Barry M

Surface cleaners are for concrete and flatwork. If it ain't broke don't fix it, keep doing what you been doing Larry and post some more awesome deck pics.

Go Colts!!! Funny how I'm a big Colts fan being 2 hours north of Indy, but yet I'm 20 minutes south of Notre Dame and I can't stand them. Go Wolverines!!!

I have a 35 gallon buffer tank and I mounted a Hudson float valve in the lid of the tank, it's a 5" opening.

The Entrepreneurship Center at Miami University of Ohio has an interesting definition of entrepreneurship: "Entrepreneurship is the process of identifying, developing, and bringing a vision to life. The vision may be an innovative idea, an opportunity, or simply a better way to do something. The end result of this process is the creation of a new venture, formed under conditions of risk and considerable uncertainty."

Steve R's board has been experiencing technical problems lately and is the reason the board traffic has been very slow. This is what Steve told me on the phone: "I just found out within the last hour that a server error has kept the last 376 new members from receiving a confirmation email." So Steve asked if I would post this here on TGS to let every one know the tech problem has been fixed and all is good now. A reminder also that Steve is having a RT in Smyrna, TN at his shop on Oct 14th. If you plan on going email Steve and let him know so he can plan accordingly. Thank you. www.thecleanernetwork.com

Sometimes I feel like saying this in my advertising....lol

Like this one http://pressuretek.com/sustwsiha.html I have a dual lance like this one that came with my unit, but I don't use it to wash houses because it's too heavy and bulky, and only 3' long. I like a light weight 4' wand for houses.

I use a single QC wand and just change nozzles. I wear a cheap 2 pocket nail apron, rinse tips in one side-soap tips in the other. Normally I carry two rinse and two soap nozzles. It's really much easier and faster than it sounds. I love downstreaming but...... why do I have a feeling that a hard core xjetter is going to chime in and say "what a PITA"......lol

Welcome to the board TJ, what kind of washing do you do?

I preach to everyone to walk away from these darn things and then I get involved in not one, but two. Two small decks with a nasty rose colored solid latex on them. I normally turn these down because I know at best I could only remove 80% of the latex and that it just wouldn't come out right. But for some reason this just felt different, it was a referral and the homeowners are just a little old sweet couple that could easily afford my services. The old guy is really cool and insisted he didn't care how they turned out, he just wanted them a different color and would "make it worth my while". So I did a test spot and explained I couldn't get it all off without damaging the wood and that we would probably have to go with another solid. They were very labor intensive because I'm so picky, I just wanted every bit of the latex off. I used Timber Strip Pro, full strength at 30 minutes dwell time and 1000psi, each deck took me 3 hours. Here's the first deck up front.

It started raining just after I finished a job today, the forecast around here is still saying no rain. I looked at the radar and see that the effects of Ernesto have reached us in Indiana.

Don, what did you do? Only kidding, and only a spot test will tell.

How do you figure the nozzle size for a surface cleaner since there is two nozzles? If I'm running a 4gpm unit and I want x amount of psi at the tips, do I get two of the proper sized nozzles for a 2gpm unit? Sorry for the hijack Chris.

Sorry, I've been busy lately. Looks like Shane and Mike have steered you in the right direction though, thanks guys. Thanks for the kind words everyone. I'm still waiting to stain these babies, it started raining as I was finishing stripping and it hasn't stopped since. I'm curious to see how bad the fuzzies are.

Thanks everyone, I knew from reading so many great posts from wood professional guys and girls here at TGS, that the key was going to be the long dwell time. Thanks again.

Never heard of them.

Thanks all. Mike we need to stop getting these nasty strip jobs.....lol

I also got to test my new mini Phelps wand that I made to apply stripper using a shurflo. It's only 12" long and it worked out real slick. This whole setup is so much faster than using a pump up.

Here is the deck in back. I'm guessing I got 90% of the latex off, there is still traces of it on the spindles and places that you can't see in the pic, but I'm pretty happy with the results. The HO's are just ecstatic with the results and don't want a solid on it. They don't care if some of the latex shows thru, they want a light natural colored semi trans on it to show the beauty of the wood. I guess if their happy, I'll be happy. But I'll still think twice next time, it was just too much work.

$2,000........Holy crap how did you sell that one? Nice job.

If they're only two stories, then downstream and rinse 10' to 15' back from a 10' step ladder. I do this all the time on houses and it's pretty much perpedicular to the siding.

Don't you mean of the Midwest? I see your point Jeff, but I guess it would just depend on how much the job was. If they called and said they accept and it's a couple thousand dollar job, or maybe even $1100 like stated, then I think I would still find a way to get there and get the thing signed so I didn't end up losing the job. But then again if I was as busy as you are....your right I probably would feel differently about it.

I would probably walk away from that one but that's just me. Too much of a PITA, especially if I was an xjetter. It's pretty steep and pretty dirty for the xjet method in my opinion, I would need to use at least 6% on that roof and you just can't get that xjetting and you'll also have a butt load of run off.

I never give prices over the phone. I try to do estimates within 24 hours and I always try to sell the job when I'm there so I walk away with a signed proposal. If they say they need to think about it, or want to get some more estimates or whatever and they end up calling me a few days later saying that they want to accept my proposal, I try to set up a time to go there to meet with them again, get the proposal signed and set up a cleaning date. It may seem like a pain and waste of gas and time to go back just to get the proposal signed instead of waiting until the cleaning, but I haven't lost any jobs due to someone changing their mind either. Once the proposal is signed, it's $ in the bank.

Same here on the deck, a story and a half high strip, easily $2.00 a sq ft. I get about $6,000 just on the deck. Now I might have come down a little on that since the house was to be done also but I think your bid was low. I know it sucks Aaron and it sounds like it's really bothering you, I feel ya. Just got turned down on a big job myself, three decks needing cleaned and sealed. I bid it as low as possible to try and get it, gave the normal presentation with pictures, testimonials, and referrals. Talked to the guy for awhile and felt good about it. He called back two days later and said the bid was too high and he'd have to pass. Even though he was a gentlemen about it, it still hurts. I dwelled on it for about 2 days because that's how I am, but I had to tell myself to let it go. It just wasn't meant to be. If I can't make $60-$70 an hour after expenses then I don't want the job. I couldn't go any lower on this deck and still make what I want to make, I'm not a lowballing hacker. I feel my level of quality and professionalism is worth what I ask. You can only do your best to get the job Aaron, the rest is in God's hands.