Littlefield

Laptop and portable printer. Can't beat getting the sale right then and there.

Make sure you cover yourself for not being responsible for the paint sticking the next time, considering you aren't puttin g it on. Also, make sure you spec scraping LOOSE paint, the PDCA would have standards for that I'm sure. As far as that goes, I would soak on some HD-80 or something, and try to help as much of the loose paint as possible come off without scraping. then plan on going by with a grinder/buffer like the makita 9227c and a 7" disc of sandpaper, probably 60 grit on a 4 setting, and make short work of the scraping phase.

If mixing two pails together get an extra empty one, set them up in a triangle with you in the middle. Dump half of one into the empty, dump half of the next color into the first pail, dump the third pail into the first, etc. Work in a circle around three times, dumping the fuller one into the emptier one. Always keep some in every pail, don't empty one completely. In painting, this is called boxing, and is followed religiously by the good ones.

Sorry Rick and Jeapaint, brain hiccup. the right additive is polypropylene glycol, not the ethylene glycol. Ethylene glycol is not "safe" for anyone to use around pets, kids, etc and will not give you the punch we're talking about. PG will. See if it helps you.

Ethylene glycol, IE "safe" antifreeze, boosts chemical reaction. 20-30% more stripping power, also seems to dry just a little slower, but that could be just me.

The original thread is not lost, it is just below this one in the forum. Give it a while, and one of the mods will delete this one. It must have got hacked somehow, or the software got confused and created another thread. I'm only a mod in the wood forums, so I can't help....

Just make sure to press the calibrate button before you insert the pins, thats the one with the check mark that always reads 12%. Then insert, and press the button with the water drop on it. Presto. You can convert with a chart for temp and species.

I've used both, Ilike the wheeled ones

Severe Strip is for film forming stains. it is not stronger than Remove, it just works better on film stains. Yes it works good, I like getting the 30 gallon drums, I use them over later. They are shipped as a concentrate, so you don't pay for shipping a lot of water. Fill up to top, then apply to deck. Different for Remove, starts as slurry, fill to top, then you have a concentrate. Cut 4 to 1 with water, and you have a RTU mix, (Ready To Use)

delmhorst J-lite www.sunbritesupply.com The J Lite has no moving parts to break, just nice little LED's to light up the moisture amount.

Exterior products for decks are stain/sealer in one. Stay away from something that is just trying to get water to bead up, IE Thomsons Water Seal. As Ken says, go for Cabot clear solutions, they have some with a little tint, but really, feel them out about more tint, a year later, they are never disappointed. By the way, for verticals, including spindle/railing assemblies, and siding, it is possible to get several different water based and oil based stain coat, clear coat systems. Weatherall, Permachink, and Sashco, all make stain / clear systems that hold up well.

The black tip is what is lowering the pressure.

Since many stains are oil based, the sodium hydroxide will act as a high powered degreaser, and emulsify the stain, breaking it and its adhesion down. Low pressure water will then remove all the stain. Start looking at ingredient labels, and you will find Sodium Hydroxide in all kinds of things.

In theory, yes. Try dropping the pressure with a nozzle, and see the difference. Getting closer allows the water particles to stay tighter on impact, giving you a net larger effect than shooting with high powered mist. Phillip, our resident applied physics graduate, can expound more....

Is there a reason you don't want this new phase of your company associated with the Hood cleaning one? Is the name of you old company too focussed or something like that? You could advertise it as an "Exterior cleaning division" etc, or as a similar company name with a tagline differentiating it but still keeping the name recognition you already have. PS We need a signature line in your posts, to better help you as well as follow the BB rules. See the sticky thread at the begining of each forum. Thanks.

Bone dry may be easier to tell, but I think the moisture meter is just for keeping honest people honest. I use my J-Lite all the time. Seems that the touch and feel thing seems more car salesmeny than actually KNOWING how wet the wood is. Also, some of us use more than one stain, and need to know for instance if the wood is at 12, 18, or 26 percent moisture before application. Anyone care for a kiss off to determine that?

