PressurePros

Jarrod, look at it this way. If the program helps you close one sale that you may not have gotten, it's well worth the money. The price may seem steep and it is, but it's very inexpensive compared to trial and error. Let me know what you think of them.

Wood Tux Wet tinted with red and black. Take her can and go home and play with a mix until you match it.

Stripping a deck is pretty harsh on the wood. It can also get expensive for the homeowner. EFC-38 will strip just enough to allow new sealer penetration without removing all the sugars, oils and toner that is currently in the wood. On the Cabot's deck I would coat thoroughly with the EFC and then rinse quickly. Not through like I would a full strip job. I would also neutralize but the jury is still out as to whether that is neccessary with EFC

-No -about .40 per l.f. -Any butyl based cleaner brushed on

Painted - bleach and soap Other two- EFC-38

I will be straight with you Matt because you are here to learn. As Jarrod mentioned, the deck looks a bit gray. I think it is from using too little pressure. Other culprits could be the choice of chemical, dilution or dwell time. You really have to move slowly and methodically to get wood to come out even. I prefer to use a 65 degree nozzle and about 1000 psi on PTP deck floors. You can get a 12" cleaning swath with decent pressure. Please don't take this critique personally. You did a nice job of making the deck look ten times better. Now you can refine technique and go the extra distance to set yourself apart.

Very cool (yet disturbing) trailer for the movie Big with Tom Hanks... everyone has seen the movie, now see what crafty editing can portray. http://www.ebaumsworld.com/videos/bigtrailer.html When my mom told me they always show the best scenes in a movie trailer and the rest is fancy editing, she wasn't kidding.

My worst experience with a deck was last year. It was a second story deck that was 48'x28'. The mold was a quarter inch thick. The wood was checked, cupped, split and every other buzzword for deck damage you can imagine. There was a gate that was hanging off and the whole left side of the structure was sloped about 30 degrees. The entire deck had ivy growing through the rails and between the floorboards When we applied the stripper and started rinsing I actually started sliding towards the end like some macabre sideways moon walk. When I would kick on the wand, the built up pressure blast would slide me three feet. I suggested to the lady that we were patching a mortal wound with a Band Aid but she insisted we just clean and seal it. Nice guy/idiot that I am I felt bad for this single mother and charged her $1,800. I take the pictures at every phase (two full days to get it prepped) and grab my 50% deposit for the 21 gallons of sealer. Two sprayers, two 28' ladders, 100' of plastic, and another two days later the deck is done. I go to my truck to get the camera. The camera is gone and her degenerate children are in the driveway milling around the truck. I look on the side and there is pink silly string sprayed onto the paint. Mind you, it's 95 degrees in the shade and this stuff melts to the paint. I hook up the washer, clean it off and by this time, I am very PO'd. I just want my money and to leave this nightmare as a memory. I go to the door and start knocking. No answer. I go to the backdoor where I saw movement in the basement while we were working. Her teenage son answers the door and says, "my mom had to run out, she said to leave the bill and she will mail you a check" uh oh, I had made it very clear that this job was to be all cash for the price. She understood as the deposit was paid in cash. I go back to the truck and decide to tear it apart looking for the camera and wait for her to return home. No camera. A $400 Canon loaded with a 64 meg card that held three very large projects of which people were anxiously waiting for a before and after portfolio. Four weeks go by, quite a few unaswered phone calls.. no check. I go to the house, Nada. I finally have to go to court, file a lien and a civil suit. About two weeks later, I get a check and it's $100 less than the amount due. Unbelievable. I never did find the camera. What a nightmare.

double post.. see below

Matt, what did you use to clean? (chemical and psi?)

Mike, very nice work, bro.

No Mike, you don't back off your unloader to 500 psi in my example you back it down to match your nozzle. You would turn down the unloader until it was matching, in our example 1000 psi. It was explained to me why you would want to do that, and I know this is going to sound moronic, but I can't remember exactly why. I am not real strong in the mechanics of a pressure washer.

While the basic premise of using the unloader to control pressure is not a great idea, it's actually fine to turn down the unloader to match the pressure of your output. You will not lose any flow. Example: You use a number ten nozzle to achieve your pressure, say 1000 psi. Using a pressure guage, you can back off the unloader until the pressure begins to fall below 1000 psi, then just turn it back up a quarter turn.

Where at in OC?

Cedar is brutal. I really dislike it. It's funny, I just read that someone likes the look of cedar with all of it's knots. I think it looks cheap. Personal preference I guess. Anyway, your nozzle choice was right on except I would use a smaller orifice with a wider spray pattern to work faster. The amount of knots per linear foot on that cedar indicates a pretty cheap grade. I think just the age, exposure and grade were the factors that caused your furring.

Ipe definitely is nice for pictures. Australian Timber Oil: Honey Teak, Amberwood and a blend of the two (not neccessarily in that order)

sounds like fun.

Two years on wood. Wear and tear exclusions and cutomer agrees to annual contract cleaning.

LOL.. Jim you are a trip.

Yeah it definitely looks a whole lot better.. another happy homeowner! Nice job

I'm glad that link has helped open some eyes. I spent years in college, seminar after seminar, digesting book after book, selling cars, selling cell phones, owning a retail shop, selling high end stereo equipment and finally becoming a corporate sales trainer trying to master the art of selling. I'm still learning. That link has some incredible information on it. One thing I haven't done is IT (unless you mean the BULLSH kind) I can shout a definite AMEN about leaving that corporate crap and politics behind. Let me know how the deck turns out for you. -K

Go ahead with the HD-80 if that's what you have on hand. If there is no selaer present, mix it at 4 oz per gallon. Neutralize with oxalic at 4-6 oz per gallon or 8 oz of Citrallic per gallon.

Russ, more info. That looks interesting.

djcs, I like your enthusiasm. What you might want to do is narrow your focus. You mentioned "specializing" in three very distinct areas of cleaning all of which require different equipment and detergents.

BRAVO! Well said, Barry. I knew there had to people that understood business, you are definitely one of them.