tropical wave

some aluminum is pretty easy, and some are a real PITA POS..... I'll still go get a look at it, and explain the probable outcome.....no promises, no guarentees...if its not working out I'll explain the paint prep option and call a painter pal of mine so he can quote it too.......but like I mentioned, I'll go look at it..(unless its a darker shade of green or blue) then I'll be way too busy !!!

Alan, if the rings were worn, the engine would burn oil and you'd get smoke out the muffler....more likely the valves or seals if your getting fuel into the crankcase, but with 1000 hours? I wouldnt think.....is the white gizmo a fuel filter ?? good luck with it

thanks everyone...... this isnt mossy or thick and spongey, its hard like its been in a fire...really nasty. and the grass is beautiful, so it was wetter than wet before we started. the deck is surrounded by those Hosta plants, those things are pretty much indestructable....I have them at home and have tried kilkling them and I cant..lol anyway, we'll tackle this thing next week if the weather holds.... thanks again folks

never seen a valve that small at such a high pressure rating, I like the size and that would be better than the giant 7500 psi brick......which I'm not complaining about, just in this instance, smaller is better !!

composites blow...........I mean c'mon, its fake wood...if a plastic deck is what is wanted then these folks should just get one of those nice white vinyl decks....those are sweet (sarcasm).............wood is beautiful if its taken care of.....homeowners are looking for maint. free everything and they dont exist. years ago nobody wanted to paint their houses anymore so aluminum was the wave of the future, well that stunk it up, so then vinyl came along as maint. free and we now know differently.....but these issues and new inventions keep coming and we'll stay in business, because it its outside in the elements, it get dirty, it oxidizes, mold and mildew will grow on it etc etc....... yet to have to deal with a trex deck and I'd like to keep it that way, but if I get the call, I'll be searching the board for answers......

nice....is the $365 for the building alone or all the walks and drives too? the reason I ask is, an individual house that size for a single customer, (not a package of homes) I would have said $329-379 depending on how scummy there were.....love vinyl, love x-jet, love $$$$$$$$$$ again, nice job getting the gig

my favorite......"Yea, Whatever"

or, mix it in cold water and stir more......works for us because I dont have hot onsite and never remember to mix it up before we hit the road.....or, just clean with bleach/soap and water....works good too.....(not trying to start the debate anything)

too funny guys.......a pleasure to read the thread.... A/C, you need a high pressure ball valve......any of the PW supply joints will have them.......got mine at espec on sale.....I keep a high pressure ball valve on the business end of my hose, I use it all the time.....for one I always forget to release the pressure before restarting the machine and hate having to walk back to the gun to pull the trigger, release pressure, drag the wand, gun and hose to the machine to hold the trigger open while starting, so, off with the gun, open the BV and crank it up, the water pressure is not too high and it just pumps out...but the main reason I use it is to rinse stuff I dont want chems on.....after applying whatever Im doing, like stripper or chlorine, I use the ball valve to rinse down everything, just close it a little and its like putting your thumb over a garden hose, except its more pressure.....I dont like rinsing plants and grass with 600 psi thru a 40 degree tip......even a 7200 psi valve adds minimal weight ,its noticeable, but no biggie and you get used to it quickly.....

Amen to that !!!! Got a deck job that was pretty pricey, upsold the house wash while we were there (was easy as the siding and gutters were horribly dirty) gave the homeowner a sweet deal on the house wash since the wood restoration was the main reason I was there...... anyway, the neighbor wants me to come give them an estimate too, the house was twice as dirty with lots more mold and mildew and a price on the deck. The owner says that she had a "handyman" powerwash the deck last year for about $200.00, so I walk around back after almost geting eaten by the Akita and check out the deck, roughly 1200 sq ft of floor alone........ $200.00? I think not.....the estimate for everything was pretty high, but the house is in dire need of cleaning and the deck is quite good sized, needless to say, i"ve heard nada from the owner....and the neighborhood is VERY nice, expensive Chicago suburb.....I just hope they want to keep up with the Jones's though.....

for all that have used or are using the wood tux wet, how does it compre to ready seal as far as application? is it pretty easy or are there issues with drips, direct sun flashing, lap marks etc.....?? I love the ready seal but the reason I ask is for times like we're having now....rain every other day, then we get 2 decent days, then rain overnight again.....the decks are stacking up, cleaned, stripped and waiting.... the customers as well as myself are getting impatient..

did you use an acid neutralizer/brightener after ???

we did a small, 10 year old cedar fence today....nothing special, just weathered, mold and midew......

