PPW1234

So am I to take away from this, the higher the VOC's there are more mineral spirits, therefore better penetration of the stain into the wood.

Newbie question of the day. What is the benefit of adding mineral spirits to stain? And if it is so beneficial, why don't the manufactures already do this for us?

So Rod what you are saying here is, if you do not know what is on the deck (regarding solids) your choices are to sand or pass up the job.....correct? Oil over oil, acrylic over acrylic only. You would not put an acrylic over an oil based finish? I thought an acrylic would harden over top of an oil base......

I'm assuming if it is oil the test spot will break down, if it is acrylic it won't ....

Is there a way or a test to tell whether or not the solid stain you are looking at is a water based or oil based stain?

Hey Celeste, That's exactly what I needed to know. I picked up four solid decks last week and was doing some research on solid stains. Up until now I have only had semi-trans jobs. I've heard of oil based and water based before and figured there may be some compatibility issues. Customer in question does not want a strip thus no test spot. Discussed flipping the boards but is saving money....just clean it and seal it. Money is extremely tight up here in Michigan right now. If customer is not sure whether the previous stain was oil or water based, it would be safe to just go with water based stain...right? Tell Roger I said HI

Have a customer who wants his deck cleaned and sealed with solid Cabot's. He "thinks" Cabot's semi-solid was on there before, I'm thinking it was solid since I cannot see any wood grain at all. I suggested going solid since there was some doubt on exactly what was on there before. The question: He wants the Cabot oil based product. I am unclear on the rules between oil based and water based stains.....can one or the other be applied over each other? I know sanding/stripping are an option, but he wants to keep costs down and only wants a clean and seal.

My Father in law uses Magic Jack. He is in Florida and we are up here in Michigan. The connection has always been horrible. He is either cutting out, or when we do hear him ... we get a lot of static.

Don't really no about "no work in Michigan" during the winter. This is my first winter. Found myself a heated storage unit so I could be ready to go if something came along. Do you keep busy there in Ohio during the winter?

Good news. Thanks.

I just got up and running in August and my season is already coming to a close. Going to start getting cold next week. Looks like I'm going to have 15 gallons of SH left over. I hear it looses it's potency over time. Will it be worth anything come spring or should I get rid of the stuff and buy new? If I double or tripled my SH % mix would it make a difference? If it the SH is going to be useless, where does one get rid of 15 gallons of the stuff?

Hey Celeste, Happy birthday !! You get Roger to take you down to Hursey's for some BBQ?

Thanks Adrian. I came across a thread for these guys about 20 minutes after I posted. Looks like they have two distributors near me. Jeff

Hello, Starting up in the pressure washing business and I am having difficulties finding a source for sodium hydrochlorite. Is there anyone in the Detroit Mi area that could give me a couple leads? Thank you, Jeff Thompson Plymouth Pro Wash 734-446-7029