CLASSICPW

I do the same thing also, and undiluted bleach and a deck that you weren't supposed to clean makes more work.

I'll whip one up soon.

I tried Duron's wood max a couple of days ago and it worked great. I think flood makes it, but it's a primer and stain in one. It covered a bright red deck with a medium brown(butter nut) in one coat. I was very happy and so was the customer. I couldn't imagine doing 2 coats. This deck was a ground level 144 sq ft deck and it took me 7 hours to stain.

Did you hear about the new color for deck stain. Blond. It's not to bright, but it spreads easily.

Are you guys charging per coat or one charge per seal?

I don't think it's stain at all. In Arundel Mills mall in Maryland all the concrete floors have a patina look. I heard it's some sort of treatment and polish technique. I heard they used some sort of orbital sander/polisher on the concrete, but it doesn't sound right. Then again sand is in concrete....silica.

I occasionally wash waterfront homes with vinyl siding. Almost always they have massive spiderwebs around security lights and bug guts all over the siding. I've never been able to completely remove them, it seems like acid from the bugs eats into the siding, just my theory. Any tips?

Whatever it's called, I've got as housewash to do that has mold on the drivit. I'm guessing it shouldn't be that brittle, but you never know. Does anyone have experience with this?

I know this might sound stupid, but I've never done it before. What do you use to clean dirt and debris off a recently sealed deck? I sealed my deck this spring and because of traffic and such it's filthy. Garden hose cleaning does nothing. I don't want to pwash it for fear of screwing up the finish. Maybe one of the Home depot deck clean products would be mild enough.

ladder or extension wand

Good, thanks. I guess my final question would be: can you x-jet a house from the ground like siding? I know it does not work for brick houses.

Thanks for the help everyone. I was going to use the deck brush and scrub it with bleach, but I didn't feel like removing all the furniture. I'll try the soap and I also cannot live without oxyclean for the laundry. Here's a tip for old ragged out tennis shoes, soak them in a 5 gal bucket of oxyclean overnight. The next day throw them in the wash. You're not going to believe it. I was so astounded that I wrote them a letter. BTW, generic oxyclean does not work. It's funny how after washing decks all day the last thing you want to do when you come home is lay a finger on your own.

It was actually Olympic Maximum's Honey Gold. I wanted to test it before I used it on a customer's deck. It looks fantastic, but all the traffic areas are dull and filthy from the dog and kids.

I've been getting more cedar than ever this year and I have to say, I despise it. Besides being bug repellant what's the deal? You spit on it and it furrs up. I've seen black stains from the nails or screws that wil never come off. I've seen chunks of wood missing because it is so soft. I love redwood, it a nice hard wood that looks great natural, but cedar, build me deck out of drywall first.

When you guys wash houses do take special care not to spray water up into the eaves of houses....ie the vents to the attic. Alot of times that is where mold congregates. I'm wondering if you spray them and water gets in the attic they could sue you later for mold forming in the attic.

Reminds me of my friends calling my number asking how much to wash their balls! We're all adults but it still cracks me up.

I applied Olympic Maxum's honey gold to my own deck this spring to basically test it out. Looks great but my question is with my new puppy. When we let him out he tends to do his biz on one corner of the deck. We always pick it up and squirt the deck off right away, but now, after 1 month, that corner of the deck has no water repellency and is turning black. I'm guessing it's because of the ph of the urine. I don't know. Should I wash the section w/ citralic and re-seal it? Any suggestions?

case of beer and problem solved

I have a few kitchen floor accounts and I duct tape them w/ plastic, but i've never had a problem with outdoor GFC's. I though that they instantly breaker off once water is is sensed. I used to work for an electrician and I was under the assumption that GFC's are safe.

My issue is that my deck is 2nd story so as soon as he goes out it's plop and whiz! It's better than in my house because our carpet has been hurting. I'll guess I'll have to wait until he's fully trained to the grass. I'll probably wait untill next year and strip the whole deck and test a new product.:goodgrief

Did you just miss a few spots when you were done? After a mistake I made, on my second job ever, I check the siding at least 3 times over when I'm done. Mineral spirits for al oil based and soap and water soaked rag for most acrylics. I sealed this guys deck and there was over spray on the oxidized aluminum siding behind a bush. Well, he called me to come remove it. I was a rookie so I thought hmmm stripper will take it off. After the paint came off I was crappin' bricks. It was grey siding so I used some gray primer spray paint and you could'nt even tell. I was lucky, but you live and you learn.

McAfee does not recognize or remove Trojans. I have them and sent them e-mails to which they never responded. For some reason these pesky Trojans are tough, I've been through various software solutions like spy-bot and adaware, but the only thing that removes them is to back up your files and re-format.

I came up with a crazy idea, but it has certain kinks that I haven't worked out. In the month of June I would offer a referral program that would stretch throughout the season until November. For each JOB that they referred over to me they would have $30 knocked off their bill. So if their job was $671.00 in early June, they would not have to pay me until I billed them for their balance in November. If they referred 3 jobs over that would be $90 off their bill. This would give them the whole summer to work for me and save themselves money. 2 major kinks: people have money in spring from taxes, people are tight in the late fall for the holidays. People might have a hard time paying the bill in November versus June. On the up side it would provide a nice chunk of change to get me through the winter. I haven't used it yet, but I might experiment with a few customers next year.

I would kill to x-jet hd-80, but every job i have has either aluminum siding or painted windows or doorways.

I had a job a few days ago that was 2,240 linear ft of picket fence. Not fun. It was grayed with some tough mold spots under the trees. I had my helper pumping on citralic and it was working fine, but the dark green mold spots weren't budging. On a whim I went to the truck and pulled out a half bucket of house wash with the x-jet still attached, snapped it on and shot about 16 ft of fence. Instantly the fence brightened up and the pump spray labor was eliminated. My helper was no longer needed to spray the fence ahead of me thus shaving about 3-4 hrs off the job. Thanks again x-jet!