Chappy
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Posts posted by Chappy
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I've become disgusted with the market here in regards to wood restoration. I have decided to just offer cleaning, and re-applying the same product as was there before. If not sure, put a water based solid. No more stripping. The market just doesn't bear the cost. I think I price fairly for a complete strip, but my competitors (usually painters) just quick clean and apply whatever. Tired of wasting time on estimates to be beat by a $500 dollar bid.
I recently did a dock and reapplied Flood Spa N Deck (which I hate) and another dock with.....
Behr supreme. And they came out beautifully. no more stripping. give the customer a beautiful finished product. They dont really care how long it lasts, they wont call for maintenance for 4-5 years anyway or until the move. And they wont pay for real restoration work.
And I make money. Quickly. No more killing myself over what turns out to be my least profitable service catagory.
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Safe restore works well. Ox should work too, but mix strong. Remember each of these will leave a nice bright spot in the driveway, so plan on doing the whole drive and price accordingly
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i just used my chem induction pump from enviro spec the other day. I dont know the percentage draw, but WOW! what a difference. I have a 9gpm skid with 200 feet of hose and a super suds sucker. I rarely get more than 20% buy itself and only with no gun on.
So yeah im now a believer
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thanks, I have used the pro vt on around the outside trim, old wood only. Ill give it a try on the new.
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Beth,
What do you use on the white solid. Also how long on new wood do I need to wait for the solid color. (My wife said "i have to wait a year? you didn't tell me that!!!!!") I ask because Ive never done a two tone and she likes the look.
any way, the old rails were caulked and painted...and rotted top and bottom
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Man, you guys wish you were the new florida. You'll never have this many pw'ers if you grew to 3 times the population. And it'll still get cold. Ha!
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First of all, an affordable lease is still debt. If you can't work next year due to injury you still owe the money.
I went 7 years without any debt except the truck. I landed jobs then ordered equipment to do the job. I've gone through 2 skids, 3 trailers and finally leased my current skid and only because I wanted to go top of the line. But I have enough in the bank to pay it off if need be.
Secondly, build your own trailer set up. You can do it a lot cheaper than a pre built rig will cost. I don't know if your just starting out or not, but if you are, buy what you need with an eye on growing, don't overspend or you will regret it.
Imhbao
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it rained all day yesterday, and is foggy and 60% chance of rain today. Last week was the sunny week. and tomorrow. and the next day. Ok, I guess the rain and fog are an exception to the rule. I run through at least 2 bottles of sunscreen during the winter. Hahahahahahahaha!
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Thats what it was. Awful, awful stuff.
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Ive been learning the banjo,
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Here is the finished project ones. I started tearing this apart with no plan whatsoever. and 3 weeks before our big Christmas party. I got the stairs and walkway done in time and just finished the balustrades this last week.
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Here is a deck in Tampa that I finished last week. What a royal pain. It had Behr on it that was rolled on the floor, but fortunately not the balustrades. Even though the can said oil based, it did not strip with SH at any concentration and even Dads didn't take it off. I had to sand the entire deck to remove. This deck is completely under cover. I went with Cabots because I can get it locally at Lowes, and since customer wasn't sure of color, I didn't want to order AC. But when I got to lowes, they no longer carry the Semi Trans cabots, only the Preservative Wood Finish. Not real happy, but kinda stuck at that point.
It ended up ok but the first coat was really blotchy and had to go back and do a second coat. You can see it has a shiney finish, which I was not expecting! Nothing like the semi trans stain.
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Here is a project I started thanksgiving. just finished last week.
http://www.flickr.com/photos/organize/?start_tab=sets
Considering that I cant cut a board straight for the life of me, I am pretty proud of myself!
My wife wasnt real happy when she found out I couldnt stain it for 6months or longer. She wants solid balustrades.
Did I say I started this project at Thanksgiving? Gotta Love Florida in the winter!
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Lyle your close to my bid. I was just over $10K for the whole thing.
There getting it done for 1/3rd my price.
Like I said, I had a feeling that It wouldnt go as soon as husband said "Ive done my google research." and then showed me the "best" product for decks. Some water based stuff Ive never heard of before. Just his job on applying stain on un prepped rails was enough to tell me everything I needed to know that I was wasting my time.
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Here is a deck I bid on in November. I could tell as soon as I started talking to HOs that It might not go well. He had a handy man flipping boards and was on his 2nd handyman. He stated that he wanted to use his stain, Cant remember name but was water based stain. In fact he had gone so far as pre applying stain the rail replacements, but applied before cutting ends. So- I gave my pitch, measured gave them a price for clean and prep only and for the full resto job.
Here are some pics. What you dont see is that the 1st and second floor decks cover 2 sides of the house and the second floor is screened in and explained they would have to be removed. third floor is strictly railings
Total measurement is just over 7000 sf.
Care to guess what the winning contractor's bid? What would you guys bid on this, clean and prep only and clean and seal?
Oh yeah. House just purchased for $750K
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cabots Problem Solver works very well on SPF. Is good when a company recognizes a problem of its own making then makes a buck by inventing a solver.
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I washed this house a couple weeks ago. Every eve, every soffit, every outside ceiling was covered in webs, with hundreds of spiders and the remains of billions of bugs. 8 porch ceilings, most tongue and groove,and each covered in a web, end to end. Spiders falling all over me. I still get the willies every time something lands on my face. Nothing like a spider crawling up the inside of your glasses to get the old arachniphobia going again.
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ive never seen one with the babies hanging on like that. Whod a thunked that spiders would make such good mommies.
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After this last deck i did, ill have to go with super cedar. It was really purdy.
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I havn't been thrilled with the osborne brushes. at too high rpm they were varnishing the wood. De felting pads wore out too quickly and left junk. Ive gone to 60 grit paper. Almost every deck needs some sanding anyway as people here let them degrade badly before deciding to do something, so since Im sanding anyway...
they are still usefull on spindles though.
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I love decks that I can just spray away to my hearts content. Unfortunately this wasn't one them.
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ere is a deck we finished last week. It was only a year old with failing Thompsons Supreme. Stripped with Sodium Percarb and neutralized with Ox.
We stained with AC Super Cedar.
The post took a day and a half due to the screens and promises not to get any sealer on them. The top supports were a real pain!
The AC Super Cedar is a beautiful stain!
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There is very little risk of tracking bleach into the home or killing grass if your downstreaming THEN pressure washing. I like PWing first then downstreaming bleach last. Both ways work, and there is so much water in the grass by the time you finish the risk is nil.
577-Jersey reacted to this -
I would put the PWer in front so you can access it easier, since you have it to the side the 55er can be put next to it if there is room. it will also balance that side. Put the box on the tounge and make it fairly easy to remove. you will then have the room behind the skid for misc. items and make the skid easy to get to.
I'm not gonna try anymore
in Wood Cleaning & Restoration - Decks, Fences, etc.
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Sodium Percarb with a little NP9.
For those that do decks full time and have great success with it, I give you mega kudo's. And I have had success in the past. I still get calls, although not as many as in the past, because my website works. But like Clark said, it really is an uphill battle in certain areas of the country.
Rick Petry asked me when he flew into Orlando. How do you make a living doing decks? he couldn't see one deck from the plane. Thats one of the problems, not enough decks. The other is an attitude of Cheapness that runs through Florida (more so than other areas of the country, especially in urban markets. ) People are used to hiring contractors that are happy to make $10 an hour.
Its a shame, but Ive replaced it with paver sealing and am doing great with it. Thats a money maker in these parts, and Ive been able to do better combatting the cheap guys.