PressurePros

It is basically an oil spill as mineral spirits contain (or have properties like) oil. You don't want to get into a pissing contest with a customer but ultimately she cannot withold your payment. I don't know if using a degreaser would help you or make the problem worse. Is it possible to coat the rest of the area to match? Silly as it sounds, it will make the problem disappear.

The closest estimates for recoverable oil in that tight region are around 10 billion. But that is still a guess as they haven't been able to drill.

$3 is nothing compared to what it will go up to. We are depleting the world's oil reserves and our usage is not declining. In fact it is increasing. There is a lot of oil up there. Most estimates place it around 10 billion barrels. That's 20 years worth of Saudi Arabian imports. The problem is, we only export like 10% of our oil from Saudi Arabia. Even if ANWR drilling were apporved tommorow it would be 7-10 years before we started seeing any oil from the region. Are we in Iraq fighting for world peace or so some country 5000 miles away can enjoy democracy? I think the last proponents of that altruisitc dream have been shattered. Bush will go down as the scapegoat for lost lives initially and then may well be the hero who began the "liberation of the world's oil supply" when our grandkids are reading the history books.

Wow, a lot of detail work. Nice job. I hope you got at least $2500 for that job. Shoot me an email when you get the chance.

My vote is for Paul at MobiClean as well. Excellent prices and customer support. A pretty rare find.

The mixing is incredibly easy. I don't even measure anymore. I know the tone it will end up as by whats in the can. Your best bet is to mix light at first, try it on the wood and let it sit for five minutes until you see the tone. You can always deepen the tone.

You're right. Ipe may be the bane of the wood care profession or it could be the key to riches. Dealing with the issue of sealer life on ipe can be viewed in one of two ways. Resign yourself to the fact that ipe cannot be sealed by the current methods/products at our disposal and at best clean it once a season and let the wood's natural properties protect it from wear. Or, charge the customer the full boat every season (maybe twice per season down south) and do your best to let the customer know that the precious wood they purchased is very difficult to work with and will not sustain a pigmented selaer aesthetically. I applied WTW to my mahogany deck about a month ago. I really wanted to get it down earlier in the season, but you know how that goes. I made the stupid mistake of putting together furniture on the surface without having protection down and scratched the surface.. very noticeably in some spots. My feeling is that a richly pigmented coating made of a light oil such as a parafinnic followed by a coating of WT locking at the surface could possibly offer a solution for both longevity and maintenance. Once per season a quick wash with a light bleach and soap solution followed by a fresh coat of WT on the horizontals would be a feasible, cost effective solution for both the homeowner and the wood resto contractor. Any thoughts?

$985? wow, that's good. Taxes just went up in Haverford Township to $6800

A small bottle of bathroom cleaner containing bleach next to an acidic toilet bowl cleaner is an acceptable risk. An accident with 5 gallons of sodium hypochlorite in the same room with a 50 lb bag of oxalic acid is lethal and will probably evacuate half a street.

When I tell them my gas price every month is over $900 that usually ends that conversation.

For the most part I find my client base to be very respectful. There was only one situation where I had to tell my guys to pack up and leave the jobsite. I wasn't there and in meeting with this customer prior I knew of his condescending nature. I will not tolerate someone giving myself or anyone I employ a hard time. Making endless requests, watching us work, or making comments before a job is complete will be met with light hearted ribbing. It is annoying but people are allowed to annoy me, they are paying me. When the line becomes crossed is when I feel my integrity or that of my people is compromised. The above mention customer told my guy he was an idiot for using the technique he was using and proceeded to actually endanger my guy and himself by attempting to grab the wand and show him how it was done. When I got that call, I told them to stop right there and roll up the hoses. I was very severe with the customer and offered to complete the job only with payment made in full, in cash, prior to work restarting. He yelled about suing me, we had a contract blah blah blah. He got half his filthy house washed for free..he had no case. When you are one man show you can kind of wing your policies and adapt. As you grow into multiple crews, you need to set parameters for what is acceptable. It positively comes down to making sure the customer doesn't have unreal expectations. Telling a guy his gutter will look brand new without doing a sample clean of all sections, for instance, would be setting yourself for possibly unpleasant future interaction.

Because it is damaging the wood which completely goes against a wood restoration professional's intended goal. Preserve and protect. Acetone is 100% VOC. PA has a standard of I believe 2% allowable VOC content. Someone using to clean a deck better be incredibly careful. You can't just spray down the whole thing and hope for the best. When all of this comes to rest, my feeling is that WoodTux modified from its current form will be the winner.

There are also OSHA standards I think you want to adhere to in order to c.y.a. If you ever had a fire, firefighters need to know whats in there. Here is a good link to give you some ideas. http://www.ilpi.com/msds/ref/nfpa.html

Hello Hugo. Why do I get scared when I see a word begginning with Acry.....? Hugo, if you would tell me what makes Flood's product more unique? We see acrylics every day that fail very rapidly and when they go, it ain't pretty. Do you offer a reasonabled priced stripping product that will remove this acrylic if need be?

http://www.pressuretek.com/m5xjet.html Accept no substitute

56 houses (counting a HOA job that included 18 houses), 31 decks (over 47,000 s/f), 22 commercial buildings (mostly retail stores), 2 brick restorations, 6 interior paint jobs. I am 60% through my '06 season and have all of those numbers beat, except for the commercial work which I try to shy away from. The first couple of weeks of July were SLOWWWW which was my fault for delaying my mailer. Its back like gang busters again. Thank God.

The marketing firm I hired is about five minutes from my office. Great people very knowlegeable. Long story short, among other things they now handle all of my mail outs. The owners asked me to take a look at their deck and are now going to have me do it. By myself I will have the entire deck done in one day and the gross profit from the job will cover all of their fees for labeleing, mailing list, and the postage on my last mailer. I am only posting this because there is a definitive advantage to doing business locally. Many of us get so caught up in saving $20 here and there that we lose sight of the big picture. This is a job I most likely would never have landed.

Walnutport is up north of me. Probably closer to you, James, near Alentown I think. Havertown is about 12 miles west of Philly. The area that Matt performed this work is where 90% of my work is centered. I'll pm you my winning bid for the above work though I think if you look under "Job leads" you'll see a post about the lead. Matt works by himself and it was his first WTW experience. Using WTW would have made this a one day job and nicely profitable.

I don't know Jim, I think its about force. A certain amount of force will be neccessary to break a seal. You would be absolutely corect that the flow will do more damage if it take a miniscule force to break a seal. As houses are exposed to very high flow via driving rain and most withstand that level of beating without taking on water, it would stand to reason that high flow will still rule over higher pressure when it comes to minimizing risk of intrusion.

The Washington CAA job looks like a doozy!

They came out very nice, Matt. Funny timing on the post. I was just at Springton Estates yesterday giving estimates for a couple house washes and a deck. The shakes look even better now that the WT has settled in. You did a nice job with application, very even. If you feel like traveling again I have another complex that wants their wooden steps and entry landings done. There are 9 of them at $(nice money) each. With my two crews and you we could bang them out in three days. The president said the price was great he just has to get approval at the board meeting this Friday. I'l keep ya posted.

Has anyone ever seen a powered scrub brush? This would be something driven by garden hose pressure. i remember seeing something like that a few years back to wash cars, but I cannot find it now.

you're too much, man. I don't put out on the first date.

LOL, I still love ya though.

Thad you're picture haunts me. If you were outside of my house looking in I would have to shoot you.