CLASSICPW

No, not high heels and thongs. Is there that much of a difference, besides being cost effective, from HD-80 and store bought strippers. I've been using Flood stripper and I'm getting ready to buy HD-80, just want to know.

My best customers are the homes worth 100k to 300k. Townhouses and single family suburbian homes. My worst customers, by far, are the wealthy. I've given a dozen estimates so far this season to million dollar plus homes. These people literally clutch their chest and fall to the ground when they see how much it will be for a 1000 sq ft deck. These are what we call the house rich. People who have a $8,000 dollar a month mortgage and not a pot to **** in.......they are sad. You give an estimate to a TH deck or a 500 sq ft SFH deck and all you hear is "when can you start." As far as race I have had no problems. I know the areas that harbor the white and black trash and I tell them I'm too busy try the yellow pages. I also know the wealthy areas and I cringe when they call me, but I always do the estimates in hopes of getting that $2000 plus job. Reed's right about retirees, you please them and they tell everyone, but they also nitpick.

A customer requested Flood clear, but I've never used Flood products. Does anyone use Flood on a regular basis? What do you think of their products. I've had alot of customers so far this year requesting their own choice of sealers/stains. I've got a stain job to finish using Behr's acrylic solid color curry. Personally, I think Behr makes junk, but they want it. It's like a mustard yellow......uuuughh.

I'm guessing that the midwest would be a drier climate. So would the northwest be similar to the northeast? We're getting a good amount of moisture around here.

I did a job using Olympic Maximum semi trans sealer. The wind picked up and overspray carried about 50 ft over and got all over her brand new RX-8, her friends new 4runner and an old pickup. It gets on my truck all the time and I just take it off with a cleaner wax. She's telling me that a bodyshop wants to charge her $370 a car to wetsand it off. Is this BS? I would think that a detailer could just buff it out. Help. Please.

Great, a bag of sand. If I put one more thing on my truck it's gonna flip over. I havent dealt with this one yet. I've always had the mortar type.

Still, how can an oil based product be applied to wet, or even moist wood? You would think that it would just form a film and not be absorbed. I've never used these products because, to me, it just doesn't make sense. Does anyone know how it bonds with the wood without just simply rolling off?

The cicadas are coming on the eastern seaboard. I'm curious how many will get stuck in fresh sealer and stain. This will probably be very annoying, but I have an idea. Apparently these insects lay their eggs in ornamental trees and fruit trees. They cut slits in the branches and when heavy winds or snow show up the branches break. We can possibly sell, as an add on, tree spraying. Using the x-jet, or your chem injector, you could spray down trees in customer's yards with an insecticide cocktail. I'm still currently researching it, but it could be profitable. I just hope that there's no environmental repercussions.

Thanks guys, that idea's on the scrap heap.

Considering that oil and water don't mix, I can't see an oil based product being appled to wet wood. It's probably a 1 season temporary fix.

I also did research before I started. I wanted to start my own business, I did a deck with my friend and I was hooked(mainly on the low start up cost). So I spent a full year reading books and internet research like old forums and then forked up the money. As far as advertising, the Yellow book paid off after the first job, I spent about $300 for a 1 inch ad and have probably gotten so far this year $5,000 in business from it. I also use the Pennysaver, which has been invaluable. Money mailers and coupon books are very expensive, but I've heard they do great. I am too busy now to use these types of ads, but one guy quoted me around $5,000 for a 2 month run, full color, 200,000 households.

I talked to the customer and he was so overwhelmed by how good the deck looks that he didn't even care about the siding. I even offered a free full house wash for compensation and he turned it down. Lucky. So your telling me that hd-80 does not harm aluminum siding?

I've got a job with a deck where they added on an addition. One half of the deck is stained dark brown(semi trans) and the other half is 1 yr old unsealed/unstained treated lumber. I was thinking of stripping the stained half, cleaning the other and applying a solid color, but the customer wants the same color as the semi across the whole deck, how do I maintain a uniform color?

I've got a major issue. When I strip a deck I mask off all the siding and everything else. Well today, some stripper got through and completely destroyed the aluminum siding below the deck. Is there any fool proof method to keep the stripper from touching anything else on the house. I'm waiting for their lawer to call me.

What kind of pump sprayers are you guys using for applying chems/sealer? Is it normal to go through 2 a season? I've been eyeing up the Hudson pro series, but I don't want to spend $80 just to throw it away 6 mos later. Also, anyone use backpack models? Thanks.

I just bought a 2 gal chapin metal sprayer. So far so good, it's good quality.

I usually turn down jobs w/ screened in porches because I've never taken the time to learn how to do them, but this year I've had a bunch of these estimates. Do you remove the screens or tape and plastic it up. Even if you tape it wouldn't the pressure blow out the screen or blow the tape off?

My main issue is keeping the screens in one piece while I wash it.

A friend of mine owns and operates a painting business and he forwarded me 40 estimates for deck restorations. Life is good. Yet he is trying to push Sherwin Williams and Coronado Maxum semi's and acrylic stains. I've never used these so I'm hoping some of you have and can shed some light. Thanks for the input.

I wore my rubber boots today and it was 85 degrees. I wanted to pour water in my boots it was so bad. I've always had "hot feet."

Roll it. I'm right on the Chesapeake bay. All the piers that I've done have not been treated before, so I just wash with water, and roll on the sealer, never stain. People around here like it natural. In your case any chems going into that pond will damage the wildlife, so if you apply the stripper and pressure wash it off, some of the chem WILL get into the pond no matter how well you attempt to divert it. This is the kind of job that I would walk away from avoiding the liability. Per my other post a buddy of mine gave me a pamphlet on Coronado Maxum stain that claims it can be applied on top of other stains, but it doesn't go into the prep work. If this is the case you could scrub brush a biodegradable cleaner on then roll the stain on top.

Russ, you're exactly right. He knows that I can do a better job at wood restoration and he's backed up w/exterior paint jobs on high end homes so he just gave me all his deck work rather than lose it altogether. He also is a fairly large contractor and apparently gets a huge discount on Sherwin Williams products, so he wants to help me save a couple of bucks on my end. The issue is that I've never used their products and I'm not one to jump on something new when what I use has worked well for me. The question that I have: is it worth trying the product? Has anyone used their waterborne sealers and stains?

I agree that leather boots are the best, but in 90-100 degree heat my feet get so hot that I just can't take it.

I use Olympic Maximum semi trans and my customers love it. I used the Honey Gold on my own deck and it's into the 3rd season.....looks fantastic. It also helps that I have a Lowes 1 mile from my house.

If there stuff in the neighbors yard that will get dirty, I use canvas tarps too. I found these giant thumbtacks at Walmart in the office section, they work great. You just tap them in and pull them out. I used to use plastic sheeting, but it takes up too much space when you roll it back up, tarps just fold up.