Paul Freeman

OPT, Not at all ;)

A figment of someone elses imagination :)

Beth, I have a monster deck that I've been working on for 4 days. I tried a liquid sodium hydroxide based stripper (similar to HD-80), a paste stripper (Super Strip), and soda (Sodium Bicarbonate (I wouldn't recommend that you try this) and Master Blaster, which I had to go to Dallas to get). The results were poor at best. Then, I decided to hit it with 200-degree water (at 1500 - 1800 PSI) to break down the painted finish... The logic was to destroy the 'seal' of the paint on the wood. It worked pretty well - although I had to be careful to move on once the paint started bubbling/breaking/failing. Anyway, after breaking the paint up and letting the wood dry, I applied a wet coat of sodium hydroxide based stripper, let dwell for 30 minutes (while keeping it wet). Then, I went to cold water at 1000 PSI, and bingo, about 70% of the paint blew off. We'll be stripping it again tomorrow (to remove the remaining paint and sealer/stain that’s under the paint). Whatever's left will simply be sanded off, but I think I've got it licked. I was reluctant to go with the hot water, but I was at wits-end. This is the weirdest deck I’ve come across. In some places you can peal the paint right off (high traffic areas), but most of it seems like they used contact cement with a red pigment. Before accepting this job, I did a test area on one of the steps... Bad move, (high traffic area), the paint and sealer came right off with 2 applications of paste stripper and 1 application of liquid stripper. Mark: Just for the record, I agree with Beth. Normally, I would use cold water to strip a deck, but this is the deck from hell, so I had to fight fire with fire. Unofficial VP, BFCPC!

Last year I bought an Ex-Cell 3200, portable from a guy who had just purchased it. After distroying his driveway, most of the sereens on his house, his fence, some outdoor furniture, and blowing up the pump, (which a local PW shop charged him 650.00 to replace), he sold me the unit for $650.00 (including the old pump, which has a shattered piston). I also have 2 decks (850 and 1024 sq ft) scheduled for strip and seal that the customers thought they could do themselves. Start and stop marks, scars and splinters, and fuzzies galore. Finally, here's one for the record book. It's a steel sided home that had a 2 year old coat of redwood stain/sealer on it (brand unknown!). Happy Mother's Day to all you Mom's out there :)