have bid on stripping, maintenance and regular care of the sealer to keep up its integrity is the best treatment for the wood as you are protecting it and avoiding the damaging effects of chemicals that can add to the woods age and degeneration. Rod~

You don't have to strip the Cabot's or Sikkens in order to reapply a maintenance coat....assuming it is correctly installed, and prepped for in the first place. This would be true of any product however, prep is everything. Scheduled maintenance makes a world of difference. Follow the schedule for the maintenance and you are fine. Personally, I can't see tackling this job as a homeowner - too large, too many areas for potential problems. Rabela, do you have any photos you can post so we can get a better idea of the conditions? Beth

Tony is right. Check with your state, the states do vary. Beth

Yes :cup: :sunshine: Agree with Russ. :groovy2: Tony's right, and Rod keeps a rat tail file onthe truck to deal with the lip that builds up over time. We replace ours a couple times a year as well. Beth :dancing:

Ta Da!! Enjoy....

No. We like both, both have gotten us excellent results. I don't know of even ONE professional who will apply this to a deck much less a house. No Behr. Ask them what their process is, and check back with us here. Be selective and educate yourself. You might do well to consider one of the many folks who are online here as well. Beth

Purdy's rock. Beth

We have an 8 gpm machine which I am sure helps to some extent. But no additional pumps. Having the unit sized to your units psi helps, especially when you use the minimum psi rating. ex.3000-4000 psi for ours. there is a 2000-3000 psi rated unit that could help get better draw but I think gpms is also a determining factor. Rod~

If we are there working, in full swing, and the landscapers show up, we have had them come back in most cases. Planting is not a good idea when you are washing or sealing Cutting grass is a pain if the grass is sopping wet Weed and fertilizer likewise...washed away... mulching - never run into that. We have been sealing while the grass was cut, not too big an issue, we move the tarps... If we are working, hoses unrolled and in the middle of the process, we are going to finish the work. If we are sealing, completely masked up and draped, job part way done, we are going to finish the work. If another tradesman has not even started yet, nothing has been interrupted for them. Dig in your heels. If we are on a construction site, we often talk to the other tradesmen to see how long they will be in an area, and we clean around them. Works fine. Beth

Hey Ken, Just yanking your chain...I'm an M-5 fan. I havent downstreamed in about 2 years. I rigged up a chem injector at the gun for my extend-a-wand so that I could uncouple as needed. As a matter of fact, I only needed it to clean a chimney 3 stories up on a windy day and even then the ratio was weak compared to the M-5 I use regularly. The chem injector is getting a great deal of dark time in my tool box these days. I can set up my M-5 on an extension lance (6') or onto the end of the extend-a-wand fully extended (24') and still get the draw I need to clean any of the projects I have had. I didnt like walking back to the pw'er to pull the hose off the injector or vice-versa. I use only low pressure (300-350 psi) to clean siding with so changing tips doesn't help in my case. If I dont like the pattern when I am rinsing, I just use my bendable wand without a tip and get a tight pattern of water up to 40 feet onto the siding for agitation and rinsing. I may lug a 5 gallon pail around with me, but it has a cover and is set up so that I dont have to worry about spills. As far as lugging the bucket, I am working on an idea for that too! ;) The M-5 has my vote for the most innovative peice of equipment in my tool box. I agree that putting chems through your hose is not the best thing for them and makes windows harder to get clean not to mention the residue it leaves on siding. The chem injector has in my opinion become obsolete for our needs. Rod~

We have also had construction company superintendants crack the whip on the other tradesmen to get them off the site when we roll up. Redirtying the area keeps us there longer and costs the prime more. It's pretty funny to see the others ordered off site so we can wrap the job up for prime so they can turn over the property. Beth

