jnoden

The deck looks great! I didnt even know that Cabot makes a tinted clear solutions. It looks like a regular semi. I have used their semi's a few times and they are closer to solid but they are very durable. I sometimes thin it out a little and spray it for a more transparent look. How do you feel about the clear solutions?

I would like to not be a problem poster (always looking for help) and just post solutions to other peoples problems but I dont yet have that luxery. So here is another one. Stripped and sealed a deck that turned out great but I must have got SH over spray on an aluminum storm door. A very expensive Pella door. It left marks all over it and surrounding framing. Has anyone ever had any success fixing this problem? I was thinking about lightly buffing it with a compound but I am worried that it may not work. Otherwise it looks like I will be paying god knows how much to replace this door.

This has my vote for the best idea this season so far. I will be spraying a clear sealer on a 3 story wooden silo that is part of an old tobacco barn that the customer has renovated in to a house. Very nice and unique. Anyhoo, I will be using my coress and deckster. I dont know what tip you used but Im going to try with my idea and see. As always Celeste, thanks for sharing.

Im going to try and polish it and if it is not satisfactory I will buy him a new one maybe with my insurance. I did pre-wet it but I didnt even think it was aluminum. I guess it is anodized since it is brown and not painted. Anyway, I will say that F18 MAX is some powerfull stuff. Only about 5 min dwell to remove two layers of stain.

wood defender does have a semi trans deck stain. I just started using wood defender this year. re-check the web site for standard paints and you will see the deck stain.

I embarrased to say that I shot a nozzle through vinyl siding not once but twice today. I have a new machine. I have done this before with my old machine but it never left a hole in the siding. Told the guy that I will fix it or have it fixed and the other house was my inlaws so I know they will be ok as long as I fix it. I never hung siding so my question is; Can I remove and replace a piece of siding without removing others? Also I am worried that I will not find the exact match. Has anyone ran in to this problem before and can give me some advice? I have always made sure that I am not pointed at a window when I squeeze the trigger but always at the house that way if the nozzle comes off it will not be lost. I guess now I will just shoot it away from the house and take the lost.

Thanks for the replies. Looks like I lucked out on the first house because they had the builders sheet with the siding companies name and product number for the siding. I just need to get a hold of them and get a new piece. Installation looks fairly easy with a zip tool. The house is only a few years old so there shouldnt be any fading. My inlaws house is going to be a different story because their house is 20+ years old and I assume there is fading. I will figure something out. It was good to hear some responses so quickly. Thanks.

Can sodium hydroxide be mixed with sodium percarbonate? I was thining that if the two are compatible then a mixture of percarb with a little sodium hydroxide would make a stronger wood cleaner and could kill heavy mildew better.

Hey Rod, why dont you use the deckster to apply the brightner? I just want to make sure that I am not doing something wrong because I use it to apply both.

I live in PA and generally charge $1 per linear ft per level so a 2 story house is about $2/linear ft. I also take in to account the degree of difficulty and adjust the prices accordingly (ie if the gutters need scrubbed or just pressure washed). Many people can eye ball a house and know how much to charge based on how long they know it will take to complete. I run a measuring wheel around the entire house and plug in my prices from my price sheet and adjust accordingly. Aluminum siding and dryvit adds extra challenges and many people turn these down but if I think it is doable I will charge a little more. In your area you should be able to charge at least this much and probably even a little more if you have decent equipment/chems and do good work.

I would love to have info to describe each type of chemical that is used in this business so that I can give it to a new employee to study before the season begins. Im looking for info that describes the uses, mix ratios, handling etc. for each chem. I will type one myself if needed but was wondering if someone has already done this and could email it to me. It would be greatly, greatly appreciated.

nevermind. I decided to not be lazy and typed all the info myself. thanks anyway.

I used a 4gpm for the last two years and never needed a buffer tank. This year i have a 5.5gpm and I still dont have a tank. I will use two hoses and a y connector if necessary but most all residences put out atleast 5gpm. I always check the flow during the estimate and if it is questionable I will time how long it takes to fill a 5 gal bucket.

If the deck is wet (no standing puddles) and you want to use a deckster sprayer, do you cut it about 2:1 (2 parts sealer 1 part water) so that it will not clog the pump and spray better and can you expect it to last at least 2 yrs like other stains?

Hey Beth, The deck looks great. Did you cut the wood tux with water about 50/50? I was reading that it could be cut with water or mineral spirits but does one help it to perfom better in application or durability? Lastly I was wondering if you guys have used the tinting kit yet and what your thoughts are on it. Sorry about all the questions but I plan on buying a couple pails to try out this spring and so I just want to make sure that I know what Im doing. If I am going to spray it I understand that it needs to be thinned out also but was wondering how to best do this.

Have read a lot about sodium hydroxide and I use it as my wood stain stripper and concrete cleaner but I could find little info on sodium metasilicate. What is the differences between the two? I want to learn more about adding metasilicate to my current house wash.

thanks, that info is helpful. I still do not know the difference between the two. How do they react differently to various materials. I even searched google and couldnt find differences. I know that they are similar but just curious about the differences if anybody out there knows.

I did a lot of shopping aorund before I recently bought my skid unit. I feel that water cannon has the best deals around and I have been very happy with my purchase. Good Luck. http://www.1800333wash.com/

what is aqueous solution? I didnt know that SH could be mixed with bleach.

Recently bought a skid unit power washer from Water Cannon. I did not get a manual for the pump and can not seem to get a hold of a tech guy there. My question is, after I complete my last house wash (hopefully this weekend) I will need to winterize it because I will be storing it outside. How do I get the remaing water out of the pump? and what is involved in winterizing the pressure washer. It is an electric start 5.5gpm with a general pump. My second question is in regards to the direction of water flow in relation to the type of QC coupler to use. I read that the water flow should always flow through the male and then female. Does this really make a difference? (if so i need to change a lot of my couplers).

This will be my first full season of cleaning out gutters. I think I might purchase an 18 gal 6.5 hp shop vac and about 30 ft or so of 2.5 inch hose. Has anyone else tried a set up similar to this to clean out gutters? I understand I will still need to remove sticks by hand but this might be an easier and safer way to remove other debris.

Has anyone had any experience with any of the products that claim to restore fading vinyl? I know Flood makes one. They dont have a good rep in this business though. I have a customer who wants his house washed and asked if I could restore his shutters. I think these vinyl restoration products are just cleaners and wax. I was thinking about just power washing the shutters and then applying a slightly stronger concentration of my house wax. What do you guys think?

Im fairly new to cleaning out the inside of gutters but $1-$1.50 per foot works for me $1.5 per foot if the roof is not walkable and is two stories or higher. Im not sure if any of you install gutter guards but I installed my first one last week. This may be a great upsell.

Is it possible to mix these two to get an effective one step process? I know that one company sells it this way but Im not sure if it is as effective. I think that due to solubility problems you probably can not suspend enough of each product in the water to make it effective. I wonder if however if you can mix stripper at about half strength with an acid to get a good one step cleaner. I know that it is hazardous to just start mixing chems without knowing how they will react together and I would not reccomend experimenting with this. Just kicking around some thoughts and was wondering if anyone knows anything about this.

thanks for the info Jon. I do buy the F18 from Bob and like it a lot. I know that just the right amount of psi and gpm can do wonders on a deck without chems. I could be fooled in to thinking that the percarb at least softens the impurities for easier removal with a pressure washer. It always seems that the floorboards could look better though and this is why I am going to try a few different chems. I use especs percarb and I think I read in a past post that it is a different type of percarb than what others are offering for 3x the cost and it is inferior. I guess I will just need to try both side by side.