Chappy

The travertine wasnt even prepped and not applied properly. Near as I can tell, it wasn't even cleaned prior to applying Seal n lock. Then the SNL was sprayed on thick with no blow off or rolling. Some people just blow it off the surface But I roll it with a foam pad so its even. You have to remember travertine is as different from pavers as pt pine is from IPE. If your going to do travertine, you have to treat it differently than pavers, The guy that applied it on this was just in it to make a quick buck, didnt care about his work. Ive done close to 500k sf with SNL now and I still run into different things that I have to treat differently. Just like any other sealer it takes experience. If you are doing a travertine job, feel free to call me or call Rich at SNL for some tips.

How hard would it be to make my own dual turbo nozzle? would a wand and a t work? The ones Ive seen are welded with more of u than a T. But with few exceptions, no distributer carries them, good distributers anyway. I dont trust northern tools stuff. what would be the problems you would foresee? If you ran 8gpm at 4000 psi, two 4s rated at 3000 would suffice, right?

It is a big line of BS. Like doug said, its a good old boy network here. protect your own turf so to speak. but that being said, the licensed companies have to pay the fee every year, take 14 hours of continuing ed, prove GL and WC or at least have an exemption on file. Their is a cost associated with it, albeit minimal, but its a cost. ( I carry a painters license cause the painters on the contractors board decided decks and paver sealing is 'waterproofing' which comes under painters license. protect their turf!) Every licensed contractor knows its a joke and most customers do too. But, and its a big but, if a contractor screws a customer, the licensing board can fine, suspend and revoke licenses. So what does the average contractor do after that happens? uses someone elses license, or just goes unlicensed. So is the consumer being protected? hell no. Go on angies list or just look up names of so called licensed contractors and see how some of these companies screw the consumer. Its a joke. The consumer has many other ways to weed out the bone head companies. I do use my license as a selling tool, but I use my 5 star service magic rating, my Super Service award from angies list, my A rating from BBB (hell no Im not a member) and finally Ask The Seal as selling tools to put me over the competion. Customers care what other consumers think a lot more than what some joke of a government agency thinks. Licensing for PWers is a stupid idea. Youve got it exactly right Tony. Doug, I stay away from there at all costs, I have no idea who is in charge. I just try to be nice to the office girls.

well, used to the vibration of one, how much more could a double be? qeustion is do they last? or is the vibration going to cause it to fail quickly?

Tony, your right about that. The licencing system here is designed to make money to cover the licensing board and protect the grandfathered companies. Fines are sent out for advertising since unless someone reports an unlicensed contractor they dont have the staff to go out and catch them. The licencing of PWers would serve to keep out new contractors, while allowing old ones a free run no matter how good or bad at their work they are. The tests are fairly easy and open book, and you can retake them several times. half the residential customers I deal with could care less about licensing or workers comp or any of that, and the other half who care rarely check to see if the license and certificates are valid.

i started out paying cash, and didnt buy till I had a job to pay for the equipment outright, (except the first unit.) But 2 years ago I leased a hydrotek skid. I couldnt pull 10k out of pocket and was tired of buying the cheap azz pressure pros. last year I leased another skid. That allowed me to pay off my truck early, buy a new trailer and other things. the lease terms are not bad at all. It helps tremendously. The typical small business can write off all expenses, and buying or leasing didnt change anything for me. Check with several leasing companies for terms before using the one the dealer recommends

david, all travertine pavers are polished, but not usually sealed. Rick, at first glance yes, but once the tricks are learned, it pretty much remains the same, unlike wood where each deck is different. Concrete pavers are a different story though. I'm seeing more and more variations due to manufacturing processes changing, or reducing ingredients to reduce costs. Travertine, being natural, basically changes only due to the quarry its coming from.

Charlie-very carefully. Takes practice Tim. Delamination will only happen on natural stone like travertine and granite. with regular pavers it penetrates and will not do this. Any one doing travertine is welcome to call me for tips. Or Richy is happy to take your calls also at Seal N Lock. I only know what Ive personally seen and done but he talks to contrators with other issues that I may have not seen. Ive done enough now so I think Ive seen everything, but two problems have come up in the last two months that I had never run into and had to call him for help figuring it out. Rich Colletti has been in the paver business a long time but Im happy to pass on my knowledge when I can.

I know to most of you this is going to sound ridiculous, but its fraking cold this morning!!!!!!! Right now its 45 deg outside my office door. Good Lord I didn't think Id ever think 45 was miserable, but after 25 years here i think I'm finally acclimated to the heat. I think i have icicles on my toes.

yeah, but it's a humid cold here. Dont you know it's not the cold its the humidity? or some such saying. Anyway, problem is over. back to the 70s and only mid 50s at night. Time to turn the air conditioner back on. :lildevil:

Did you get the auto pump out working. I was having that same problem and talked to Jerry last night about it. Turns out Im missing a check valve on my system.

what a great example of Auso-engineering! Very interesting stuff. My biggest problem and why I havnt tried going after bigger stuff is the silt. The sand trap helps but the fine silt makes it through everything and clogs up my filters to the pump and am constantly having to stop to clean them when on full recycle. I have some 5 micron bags coming from Jerry that insert in the water tank. Easier to pull out and rinse. I like the conical drum idea for easy cleanout but obviously needs a bigger outlet. Gotta read through this one more time to get more details i might have missed.

ok Ron, I have a question for you. Why? What do you hope to do with the org? How well can you work with a board to get consensus on things that need to be done? Why now?

I just spent some time on the phone with lynn at eaco chem. Apparently one restore is not the right product for what i wa using it for. It would be a good idea to call eaco chem yourself

one restore is very safe and shouldnt do anything to the brick. I always regret when I use something else on pavers when I run out, and it happened again today. Gotta order some more from Paul.

I can't believe some one would let their pool deck get this bad.

Roof mix, surface cleaner rotary nozzle where necessary.

Another travertine pool deck and paver driveway sealed with Seal N Lock in Tierra Verde, FL

Travertine sealing done the right way.

Daniel, im honestly surprised you can get or if bed some days. Cynicism like yours can be as debilitating as the worst phobias. Russeljakophobia? Thise guys are th there to help, just because they don't tell you what you want to hear, doesn't mean theyre lying.

I know after all these years Robert has a thick skin, but I wonder if this decision has to do with all the crap he took from the bmp's. Hopefully he keeps plugging on the environmental issues.

If you used 55gal of stripper there would be no gras left downhill of the deck. Nice job Charlie

I agree with rick p. You should have been a writer! Best description of our fair state that I have seen in a long time. Its nice when some of our northern brothers (i say damn yankees affectionately) come down and see what we deal with.

Thought the rain would pass. I was sorely mistaken