We have a policy that we dont move other peoples belongings from a deck to to liability reasons and explain that many times when in the process of moving things that have not otherwise been disturbed to find them brittle, shattered and still standing, rotted, rusted etc...you get the picture. We also state that in order to have another person present to remove belongings it costs extra and we assume no liability for any thing that ends up broken or damaged that we have no way of knowing the condition beforehand. If we pull up to a job and the deck is still occupied by various belongings, then we add a trip fee and phone the customer to let us know when they will have the deck cleared for the wash and seal processes to begin. I have had a number of people ask us why we didnt just move them anyway and that they wouldnt have minded...to which I would usually reply with "I'm sorry but, we are not a moving company and most jobs require only one man on the site to do the work. We dont find it cost effective to bring another person who will stand around for most of the time while the other works. For this reason, we charge additional to remove and replace belongings. This is something to which you have not agreed to in advance so we point out our policy on the proposal instruction sheet." We tend to have a couple of extra jobs on stand-by in these cases so that the schedule stays full. Yeah, we face the possibility that the customer will not use us in the future because we didnt waste manhours on their behalf, but I dont think they would appreciate it either if we charged them for something we didnt do! Labor costs arent cheap and we arent profitable by having people to stand around. How many others honor 'squatters rights'? What I mean by this is-first contractor on the job gets the benefit of working unhindered. Rod~

Had a similar situation last week. We were out working on a deck that was being sealed the day we were there. It was a two-tone job. This guy shows up in the bcak yard..... we talked openly to him... I felt bad....we wre talking about the job with him and he was asking if we were going to paint it, and I spoke up (as you know I do...) and told him we don't like the "P" word, it's not the best coating for wood, holds in moisure and promotes rot. It was shortly after that that I discovered he was a painter. Whoops! Oh WELL... The owner had hired a painter to do the trim in the front. He was pretty standoffish, didn't give a name, shake hands, etc. We were talking with him as we walked around to the front of the house - he was very curious about what we were doing on the deck. Well, in the coure of conversation we found out he was also a power washer , or at leased owned a machine. Next, I happend to mention ( should have not said anything) that we needed to talk to the owner, the house needed washing. He snaps that he's going to talk to her about that. We went back to the deck. Five minutes later we hear a machine fire up. Go back out front and one of his guys us on the ladder washing. Tnen he's on the roof washing. Chems are being upstreamed...running right thru the pump. Next thing we know, water is shooting over the house and starting to rain on OUR dry deck. Talk about livid. Well, the Boss Man was nowhere in sight, left Frick and Frack and the washer and ladder to their own devices. We yelled at them to stop. Then I see the older son in the house. Knocked on the door, and asked him to call mom and tell her to contact her painter and have him return please. Told him why. About 30 minutes later, a very sheeping Boss Man (painter) comes back and apologizes, says he didn't know his guys were washing the whole house ( Yo! Dude! You're in charge Helloo!!!!), yet in the next breath says he is planning to do it soon - maybe today later on. Rod was less than thrilled. We wrapped up the job that night about 7:30pm. He was there...again...to give them another estimate and lock up the paperwork on the house wash I suspect. He wanted to return the next day to wash the house. We told her - he can wait till monday! We have worked with many companies in various trades on construction sites and so forth. You have to work with those around you, but you must also respect the work area of others. These guys arrived after we had been there for a good 4 hours already, and the boss was the biggest problem in the crew. The owner didn't even know he was supposed to be there that day. Beth

Cleaningman777 Please do not hijack threads.... we encourage you to start a new thread in the roof cleaning forums that is specific to the topic you wish to discuss. Let's stay on topic please. Thanks! :groovy: Beth

Ken, We get results like that with HD-80 as well. Looks great. Can't wait to see the after shots with the SRD. Beth

Colleen (copper502) - Welcome to TGS. I see you are a manufacturer. We have a forum for promotional threads located under the showroom floor. See also: http://www.thegrimescene.com/forums/showthread.php?t=4121 Beth

Looking sharp Scott! Don't forget to let us see how it looks after you seal it. :dancing: Question for you... we have not tried our F-18 Max sample yet , and were wondering what the reaction was between the CFW and the chem? Did it melt or come off in...strips and globs? Beth