PressurePros

car wash soap. good suds, economical, will give a wax sheen and rinses easily. Besides the fact that it is made for washing exterior surfaces.

That's washing technique, Tony. I wash one board at a time. Spray pattern just wide enough to cover a single board. More pressure will remove that gray.

Rod, I had Community speakers (Pa company) in my house running from a 1000x2 behemoth pro amp (QSC, i think it was). Each cabinet had 4 12's and a horn. LOL. So I can definitely relate. Are you a musician?

Dan, its all about reproducing live sound without added vibrations or reflections from hard surfaces. It can get real crazy. I framed out my basement 12" OC and glued and screwed the first layer of 5/8" drywall then used Green Glue to put another layer of wallboard on top of that. I have a hodge podge of egg crate foam mattress pads on the walls and a heavy curtain where there is no window LOL. Its like driving a flagship Lexus for the first time. If you are used to a minivan or compact car, you never know what you are missing. Once you sit behind the wheel of that Lexus, you are ruined. The same goes for audio. Once you hear the distinct sound of a singer drawing in a breath while she sings or the sound of fingers sliding up and down the fret of a guitar, its over. Its like the first hit of crack. On a good system you will here a triangle or a glockeschpiel you never knew was there. On a system with enough power and dynamic headroom a trumpet will sound like Dizzy Gillespi (sp) is blowing his horn four feet in front of you. Chris, your equipment rocks. Nice job on those cabinets. What did you use to finish? Tuned to 15 hz? Thats a true sub, my friend. What type of crossover? Whats the cutoff point and slope? My peeve about the Velodynes is I know they are there. Maybe its just my imagination but I swear I can close my eyes, you can move them and I will still be able to point right to them. It kills the transparent point source I look for in a good sounding system.

Tony looks good.. you have the gift. All of your work is top notch. You hear all of this stuff about low pressure, low pressure, low pressure on wood. i have found that there is a diminishing return if you got too low. Below 800 psi, you do leave behind more fuzzy fibers. I'm not a fan of spot sanding for the reason you described. When i am on a deck I try to feather it out a foot on either side.

Dude, there aren't many freaks like us. Reading what you wrote is like good porn to me! What I like about the Adcom is the dynamic power. I could be listening at 105 dB and a Metallica crescendo with double kick drum will roar in (like towards the end of "One") and the amp won't even breath heavy. The damping is a nice match for the Vienna.. the midbass stays tight and punchy. The Adcom is a little dry for my taste, but I think all solid state amps sound that way. You know as well as I do, if you are going to listen to music, an LP played on a good turntable with tube pre and amp are the keys to nirvanna. But you are right, matched with the Viennas, the sound is damn good for what i consider a mid-fi system. It all runs from conditioned and dedicated 30 amp circuits (three of them). I had to upgrade my whole house to a 200 amp service LOL. Did i mention I like dynamics? I had a pair of 501 Matrixes many moons ago. I never liked them in the room I had them in. They were very revealing and a bit slow on the dynamics. I've heard about the range of the 801's but have yet to get to a delaership to hear them. 9.5 cubic feet.. that's pretty big. I used to own a sound company in my mid twenties and my JBL bass bins were probably that size. 130 dB at that low of a frequncy.. wow.. that would tear many drivers apart. What parameters (Thiele-Small, etc) did you have to get into when designing the box? what drivers did you put in? If you ever get up this way, Chris, I'll show you my system. My TV is a Pioneer Elite that is ten years old and I have yet to find a picture I like better. Its about as close to a tube as you can get. We can cruise to my Uncle's house as well. He makes me look like a toddler. He was a sound engineer for EMI and at last check has about $400K into his system. He thinks my system, and I qoute, "sounds like a shelf system" LOL..

I'm into A/V as well so I can certainly appreciate a great system. What are you using for your satellites? I run a 5.1 system with Vienna Acoustics sats (Beethoven Baby Grands as the mains), twin 15" servo Velodyne's, a 5 channel Adcom (300x5) and a Anthem AV30 A/V preamp.

It may be unwise to decrease production rates of a high volume machine. The simplest solution is to get a reserve tank. 100 gallons should serve you fine on resi work. There are many available footprints to fit your vehicle if space is an issue.

Tony, when you say it looked terrible.. why do you say that? Because it was furry? Exposed PT wood that has been exposed but not been sealed will fur up something awful. Nothing you can do about it except sand and buff. I have varied chems, pressure, dwell time, prewet.. none of it made any difference.

