CLASSICPW

This happened to me when I first started, but it was aluminum. If you just fan wash ther areas to even them out it will be fine, as long as you didn't gouge the vinyl too deep.

Pressure pros: That funny, I've got a 12oz Dunkin Donuts cup in my percarb. Degraffreed: Dude, just buy a 30lb of Russ's efc-38 and I'll guarantee you'll be happy and it's cheeper to buy it from http://www.esproducts.net/ Lou: I'm sorry that I haven't got to your PM yet, I'm tryin'

You have no problem, I've washed houses with the same amount of pool chlorine in the xjet mix. That green carpet stuff is made of some sort of plastic, my mix has only cleaned it very well, never harmed it.

I haven't got to the point yet of hauling my water(I'm working on it), but I've had jobs in the past that needed it, but it's rare. Anyway, I've got a bid on a large housewash and swingset for about $840, but their well gpm is around 2 gpm. I've worked with low house gpm before and it's hell with the x-jet. My question is: what's a good house gpm and if you don't haul your own water what do you guys charge. Last year I charged $300 extra for the occasional large job and got it.

I've rented water tanks on trailers before and they all have gas pumps on them. Do you need a pump or is gravity enough?

Someone please enlighten me on the whole cascade thing. I don't know whether to laugh or think...........hmmmmm does that **** work?

I forgot to mention, they might not call since I've been getting my teeth kicked in by low ballers, it seems like every spring there's 2-3 new PW's in the area's ads and 2-3 less who bailed out. There's alot of wary people because of all the bad work.

pldoolittle, even though I'm overwhelmed with estimates, I'm only booked about 4 days in advance. I'm sitting on a huge stack of unanswered bids. It could just be the weather, It's 80 one day and 50 and rainy the next, so once the trees start blooming people will start calling back.

I hear you Pressure pros, I've also been kind of layin' out the law to customers as far as costs and quality vs a quick fix. As far as ads, I just started using a company called RSVP. They send out upperscale post cards to 50,000 homes in your area worth the highest value( in the millions) down to around the $300,000 range. The design work is high quality and they give you 3,000 post cards to mail at will. Their mailings are spring, summer and fall for about $3,000 a pop. I did ValPak last fall for $4600 for 3 months and I've probably gotten more calls from RSVP from 1 mailing( It is spring though). It seems that I'm in pretty good with the owner in my area so I'm pretty much exclusive. You can also do 100,000 homes, but I'm already too busy.

I've got too many hacker stories, but I bid a job today for a friend of a friend at $1250, she said the guy that did it last time charged $500, and I even gave her a hookup. I seriously think that her deck is worth more than her house, I won't be hearing from her.

I just had my first Ipe estimate and I'm pretty sure I've got the job, it needs a strip from a 1 yr old semi and a new finish. Is there any thing different that should be done with Ipe as far as cleaning?

I know what you mean, I've had a similar situation before. The only way is to remove the screens. Sometimes they're just screwed in, but if it's the kind that are held in by a rubber gasket, tell them you're sorry and move on. Screened in porches are no fun, I had one that took 2 people 2 hours to remove them and 3 hours to replace and they were all different sizes, like a giant jigsaw puzzle.

I Walked into Sherwin Williams today to pick up some color charts and the girl behind the counter handed me a flyer: VOC update. Apparently as of Jan 1st 2005 no more oil based products will be sold for interior and exterior. I checked elsewhere and I can no longer get Cabots, Sikkens and anything else, just waterborne products. This applies to New York, PA, Delaware, MD, DC, Jersey and the surrounding northern VA suburbs. Once the stock they have is gone, that's it. There are a few exemptions, but none that apply to deck resto. Sucks, I hate using waterborne products in the heat, it dries too fast.

It's so funny how much the counter people know. I just set up an account at a local place that sells Cabots and Sikkens called Budeke's. She pretty much told me the same thing that the Sherwin Williams girl did.( the 2 shops are also a stone's throw from one another) Rod, I have been referred to a Sikkens salesman, I registered as a contracter this winter and I plan on using Sikkens on about 90% of my jobs this year. Beth, did you get my email?

I'll be honest, this might have been asked before(maybe by me), but it's been awhile so I'll ask it again. 30% of my customers have wells and I've only had the occasional question about their tanks and pumps and such. I will be hauling my own water in a few months, hopefully, but until then, has anyone had any problems with well water ie. a customers pump burning up or a holding tank running dry? The only prob that I've had so far is low water pressure.

Not painting, but mostly solid staining, some semi, depending on the condition of the wood.

I'm in Maryland so the iron thing has never happened. I do aot of house washes for a painter friend of mine. Most homes are cedar, 500,000 tp 1M a pop and always on wells and there has never been an "orange problem", i'm very thankfull now that it's brought up.

A friend of mine did a job for the MVA and got 4 250 gal water tanks, in crates, for free. He's giving me 2. The question is for the guys who use vans. Does anyone haul 500 gal of water in a van? I'm between a 10 ft box truck and a elongated ford 350 van. I'm pretty sure these tanks will fit in a van, but I just need some good advice.

Nice, I used their woodscapes solid and semi once each last fall and it turned out pretty nice. I did a little experimenting.

In general I work 7 days a week and I always have(with the occasional day off to go fishing. I only put in an average 5-6 hrs a day actually cleaning, the other time is spent doing estimates, paperwork, computer input and most of all, pumping out direct mailing. 30-40 hrs a week in hard labor.

I'm actually offering this service now. I'm using a company called Underdeck. My first job will be my deck and we'll move on from there. It's very simple to install. Drop them a line and they'll send you a contractors package in the mail. http://www.underdeck.com/

I'm sure most of you know, but Underarmor is the ****! Very expensive but it clings to your body, keeps in the heat and wicks away moisture. I just got home from a supermarket flatwork job( it's 3am) and I wore my underarmor and my rainsuit and I couldn't wait to get home to peel it off I was so hot tonight working in about 35-40 degrees.

Sporting goods stores like ****'s, Bass Pro, Sports authority etc... It's about $50/shirt $50 pants. It's like super high performance thermal underwear. It comes in cold weather, hot weather and all weather.

Does anyone recommend a good mp3 player or radio w/ earphones that's waterproof. I find myself going crazy sometimes when I'm on a big job. The hum of the washer for 4-6 straight hours can be very boring

I get a camping magazine in the mail(backpacking) and they did a prouct review on the latest high tech trail shoes. These things look sweet, waterproof, breathable, lightweight, and only $90-$150 lol!! I could'nt bear to bronze them.