CLASSICPW

I'm really lost. Maybe it's just the dirt, grime, mold in my area, but I use pool chlorine, Dawn detergent and jet dry and a $400 house wash will cost me $8 and take 2hrs and come out looking phenomenal. Now, why is everyone paying all this money for these house wash chems, someone please enlighten me.

This threads old but i'm bored so I'll put in my 2 cents. Tarps suck, all they do is let the sealer/stain sit on it so when you pull it off the concrete,brick whatever it just spills onto everthing.........go canvas, definetely. It soaks up the product and very rarely bleeds through. As far as bleach or anythin hurting windows, I either use jet dry in my house wash or a car wash with wax. The only prob with the car wash is the low suds. I wash cedar homes all the time for a painting contractor and for these prep jobs I use pool chlorine, jomax,tsp, and a dab of jet dry.......have never etched a window.

Yesterday, I tried out the Wagner paint crew on two job that were both Sikkens SRD semi. It was much better than a pump up, actually it was awesome, but there were some drawbacks. The overspray was brutal. It basically made a fog of sealer that encompassed the whole area. On the first job we were wiping down the vinyl siding aroung the railing when I realized that if face to face with the siding you could see very tiny brown dots from the mist on the siding ALL OVER THE WHOLE HOUSE. You could literally stand a foot away and not see it,but I knew it was there. Sketchy!! On the second job I used the color natural light which is basically a clear. The house was tan stucco so there was nothing remotely visable. The airless really cut an hour of each job, but clean up(the machine)took 20 min. I need to buy a new tip for sealer, but when I do life will be good.

2800 psi and not adjustable, so I guess I'll scratch the sealer.

It's actually the Wagner paint crew, it's about $200 at Lowe's, holds 2 gal in the hopper and has a professional aluminum spray gun. I didn't want to spend big bucks on my first airless and not like it, but I love this thing. It claims to spray all oil base so I'm going to try it on a semi job tomorrow.

I'm not sure how to bring the pic to the forum, but it's under cedar solid in the gallery.

I won't divulge in the brand because 98% of the people on here will laugh at me, but I bid the job@ 5 gal and it took 2 1/2 so there was no waste. If it were a spray/ semi job it would have taken 5 gal+.

I've been making my own efc-38 lately, but as far as the hd-80, I have too many aluminum siding houses and the efc-38 mix is much more envir friendly.

Jesus!! I would tackle it full strength and double the dwell.

Wow, I was very impressed. We had bigtime thunderstorms here in North baltimore County and the deck looked great! I couldn't believe it. There were so many instances in the past few weeks were they were calling for rain and I held off only to have a beautiful day with no rain. I finally took the chance and it poured on me. I now bow to SIKKENS. Of couse the deck was 18 yrs old and beat up so if there were any inconsistancies you couldn't tell. I still got paid, and the customer was happy, that's all that matters.

It's probably an aluminum or sheet metal bulding, go with the bleach and a detergent. Find a pool supply place in your area and buy a 5 gal liquid pool chlorine jug. It's 12.5% bleach. I used to use Dawn, but I buy a 1 gal jug of Blue Coral car wash with wax @ Walmart for $4 now, it works great with windows.

I just finished a deck today with sikkens SRD in butternut, It started pouring as I laid the very last part. The steps were still wet so I guess we'll see tomorrow.

I washed a cedar deck the other day. It was about 15 yrs old and the homeowner washed it 10 yrs ago with about 3000 psi and has been destroying it with thomsoms since then.........nightmare. The deck was black and some areas has full grown lichens, moss and heavy mold. The deck, after I washed it with a heavy concentrate of efc-38, was so furry it looked like a grizzly bear.(very low pressure) They understand the"rustic" look of old cedar and want a clear sealer. I tried to talk them out of it, but I've never sealed old cedar deck. What's a good sealer for an aged cedar deck in everyone's opinion?

Someone makes a breathable acrylic, but i can't remember where i read it.

How many apply acrylics? I've done 1 so far this year, on a deck that was so far gone it was either "paint" it or replace it.

I have the SRD in natural lined up for the job, I was just wondering if there's anything out there for cedar that's better. 95% of my jobs are PT so I don't get much cedar, redwood etc..As far as rustic, I mean the discoloration of older cedar from tannin stains, nail runs, you know.

I'm using a truck now, but looking for an e350 van to complete the biz. Unfortunately in my area these vans are hard to come by.

3/4 way through a house wash today my pump started to studder, the hose and gun were vibrating and the pressure was low. I'm guessing the water supply's GPM's were getting low(on a well), but when I took it home and hooked it up to my house the same thing happened. I'm gussing it's time to replace the pump, any ideas?(honda engine, direct drive)

OK, I pulled apart the pump and the oil is mustard yellow, what's up with that?

Thanks Matt for the offer, and thanks John for the advice. I've never taken apart a pump, but luckily I'm blessed with the ability to fix anything, I'm not sure where it came from, but I'm sure happy it's there.

thanks guys, filter's clean, but I'll be taking her apart tomorrow.

I've got a pool deck job coming up and the customer has no water pressure at all. I'd like to get a submersible pump with the garden hose connection,to drop in the pool, but do these have a pressure relief valve? I saw the lake-draw thing they have at Delco, but it's just a hose with a screen. Does that make sense? I had a job today where there was a well with very low water pressure, so I Mcgyvered a y connect into my machine using 2 garden hoses, one from each feed off the house. Worked like a charm. Can you tell that I really need to haul my own water?!...... Workin on it.

When I first started the biz I remember a fence job where I mixed a bucket of citralic and I added some bleach thinking it would help..............big mistake.

A belt drive machine will do a better job of sucking water, since the pump is spinning at a lower rpm. Direct drives do better when they are pressure fed. OK

I'm using primarily Sikkens SRD this year and I'm having great results, but today was the first time applying natural light. Beware, the color chart is misleading, it was basically a clear sealer. The way the chart showed it I thought it would be a honey gold color. It went on a yellowish tint and dried almost clear. I've applied cedar and teak with phenominal results, but I'm a little iffy on this one.