I cut the 12% down to about 6% with water 50/50........about a teaspoon of dawn in 5 gallons.......pre-wet the little garden, apply the mix, re-wet the plants, let it soak on the fence for a bit and power wash with about 600 psi (#10 nozzle 40 degree, 4010).....by now the plants are really saturated, oxalic applied, rinse plants again and done....

we use 4x4 pick up with open trailer.....the truck has a hard tonneau (spelling) which locks, which is nice.....the one change I want to make is an enclosed trailer.......any little puddles of sealer on the lids get blown all over (my oops, but happens none-the-less) and securing empty buckets and miscl. stuff with bungees is getting old....

welcome aboard Mark..........

thanks Beth...... went the cheap route.......had a mix of 12% already mixed up from doing something else----squirt of dawn and away I went......knew it would come clean, so it was a bit of an expirement......bath of ox and done.....quicly too

all that low pressure stuff can be had at HD, Menards, Ace or True Value.... nylon, plastic, brass plumbing supplies.......fairly simple to find everything you'll need...................good luck

is it because they made their millions in their 40's and are living sweet in the tropics ????

what tubing do you speak of ? We just use 3/8 braided hose (like X-Jet hose) for pickup......I built them into the lids of 5 gallon buckets so there each lid has a hose on the inside attached to a hose barb with a filter at the bottom, then a second hose from a hose barb on the top which goes into the inlet side of the pump......see the bucket on the left of the picture with a plug on the end.....

if your power washing the floor of a garage, have the customer remove all the contents from the floor in the first place.....that would be like cleaning a deck with all kinds of stuff all over it, table chairs umbrella planters etc etc.....if its empty, it'll be a breeze....just need to protect the walls etc, if they're drywall... as far as price, I guess it depends on the size of the areas being done...so, I am of no help there.......

espec has a chlorine gun too......small ones like Shanes and bigger ones like a regular PW'N gun......was thumbing thru an older catalog and saw them....I have their poly gun with stainless lance which came with fan tip......the gun is great but the tip blows and it doesn't come off, and I haven't got around to messing with it...I'm sure I'll get some use out of it when I mess with it, but I have only used it once since owning it....I use the deckster wand exclusively now

I like the ease of having my chems (powders) already mixed up so I can add my water......msds sheets already made up for me, customer support when I have a problem or questions, already in a tub to toss on the trailer...... you see, I can get tomato concentrate, vinegar, corn syrup, salt, onion powder and mix it all up.........but I'd rather just buy the squirt bottle of Heinz Ketchup......and I'm very sure my home brew of ketchup just wouldn't taste as good !!!! probably apples and oranges, but my moronic .02

glock, go to the wood restoration forum and read ALL the pages...there's plenty of them......lots of super information within, lots of answers to questions you don't even have yet.......and more questions will come to mind as you read.... also, take notes while your reading, because so much info will clog your brain and you'll forget what you've read...... good luck and happy studying !!!

Thanks for the feedback everyone....... Its going to get Ready Seal, color yet to be determined, the owner has left it up to me for the most part, so I'm open to suggestions about the color to be applied.....I would like a little darker color than the light brown (as would she) so maybe the natural cedar or the medium red.....maybe we'll take a vote and the I'll go with the most popular...LOL as far as cleaning went, I started using the TimberStrip at 1/2 strength and it was still too strong, I swear the rails strarted fuzzing as I applied the chems with the shurflo !!!! let it dwell a bit, hit it with 600 psi and FUZZZZZZZZ....backed the stripper ratio way back and worked nicely, trial and error....at the very very top I tried the Jim F and Pierce F (Ready Seal way with the bleach and soap) as I just couldnt make it all the way with the stripper I had made up.....it cleaned really well, just didnt turn the wood black like the stripper does......the wood (except for the very top) turned blacker than I have ever seen any wood turn, so the Oxalic (TimberBright) was applied pretty heavy (I had quite a bit made up) and was left on as I packed up the trailer with everything except the hose and wand, rinsed with a dump tip (soap tip) from top down.......some boards remained pretty black and I was concerned about that, but we ran back over later in the evening before we went out to eat and checked it out......when it dried, everything was brightened nicely.....it looks a bit "washed out", obviously not as red as when it was wet, but it looks pretty good, but how can it not compared to how it looked before......I think a fire would have improved its appearance... believe it or not, this structure is up to code......in Chicago, most everywhere all wire service (electric, tx, cable) enters from the alleys and run everywhere...... one of my main problems with this structure was the main electrical service enters from the rear and is attached to the main 6x6 support at the top....25 feet up.....that was a bit spooky with a metal wand and water streams......but was very careful and didnt even get too close up there.....