tidyjet

Dan, I'm within an hour and I'm interested. Thanks. Paul

BTW, I've never cleaned new brick before.

What chems are you using on NEW brick? I'm working on a quote on a new one-story commercial build-out. It's mostly brick, has lots of hardiplank and wood trim as well. Lot's of mortar and red clay staining, mostly on the brick work. 2 -buildings. ea at 6500 sf of surface. Customer also wants concrete retaining wall cleaned of red clay stains - a block looking affair/textured concrete at over 5000 sf. I did a test run on it. My production rate was 120sf/10 mins with a turbo nozzle/cold water. My machine is rated at 4.8gpm/3000 psi. But man! That red clay is a ***** even when I tried HOT water. I've not done a test run on the brick yet. I'm figuring 0.11 is a good flat rate for the whole project but I'm concerned about the mortar stains/red clay creating major (slowing) variables on my production rate in some places. This job could begat many more with this developer who's been relying on beat up old cold water machines and their day labor for less than stellar results from what I can see on their other projects.

What about the cost of one's equipment? I like to pay my machine/equipment at least what I'm paying myself which covers the cost of acquistion and upkeep.

Wesley's idea of a police escort whilst serving a bill to DB is brilliant. I filed against someone last week. Deck/strip job. Also did significant amount of surface cleaning (boadwalks and around pool). Anyways, customer claimed she didn't like the way the deck looked so she wasn't paying. I've offered to redo - to her satisfaction. She refused (interesting). We even negotiated a lower price that she could live with and leave it be. But then she changed her mind. Not happy with it so in her mind she's under no obligation. Mind you, there was all the surface cleaning she's happy with. So, now I'm letting a judge decide. This is a major PITA; assuming I get a judgement in hand, I still have to collect. I'm expecting to have to put a lien on her property. Anyways, more fun and games and a learning curve in the school of life. I gotta wonder. If our economy was based on 100% satisfaction (services or products), would it be able to function? Anyone can lie and say they wern't completely satisfied.

[quote name= I'm still not sure why we cannot build more refineries but hey I'm just a powerwasher' date=' what do I know. [/quote] I was wondering about that the other day - Wuz up w/that? You'd think that some saavy commercial building consortium would pick up on that - get some gov't subsidy or whatever and build out refineries and gas distribution lines. Like OK, there's a shortage of this stuff and duh, like maybe more could be built? Perhaps big market here! Sorry, "what do I know, I'm just a powerwasher".

Hey Full Blast! What brings you down this way? You're going right by my door.

Thanks so much for the great replies - your experiences, admonitions, feedback and advice on my post are invaluable. I've noted all of them for future reference. It looks like the contractor is going to have some of his guys do it. I'm going to keep an eye on this one for the results. This is my first season and this project would have been one I would rather work my way up to.

I can't tell what's on there now. They're going to be applying some sort of semi-transparent, what I'm not sure

Dave, there was only one layer of paint. The customer did the sanding. He simply feathered out/in the bare spots and recoated everything with semi-transparent. Sure it would have looked better completely stripped but it was one of those as little labor/time/money as possible deals and live with it or having it look fantastic at any cost deal. Customer settled for former. He's expecting to repeat the process however in a few years as the paint that remained comes loose.

I was thinking I'd tackle this with percarb mixed very hot with a citric acid neutralizer. How do you calculate running ft on a house like this?

I don't get to do cedar to much. This one I'm just not sure about. It's for a contractor who wants whatever is on the cedar siding stripped. They're applying a new finish. There's a lot of blackening where whatever was on there is complete UV'd away. Bleach or percarb? I'm concerned especially around the windows whose trim is alum clad. Will these have to be masked before trying to strip this? Also the non-uv'd areas eg. in and around the porches and underneath where the shutters were - the finish is pretty heavy whatever it is. The running feet around the whole house is 370'. I really don't have a clue as to how long this will take me nor footage calculations. Recommendations on how to tackle this would be appreciated.

The collateral damage from strippers can't be quantified. I had a similar situation. I applied F18 mixed exceedingly hot (strong) to remove as much paint as possible. Feathered in the bared spots and applied a like colored acrylic stain. End of job.

BTW. I was amazed to see that whilst cleaning up I was able to clean the stuff off of my brush completely with cold water. Hmmmmm.........

This is one of those resin based products much like CWF in my humble opinion. I just applied it to a customer/friends deck w/dismal results. I never use anything but an oil base, but deviated from my normal procedure [this time]. The customer wanted it (cedar color). The deck is at least 10 yrs old. I stripped the little left of old finish (appeared to be an old Sikkens oil based product) with F18. This is a massive 800 SF affair. Anyways. Sprayed the Maximum on. It puddled big time and had I to do a lot of backbrushing/rolling. They stress this highly anyways on the application directions. High humidity conditions. Stuff took forever to dry. Might have got hit w/an evening rain too. I see a lot of fault with me on maybe rushing this job a bit. Result: Splogyness here and there. Shiny areas around heartwood that didn't absorb product. Dark areas/lighter areas. Customer pissed - dosen't like it. Now I'm faced with stripping this crap and reapplying. I also thought maybe of etching the surface with sodium percabonate and a hot water bath then applying a 2nd coat. I've tried to contact PPG/Olympic on some direction here - no joy. Any feedback would be greatly appreciated. regards, paul