Beth n Rod

Thanks for posting this Beth. While many industry members are aware of claims of a certain industry "leader" sending barrages of harrassing texts to people -- myself included -- until you're on the receiving end you don't understand the depth of the harassment. I let me my kids use my phone to watch YouTube (since our internet is limited but my phone is not). One day my son tried to watch a 5 minute video, but got interrupted SIXTEEN times by a batch of incoherent harassing texts accusing me of a bunch of lies --- all within 5 minutes. And I know from the DOZENS of people who've reached out to me, I'm not the only one who deals with this type of harassment. It's truly unprofessional, unethical, and now it sounds like it's also illegal. It truly saddens me that an elected industry leader who is supposed to be held to a written code of ethics is allowed to behave this way with zero consequences. 

Looking at the area the steps are installed on and the algae around them, made me think the climate is better for the acrylic. If you are a painting contractor, you understand the why of that. You would also get why the oil might be less favorable. As for brand, well, do you have a professional preference? Go with what you know.
 
Beth
 
p.s. stringers are a pin in the butt. if you have to replace a step there is a good likelihood they crack and break if they are older......

Sorry about the double post Beth.  Wasn't sure which thread to post in.  I am an interior painting contractor who knows everything about interior work but very little about decks, exterior forces, mold and pressure treated wood.  I now use AC stains on my own cedar deck after many mistakes in the past and am happy now due to the information gained from this website. 
 
This project is for myself so I am a DIY.  If you have time to expand on why you think acrylic would work best, I would appreciate knowing.  Acrylics do work better for mold and breathing, maybe that's the direction for your thinking?  Also, are you thinking solid or semi?  I think I would prefer penetrating the wood and not something that could peel but I could be wrong.  Also is Oxy Clean a good idea?  Again we are not looking to win a beauty contest here, unlike my deck.  Longevity and minimal maintenance is the goal. The stringers may be the first thing rot.
 
Thanks in advance for your help.
 

I'm no wood expert, but you've come to the right place.
 
I think your expectations may be a bit high. There is no "Super Coating", the secret here is proper cleaning, quality stain, and then maintaining there after.
 
Because you have heavy shading, close to the ground, and near water.......there is no stain and forget out there.
 
I will let the experts chime in......Good Luck!

Steve, I also echo Beth's response and will add that equipment is the smallest part of starting a "Professional Business" in exterior cleaning.
 
Efficiency Is.
 
From generating customers (work) to working on equipment.....You'll wear many hats.
 
For most of us the season is half over, I would spend this time researching how to build a Successful business....equipment should be last on your list.

Yeah I remember that, we were blocked from participating by a local guy who planned it, yet, I was the writer for CT who got the assignment to write about it. Go figure. LOL
 
Beth

Thought Jake might enjoy these photos of a  recent job. Thrilled owner!
 
Beth

Hello Beth,  John T is right.  This job is "absolutely stunning".  It is wood restoration pros like you all that makes our humble stains sing.  Beth, this thread has made my week!!!   
Many thanks,   Jake

Yeah I remember that, we were blocked from participating by a local guy who planned it, yet, I was the writer for CT who got the assignment to write about it. Go figure. LOL
 
Beth

You should do test samples with a stone restoration product and try other chems.
Best way of learning is sampling and testing stuff .

Thought Jake might enjoy these photos of a  recent job. Thrilled owner!
 
Beth

All you gals and guys are top notch. Great replies and information that I can pass on to my customer. Thanks to everyone. This is a great example of the power and value of TGS.

Family vacation then my daughter goes back to college. August is always tough for us to do anything outside of family.

Do the replacement after you have done your cleaning/stripping.
 
Reason is, you want to be able to apply and end grain sealer to the ends of not only the boards you are replacing but the ones that will remain.
Rot starts at these points on cedar decks and is the point where all the problems begin including cracking due to moitsure loss in the form of extractives cedar needs
to retain in order to last longer.
 
Unfortunately, as decking cedar doesn't have as good of a life expectancy as Pt. pine or or redwood.
Before installing them, scuff the new boards up with 80 grit buffers or sanders to help the new stain take better.
They will NOT match the old and that is one thing that should be educated the customer first off. Otherwise, they try the 'You didn't tell me...." excuse as if it is a
leverage mechanism to get you to do something that was never agreed upon before hand.
 
