PressurePros

Nice ride Mark. They don't make 'em like that anymore.

Ken, I am thinking they were cleaning and moving the tractor trailer. RJ, insurance is not an option its a neccessity. 200 guys may post they have it and never made a claim then the 201st guy will post about the $25K, $50K, or $100K jam insurance got him out of. The problem is, none of use know who the 201 st guy will be. Stay at this long enough and the odds are it will be you (or me)

uggh, cutting in spindle by spindle? That must have been horribly tedious.

I do the same thing as Aaron and John. Job minium is $______. The whole house including gutters will cost you 20% more.

edited: Nothing left to LOL at. Neil's post removed.

It would probably work but using an abrasive versus something to emulsify (there's that word again) can marr the vinyl. I would go chem first then Magic Eraser.

We mix up HD-80 in 50 gallon drums full strength plus butyl and polyprop glycol. Most decks are done via downstream. Nasty acrylic stripping is done full strength with the boosted HD. Application via ShurFlo 3.8. Acid is always downstreamed. I'm going to try Scott's dowstreamable stripper next season for shitz and giggles.

Its not our price Bryan.. thats fine. Its the fact that you can't meet up with the homeonwer to sell her you and your work ethic.

I hate to even post this but I find F-18 to be too soapy and not strong enough. I keep it onhand as a cleaner and a backup but it is too expensive to use as a stripper. HD-80 at one fourth the strength does what F-18 does mixed full strength in most cases. I find no difference in the heat as the F-18 mixed at 12 oz per gallon is just as hot as the HD. Just my opinion and like I said, I hate even saying it because Bob is an outstanding distributor. Ready Seal in cold temps.. be careful. If it gets down to 40 at night the customer may find puddles of it on their deck the next morning. Cold wood is tight wood.

$4 per s/f is not outrageous when you are talking about just the floor. Thats my average rate. My quote above is based on: Being in the midwest, the time of year, and the contractor not meeting with the homeowner. I'd be shocked if Bryan lands this job.

Whenever I see one of those small Christmas trees for an apartment I think "Thats a Charlie Brown tree". I too, am an old head and remember being excited coming home from school because the Charlie Brown special was on that night.

Bryan, do a test strip. Its the only way to truly know. It looks like a water borne product.

Krud Kutter does not discolor the siding like stripper or Goof Off can. You ma have a difficult time getting it off at this point. Corner pieces of trim.. forget it.. you'll have to replace them.

LOL, nice first post.

Bidding against a hack and really wanting the job.. $1600. $75 to replace the 2x6 handrail that is bowed. If you really need this work, meet with the homeowner. Given two price sheets (even if one is on notebook paper) she is going to go on price.

deck restoration.. we do the carpentry work on the one in 50 that needs it.

"The ONE and only Entire East Coast, Hardwood Sealing, Diamond Crushing Guru from New England To Florida" is on my new business cards. Oh wait, what was the question again?

Dane, I would look into maybe making the wave more encompassing and using a reverse for the words coastal and pressure. On shirts, or even in printed material these words may get lost. Byline: "the definition of quality".. maybe a bit cliched

Yes with the same prep you would do on any deck, Christian. I'll shoot you a pm.

Christian, I have seen deck stains (Cabot's ATO, single coats of TWP, Penofin) last on ipe for three months and then gone. The wood on that porch is covered so you should get maximum life. Any finish lasting 18 months on ipe is a long time and is certainly not the norm. In high sunshine Woodzotic will last 9-12 months.

Jim, it all depends on what type of subjective finish appearance you are talking about. You mentioned this: "The only thing being done with a sealer on Ipe is to pervent it from turning grey!" - Jim Foley By your definition, a sealer is working if the ipe is not turning gray. I don't disagree with that. I'm also not saying every ipe deck lasts 18 months. I said that I have customers decks (and my own mahogany deck) that have lasted 18 months (without turning gray). Of course the finish is markedly faded and needs service soon but for all intents and purposes, it was protected for that time period. Jim, sometimes what you say is hypocritical of things you have said previously again and again. One of those things is that you say that you know best about wood. You base that on real world experience. Again, I am not denying that you know your stuff and have more experience than almost everyone. But it strikes me as a little off kilter that you have VERY little experience with WT yet will take every opportunity to make disparaging comments about it. Then when you have to defend a weak position you say you have talked to others about it? That's not your personal experience Jim, its rehashing of rhetoric. If someone came on here and said, "Ready Seal sucks" and based it on working with it a few months you would be the first cat to have his hair stand on end. Think about that. I have seen you do it. You'd probably have even more to say if someone made that statement after doing 3 decks and defended it with "others told me it sucks too". As a final presentation: If someone gets 8-12 months from Product A and Product B last 3-6 months one can safely assume that Product A is 200% better than Product B.

Jim, did you use pure wood tux? I remember hearing either from one of your posts or through the grapevine that you were mixing it with RS. Thats not WT, thats an experiment in coatings chemistry. You also used the spring version of Tux which unfortunately was a different animal. A customer I did 18 months ago visits this forum. I don't want to put them on the spot but if they are reading this and wish to reply maybe we can make dreams a reality for the guru.

Just playing devils advocate here, Beth.. what if those two months are December and January? Either way its one season and done. (I do have decks going on 18 months and they are not graying) I'm not even sure one would get the extra two months, its just theory without actually doing the testing on multiple samples in multiple climates.

The key points made in this back and forth banter.. • Finishing is done to slow the wood from turning gray. • The sugars and oils at the surface should be emulsified during the prep process for a finish to have any hope of retaining a fresh appearance for longer than a couple of months. • Letting the wood age too long will increase the stain/sealer's bite but at the cost of a rougher surface. Both sides arguements are valid. I find that by the time a builder is done constructing an ipe deck the wood has aged enough to finish. Waiting longer produces diminishing return (ie a rougher surface for the sake of maybe a month or two of extra finish life) My added point on finish: If one tries to get penetrating oils into ipe they are fighting the wood versus working with its inherent natural repelling tendency . You have mils of surface with which to work your finish into. Thus my choice for a product is one that cures quickly.

Just got back a proof for the new DIYchatforum.com What do you guys think? First is the logo and then how it will appear in the forum header.