Just testing out my new laptop stand from my truck out in front of a local Wi-fi outlet that makes great sandwiches. I have QB Pro Contractor loaded and running, and am working on downloading email as well. Job costing is done onsite and immediately as reciepts are called in or inputted directly by me as I make purchases. Spring is here, lets get it goin'!!

Not neutralizing after stripping will yield darker wood, with tannins being drawn up to the surface and left there. Also, the stain may fail quicker due to .....drumroll........saponification. A cleaning agent reacting with the oil based stain in an attempt to convert it to soap. Saponification is the hydrolysis of an ester under basic conditions to form an alcohol and the salt of the acid. Saponification is commonly used to refer to the reaction of a metallic alkali (base) with a fat or oil to form soap. CH2-OOC-R - CH-OOC-R - CH2-OOC-R (fat) + 3 NaOH ( or KOH) both heated → CH2-OH -CH-OH - CH2-OH (glycerol) + 3 R-CO2-Na (soap) R=(CH2)14CH3 (for example) Lye is a form of sodium hydroxide (NaOH) which is a caustic base. If NaOH is used a hard soap is formed, whereas a soft soap is formed when potassium hydroxide (KOH) is used. Vegetable oils and animal fats are fatty esters in the form of triacylglycerols. The alkali breaks the ester bond and releases the fatty acid and glycerol. The soap is salted out by precipitating it with saturated sodium chloride.

Anyone have this in their contracts/scope of work. Phrasing such as " Stain will be applied according to manufacturers specs and will be free of drips, sags, lap lines, light spots/holidays, etc visible from greater than 10' away, blah blah blah? I know PDCA has standards for paint, how about us? If not, reckon WRAPI could get on this ASAP? I know everyone is busy, but maybe we can get the ball rolling. Anyone care to add to the above?

According to russell, there is no problem with applying a second coat of WTW to ad protection, or change a color. Why not just apply a second, darker coat to bring them in line with each other? The steps will take on a non skid characteristic with the second application, esp. when wet. Not a drawback in my opinion with steps....

Well, Don, glad we got the product thing straightened out, threw me there for a minute. To be honest with you, I've really hardly ever had a problem with getting a deck to brighten unless I haven't gotten it to strip bare properly. So, you really have a stripping problem, not a brightening one. If I'm in doubt at all about the stain coming off when I FIRST start to PW, I splash a little ox down to see if I get the color shift. If so, I proceed, if not, more dwell on the SH (sodium hydroxide) Personally, I can't tell from your pics if there's a problem or not. I think theres a pretty dramatic change on the two areas you acid treated, don't you? Have you seen it since it dried? If there's anything left on the wood, you'll have to strip again, or just buff aggressively, depending on the amount you are dealing with.

Rick! Nice save. I guess those Wolmans certs are good for something, huh? I totally forgot that was what they called their percarb cleaner. Don, you got to be thrilled that the deck looks that good BEFORE you even brighten, right?

Mike, I hate this, but its too obvious not to.... A Lance Lance. Duuuhhhh.

Maybe Russell will jump in here with an official answer to the thinning question, but at a recent gathering in ATL, water, mineral spirits, and xylene were mentioned as acceptable thinning agents. Choose your poison! Also, thinning and appl;ying more coats may give you more of a bite into the wood, being that its so dense. Cobalt and zirconium have been added to WTW to allow exceptional bonding between coats. I know as far as painters go, multiple thin coats tend to give better protection, and less peeling. I would think the same would apply here.

Rabela, you are right about most of the Sikkens products forming some kind of film. Stay away. I would go with something like James mentioned, these products are fairly easy to apply, with Readyseal being the easiest, and also easy to maintain. Readyseal at least I know has a cumulative effect that will make the finish last longer with each application, and richen the color with subsequent coats, not just darken it. This is from personal experience with it, not hearsay.