Rod

If thats a ground floor deck yes there could be a moisture air problem. I had a couple of decks over the years where they were ground floor and we had issues with not only the deck taking forever to dry but the stain itself did not dry correctly. Thats what it looks like now in your picture.
 
Its rare this happens but every now and then we all run into this problem if we do enough decks.

Go to www.trucktrader.com They show up there. 
I would suggest calling the Trugreen regional office near you or up and down the east coast and they will tell you specificly what they do with them. Around here they go to stateline auction In Harrisonburg VA in the mid winter when they get new trucks to replace the old ones.

When we first were getting set up back in 1998 before our launch in '99 we scoured the net for any information we could find on process,
chemicals and anything that would help us to the job better without going through the mistakes and errors the hard way and having to fix them.
 
There was no one sharing anything.
Everyone was tight lipped about their chems, their methods all of it.
Wasn't until we found the PWNA and joined that we started to find some people willing to help and that happened at our first convention we went
to in Baltimore MD.
 
I learned a great deal in the classes and round tables and met some great people.
 
They helped me and I benefitted.
 
My attitude is to return the favor in kind to those who are serious about building a solid business and are looking for advice and information.
Beth lead the way with wanting to create a BBS where we could provide that networking and archival platform for others to use for their business.
 
We chose to give back to the industry. To help it grow and become filled with better educated people in the field they chose to pursue.
 
Rod

Hey Ryan nice truck!! I bought some vehicles off of Ebay over the years that were excellent trucks. Both my trucks now I bought from Ebay. The pickup came from Florida & the flatbed came from Texas.
If you want to search Craigslist nationwide there are sights for that such as this one http://www.dailylister.com/
Good luck.

When we first were getting set up back in 1998 before our launch in '99 we scoured the net for any information we could find on process,
chemicals and anything that would help us to the job better without going through the mistakes and errors the hard way and having to fix them.
 
There was no one sharing anything.
Everyone was tight lipped about their chems, their methods all of it.
Wasn't until we found the PWNA and joined that we started to find some people willing to help and that happened at our first convention we went
to in Baltimore MD.
 
I learned a great deal in the classes and round tables and met some great people.
 
They helped me and I benefitted.
 
My attitude is to return the favor in kind to those who are serious about building a solid business and are looking for advice and information.
Beth lead the way with wanting to create a BBS where we could provide that networking and archival platform for others to use for their business.
 
We chose to give back to the industry. To help it grow and become filled with better educated people in the field they chose to pursue.
 
Rod

Ultimately before the good in anything gets tainted, it's mankinds inert drive that propels us through history to do better and advance ourselves to a more comfortable "survival setting".
Many of us share to help newbs avoid the learning curve and mistakes.
Many of us share different techniques from pro to pro.
Many of us don't care, many of us do.
 
It's a lot the same on many of the forums out there that I am members of.
Ultra lite aircraft forums....... man those dudes will fly to you and land in your back yard to help out with your build.
On the guitar forums.... there are secrets shared that can make a washed up rocker that would make one come out of retirement.
The product and invention forums are similar but very guarded.
 
I think it all comes back around full circle for everyone at some point...
 
You ask the question "Why do we help with info".....
I say why not........ we know who needs help and who doesn't..... but for the folks that stumble on these forums looking for info,
I prefer that none of my info be incorrect...... so I bite my tongue sometimes too, until I'm sure of myself. But hey, after 12 yrs now, I'm in it, with what I know.

I know why I do because I enjoy helping contractors and I'm forever indebted to the ones who did the same thing for me when I first started. One of those guys who since passed on was David Olson.

Yep, here is the one I carry in the tool box.
 
 
http://www.lowes.com/pd_78059-56005-MMD4E_0__?productId=3136919&Ntt=moisture+meter&pl=1&currentURL=%3FNtt%3Dmoisture%2Bmeter&facetInfo=

Didn't realize that. Last time I looked them up online I thought they were about $150.00.

Thanks Beth. That's the answer I was hoping for.
 
How long after can I wait to recoat? Everything is wet this morning, with possible chances of rain today and tomorrow,

If it is splotchy at all, just re-coat it lightly, but not heavily. 
 
Beth