CLASSICPW

I've never had one complaint on the bleach smell. When a customer asks if I'm using bleach I tell them i'm using pool chlorine and they're actually impressed instead of worried. The problem with your range is the gpm on your machine, you should upgrade. My machine's only 4 gpm, but at lower pressure I can still hit 40 ft up w/o my extension wand. Wind is the biggest houswashing enemy. I rather it pour down rain than be windy on house wash days. Just like high rise buidings, a swift wind can cause an updraft. I've been using the x-jet full throttle 20 ft away from the house, soaping, and when I stopped the house was bone-frieking dry. I get furious when it's windy. Poor guys who wash in Chicago!

I've got a job stripping the cedar shake eaves on a house, but right below them is a copper roof. Does anyone know the effects of sodium hydroxide on copper?

check out this article http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/4667063.stm

I tell ya, I've been using Sikkens SRD all season and, for some reason, the past 3 decks I've done have had call backs with unhappy customers claiming there were spots that looked light. Weird, It didn't happen all year, I'm guessing the heat is making the stain flash dry and not sink in certain spots. I've went back and sprayed the light areas and rubbed it in. Am I right?

I'm using a x-jet setup for washing houses. I just had a fight with myself between a shurflo setup vs a adjustable psi airless for spraying semi-trans stains and the adjustable airless won with me, only because of the phenominal results of the airless that I currently use for solids, but I will be building a shurflo setup for applying chems.

A black deck is my area is caused by a failed cheap clear sealer like Behr or Thompsons. I use efc-38 full strength, but there's been days when HD works better.

Hey Seymore what gpm/ psi do you use?

Maybe strap on some rock climbing gear and rappel down from the roof. Someone on this board does this alot, but I can't remember who. I know what Jon is talking about with painters and ladders. I seen crazy folks hanging off 40 ft ladders scraping lead paint with no protection.

I posted 2 pics on the finished product in the gallery under wood restoration/ fence stain. One day I learn how to add pics to my post.

If I had the cake I'd be one, but my parents(in their 50's) had some sort of mid life crisis thing and went and spent almost $10,000 in Tweeter ( a high end audio/visual shop). 62" Dlp TV, Polk audio, Denon Home theater.........it sounds insane! When I was younger I was very much into car audio. I entered an contest once and right before I was to be judged my then girlfriend called with some stupid emergency and I had to abort. My friends later told me that I would've won hands down because the low end frequency they were judging on was where I had excelled. I had about 15 spl more than the guy that won. He got a 4 ft trophy, I got a stupid girlfriend.

I bid on average $1.25 linear ft per side for wood resto on fences, but vinyl is very easy. Since you have the whole community I would bid cheap like .40 lin ft. You might not even need any chems, just some regular bleach in a pump up to knock out the heavy mold spots.

Speaking of fur, I took on a job for a deck customer, his 177 lin ft 6ft fence, 2 yrs old and gray. Tried efc-38, citric brightener and finally chlorine, nothing was removing the grey. Even with 1000 psi the wood was not furring it was pulping, from only 10 lin ft I was covered in wood fibers and the fence looked horrible. It reminded me of pressure washing an interior grade 2x4 when I realized that this wood was not pressure treated. I told the guy what I just typed and said I'll wash the fence down to remove the mold and dirt and coat it in a Cabot's solid. He was cool with it. Apparently he haggled the fence company down from around $4,000 to around $2,000 so they must have used the cheapest wood available.

It's funny how you just pick up things as you go along. I never knew anyone else used clamps.......I thought I was the first lol!! I always salvage big peices of cardboard, I even get them from customers garages from their patio sets(they're more than happy for me to take them) I wedge them between the railing and siding/brick if possible. Bedsheets work great because they are lightweight and can be clamped or duct taped anywhere, I get them from second hand shops like goodwill for dirt cheap. I honestly hate plastic and only use it in certain situations because the sealer will run off onto something else like the deck or grass or the patio etc.. For the ground level it's pre wet and heavy canvas, but no prewet around stairs because I've had wet footprints on the deck before. One thing i do like is the pre taped plastic for concrete and stucco below the deck, that works great.

Pretty sweet first job! I do alot of prep cleaning for a painting contractor, mostly wooden houses. He uses Cabot's stain or Benjamin Moore paint, but he always requires me to use tsp/bleach/jomax. You won't need jomax for decks, but find yourself a pool chlorine dealer it'll be cheaper.

WOW, that's beautiful, how many hours for the stain/seal?

I like water cannon's catalogue, but there's not really a web site. I prefer to buy online and I can't find a decent site to buy parts. I miss The Grime Scene's store, but I fully understand how hectic that can be. Delco has done me wrong numerous times, they're finished. I just really need a reliable site to but quick connects, hoses and such.

If the flagstone is hot....good luck, but I've removed sealers from stone with just mineral spirits and a stiff brush, sometime a wire brush, but make sure you agitate the whole surface so it's even.

Hey everyone, does anybody have a good website to buy replacement wheels for a cold water washer? I've been looking and only found 1 site that wants $40 for a pair which I think is crazy.

That answers my question, I guess I'll have to try it. I'll start with citraclean.

I hear you on the verticles, I've been using bed sheets for those and those little clamps are the best.

Pam's, you do know that the sole purpose of the dish soap is to act as a foaming agent to keep the bleach on the area as long as possible. What do you use?

I've always planned on buying a deckster, just been too busy to get around to it, but thanks.

It's hilarious how, almost everyday, you can find a better way to do stuff. You think you have it all figured out and WHAM something better pops up. I've been mixing chems with a long wooden paint stir all this time with a cordless in the truck the whole time. I feel like a real tard, thank god for this site or I might be pressure washing decks with a garen hose and a scrub brush lol!

That's funny, I buy chlorine from a pool supply near me in 5 gal jugs. I swear that it looses it's potency from sitting in my truck in the heat. There's been times where I've had a 5gal jug in my truck for a week and i have to double the potency to get the job done.

Show me yours, I'll show you mine. classicpressurewash@comcast.net