Rob R.

I may try that, maybe even increase the strength of what I have now including the brightener and repeat..

I tie up my inlet and high pressure hoses with a small piece of rope attached to my reels but looking for a quicker/easier alternative for securing them.. Any suggestions? Take for example these two cox hose reels the one farthest below is my dilemma with nothing to secure the hoses, the one appears to have the ability to quickly and easily secure the hoses..

Hello, This was my first year with the new business and trying to determine whether or not to tackle my taxes on my own with Turbo Tax home and business or pay more money and hire an accountant to do my taxes.. I'm just looking for advice to figure what would be best, it would be nice to be able to save some money and use Turbo tax but I also want everything done 100% right and accountants know all the in's and out's of course.. I work FT, Go to school FT and run the business throughout the warm weather season so I'm sure it just complicates things even more.. Thanks -rob

Great, just the response I was anticipating, thanks for the advice everyone...accountant it is!

I gave an estimate today to do a large duplex with what appeared to be vinyl and HO told me pre estimate it was vinyl, but found it was aluminum siding, has alot of mold on the side of the home.. I gently rubbed my thumb on the siding and the dirt/mold did not want to come off which normally would on regular vinyl and just left a slight chalk residue on my thumb.. What will I need to do differently if anything to make sure this siding comes just as clean as any other regular vinyl siding home? thanks in advance for any advice! I might add, I have done regular aluminum before (mobile home) with just bleach (owner provided and applied with a pump up) but this was just to do a quick clean to prep for paint no mold or mildew was on the home..

haha yea that guy blows, I heard of'em before

Yea my first concern is careful to make no wand marks and ultimately the dirt/mold not coming off which is of course the biggest concern for the HO.. When I did a deck recently the HO wanted me to try and clean there dirty siding as well but knew aluminum siding would be no easy task and let the HO know that in advance, of course it did not come clean hardly at all after doing a small test area.. Just got another phone call and sounds like another similar home with same siding so if I can figure out the best attack, I can take care of both next week..

what is the best cleaner for composite, I was told flood's composite deck cleaner brushed on and rinse with little pressure..

I just ordered a brand new graco 190es, olympic sprays pretty well through an airless.. I will try ready seal down the road as most everyone on here swears by it..

x2 for this question

Reading online you would think this thing cooks your food and brings it to you.. After using it I was not impressed, shoots only 20ft in the air and it was not windy out either :)... Not sure if I'm doing something wrong but it just did not spray as far as I thought 35ft (5ft less the OG xjet).. I did not bother to hook up the chemical line yet per the instructions said to rinse it was not needed.. It does have a slight water dribble from the nozzle so that may be affecting the distance. overall just not impressed.. It looks like I will be using this just to apply chemical/detergent since my DS'ing is not working 100% for some reason (clogged maybe? hydrotek machine/pump only has 10 hrs on it brand new! :/) but thats another issue for another day all together! any suggestions are welcomed! -rob

Are they the same just different lingo? Sorry for such newb question! I have always understand staining decks, but I often hear sealing as well and just not sure exactly what the difference is when referred to..

Cover them or pull them from the window when washing?.. One customer does not want to pull them should I try to cover them with a trash bag or not bother?

I think this question would be best answered by the great folks in china with the pollution they got going on! But seriously I am also in for protecting my lungs since I am "only" in my mid 20's and if I'm in this line a work for a long time, I would like to get into the right habits now..

I need a 16'-20' ladder and I looked online on home depot and lowes and they really did not have anything with a stabilizer lowes I think had a werner snap-on unit.. I need to get on roofs w/o destroying the gutters

thanks everyone I will prob go with the ladder max and maybe even the levelers too

if so atleast I'm not the only one dealing with the joys of stripping a behr covered deck

This is the deck before any stripping, customer just really wanted the floor and upper spindles but not the lower deck re-done since the lower part has a ton of stain on it not showing any were what so ever..

thanks everyone for taking the time to respond.. It's been a long day of cleaning vinyl I need to get back to wood.. I will be taking a trip out to see the deck most likely friday and strip again and neutralize, I bought 6 containers of each might as well put'em to use :)

I did use pressure, white tip 8" away and most of the horizontal woods stain came up but the rails are being the major pain.. The pictures are not the greatest from my camera phone partly cloudy day when the sun hit the deck it looked considerably better but obviously not ready for stain the pics I have are dark and cloudy.. Either way when I go back to see the wood dried up after my 2nd strip I will decide what needs to be done next (stronger dose of stripper again then neutralize) or stain if its actually clean..

Harsh :) I have done quite a few decks but never had to strip one before..most of the decks I have done were just gray came out real clean w/o any neutralizer and the deck looked great in final results.. The main reason I joined this forum is to better understand what the best of the best are using for even better results to better myself and make my customers happy.. I asked a simple question in the other thread (stain vs seal) and I have never gotten the same answer from anyone, and it looks like a 2 page debate with disagreement so maybe that wasn't such a 'basic" question after all.. Like I said I never had to use a neutralizer/brightener before but I bought plenty of it to try it out, since everyone here is using it to optimize results.. I ask simple questions to see what peoples responses are and alot of times I get mixed views/advice.. I will try and cut down on my stupid questions from here on out

No, I figured the improved appearence from britener would be minimal considering the stripper was having a tough time getting the wood nice and clean to begin with.. Is it ok to mix britener with stripped? Or completely separate application? I ask b/c I only have one pump up spray right now which is full of stripper already

I won't be back out to look at the deck until probably monday, and go from there..

I should have mentioned the pic's shown are after the first strip, I have yet to go back to see if the 2nd strip really did much after it has dried.. I was told that I really did not need to strip anything since I will be using the exact same behr color code :/ which in that case means I wasted alot of my time and some money..