I voted not to watch.. how can you sit through that stuff Chris?

I didn't see the F-13. That's really not a great additive for vinyl housewashes. It leaves clouds on windows. Its not needed. The car wash soap I use as well.. adds sheen.. that's also what it is made for.. breaking dirt surface bond on exterior surfaces.

Rick I do enjoy reading your writings. You have an uncanny ability to be scientific, objective and diplomatic. Let me add one thought to Scott's getting longer life from the stain. Consider the variable of color. Red is the most reflective of the transoxide pigments and can handle the most amount of heat before it becomes sacrificial. The "natural" tone Scott used originally probably also had less pigment and/or non transoxide pigment in it.

Stucco is $.30 per s/f (of actual wall). I would discount it based on the s/f. I would also add back in with the complexity of terraces. It may be a wash. Pavers: Often require to be repacked with sand unless they are the interlocking type. Clean can be from $.25 per s.f to $.50 per s.f. Sealing adds another $1 per s.f Residential concrete: $.12-$.25 per s.f

It may be oxidation. Before you get into perfection mode and ruin her window cleaning, follow up with a phone call to see how she liked the job.

I've used approximately 1200 gallons of Bakers over the last couple of years. Its a good economy product. It finishes nicely. Its a pain in the arse to stir. If you plan on using it, get a drill mixer. It also require two coats on the floor. The Armstrong Clark finishes absolutely beautifully. I'm kind of blown away by it. It penetrates deeply and also cures quickly. Its a bit more expensive than the Bakers but if you want to set your company apart from the over the counter crap most guys use, you cannot go wrong with Armstrong. I am not a fan of the type of stain that Ready Seal is but many guys love it and its better than the competition of similar type products.

My first two years in business I would slave over a deck.. damn near perfection. Not a drip or run anywhere. Deck cleaned, balanced, sanded, two coats on floor, all backbrushed, perfect color. Customer would rave over the appearance. I would run home and sit by the phone. Surely these customers were calling all of their friends. Nada. I talked to another contractor and he asked me if I was asking for referrals. I thought, well that's kinda cheesy.. if I have to ask something must be missing. But I started asking. I started rewarding people. Boom.. the referral machine started. I have not put out one piece of advertising this year.

You get back what you give.. good or bad.

I hear this again and again yet when a contractor complains that the product (or similar types of nondrying oils) doesn't produce desired results I read the same people saying "you didn't apply it right, or heavy enough, or you didn't prep right", etc. that's not "goof proof" by any stretch. Decker, when I read your paint store guy's test as to product viability I nearly lost my breakfast. Applying to paper is like testing the ride of a Mercedes by reading a brochure. Penetration speed and depth on pieces of paper are meaningless. I know you are in Canada so you have limited product acquisition capability. Personally I would not touch any of the products you listed.. especially the Flood stuff. Its consumer crap here in the northeast. I have played with the Sikkens SRD and it used to be decent. After formulation changes a few years ago, its a flash drying, under-pigmented and overall lousy sealer. You may have a different product in Canada? Steer clear of any product containing high amounts of silicone or acrylic. They are maintenance nightmares.

You are on the right track if you realize that there is some science to this. With that being said, its not that difficult. Many of the distributors have premixed chems. You simple follow their directions. Everything else, for better or worse, is on this forum. If you are a business oriented guy that can focus and read about marketing and selling you can be successful at anything, anywhere, in any economy. Be sure if you decide to go into business that you keep a day job and allot a good amount of money to advertising.

Contractor qualified in cedar siding, please contact me. Philly area only. No travelers. This job will also include a gazebo. No sub or fee for lead but I will verify your insurance and experience.

If its the same exact product that is going to be applied and the stain is not in failure (bare wood showing) and the staining product hasn't been overapplied or coated ten times, a simple bleach and dish soap clean will be fine.

ls, see my original reply on this thread.

Now I'm really confused. Scott, is it a step up from the semi-transparent in terms of pigment? Lightly tinted cedar color?

Greg, before you file a claim, make sure you don't have a load at the pump. have someone hold open the gun while you are trying to start. The machine would not have siezed just from the oil leaking out (unless it ran). That's probably the issue you are having.

Here is my line: I use a pressure washing wand, not a magic wand. I cannot magically restore years of neglect just by cleaning it. Don't sweat it, Dan. You did everything you could. For the record, blue vinyl sided homes are always a PITA.